It’s the cows’ fault.
We had no idea that Randy’s summers as a kid working on dairy farms would ever lead to anything, let alone our own farm. But the memory of those cows stuck with him through the years and now Randy, along with his wife Lisa, manage Kiss the Cow Farm, a grass-based, organic certified dairy located in Barnard, VT. “Neither of us grew up in a farming family,” he says. “Believe me, no one was more surprised than we were when we got our first cow! We moved the cars out of the garage and moved the cow in.” Lisa called it the ‘Lego Barn’ because they kept reconfiguring it to house pigs, chickens, calves, and more cows.
When they took in three rescue-heifers, they needed a larger place and were able to put them up at a nearby dairy farm that had recently gone out of business. Before long they had moved their whole farm there.
They share this historic farmland with a vegetable farm and beef farmer. “Our common goal is to not only work the land, but to preserve it and make it accessible to future generations of wanna-be farmers,” says Randy. Their vision is now much closer to reality with the recent purchase of the almost 500 acre property by the Vermont Land Trust. Not yet satisfied, Randy and Lisa and the other local farmers are hard at work to improve the soil, drainage, and infrastructure. “We’re stewards,” Lisa says. “And all of these improvements will take many, many years, but we want to make this special place even better before we pass it on.”
Now many cows later, they still enjoy working at their small, grass-based dairy selling the raw milk and ice cream as well as pasture-raised eggs, broilers, ducks, and turkeys. They are also working on another dream –taking their fresh Jersey milk and making high quality, artisan ice cream and cheese.
“We’ve always known that we wanted to do some sort of value-added processing,” Randy says. “It’s a natural evolution, I think, to want to take what you’ve grown and craft it to taste even better.” They also hope making and selling their own dairy products will make their farm more sustainable.
Asked why they are doing this, Randy said: “Farming is a way of life for us. We love it –most of the time!” he jokes. “We just want to make and sell good food to our friends and neighbors.”
And that’s what this couple is doing –with lots of help from the cows.
We had no idea that Randy’s summers as a kid working on dairy farms would ever lead to anything, let alone our own farm. But the memory of those cows stuck with him through the years and now Randy, along with his wife Lisa, manage Kiss the Cow Farm, a grass-based, organic certified dairy located in Barnard, VT. “Neither of us grew up in a farming family,” he says. “Believe me, no one was more surprised than we were when we got our first cow! We moved the cars out of the garage and moved the cow in.” Lisa called it the ‘Lego Barn’ because they kept reconfiguring it to house pigs, chickens, calves, and more cows.
When they took in three rescue-heifers, they needed a larger place and were able to put them up at a nearby dairy farm that had recently gone out of business. Before long they had moved their whole farm there.
They share this historic farmland with a vegetable farm and beef farmer. “Our common goal is to not only work the land, but to preserve it and make it accessible to future generations of wanna-be farmers,” says Randy. Their vision is now much closer to reality with the recent purchase of the almost 500 acre property by the Vermont Land Trust. Not yet satisfied, Randy and Lisa and the other local farmers are hard at work to improve the soil, drainage, and infrastructure. “We’re stewards,” Lisa says. “And all of these improvements will take many, many years, but we want to make this special place even better before we pass it on.”
Now many cows later, they still enjoy working at their small, grass-based dairy selling the raw milk and ice cream as well as pasture-raised eggs, broilers, ducks, and turkeys. They are also working on another dream –taking their fresh Jersey milk and making high quality, artisan ice cream and cheese.
“We’ve always known that we wanted to do some sort of value-added processing,” Randy says. “It’s a natural evolution, I think, to want to take what you’ve grown and craft it to taste even better.” They also hope making and selling their own dairy products will make their farm more sustainable.
Asked why they are doing this, Randy said: “Farming is a way of life for us. We love it –most of the time!” he jokes. “We just want to make and sell good food to our friends and neighbors.”
And that’s what this couple is doing –with lots of help from the cows.