If you follow me on social media, you may have seen some of my recent pictures from the Stonyfield Farm Tour (#StonyfieldFarmTour) in Vermont last week. The Stonyfield company selected 13 of their blog ambassadors to tour 3 farms in Vermont. This is the second year that they held their Farm Tour and I’m so thankful that they invited me (and paid my expenses….in case you were wondering), this is a trip that I won’t soon forget.
The Stonyfield blog ambassadors are made up of the Yo-Getters and the Clean Plate Club. Most of the bloggers have never met and live across the US. We all blog about different topics; some of us are lifestyle bloggers, some are food bloggers, some are eco-friendly bloggers, and I’m sure there are a few more niches that we belong to. We all share one thing, we love Stonyfield and their mission to bring healthy and organic food into our homes.
This year’s Farm Tour bloggers…..
Ashley Covelli – Big Flavors from a Tiny Kitchen, Dianna Muscari – The Kitchen Prep Blog, Joanna Murnan – Making Mine, Ann Fulton – Fountain Avenue Kitchen, Nicky Omohundro – Little Family Adventure, Angela Bekkala – Happy Fit Mama, Jessica Morrison – 30 Something Mother Runner, Sarah Bates – The Chef Next Door, Lynda McMillen – Me and My Pink Mixer, Michelle Palin – My Gluten-Free Kitchen, Erin Huiatt – Midwest Mom and Wife, Leah Segedie – Mamavation, …and me!
We were accompanied by a few employees of Stonyfield…
A photo posted by Mairead Dunphy (@maireadparade) on
Liza Dube – Consumer Communications Specialist, Mairead Dunphy – Communications Specialist, Kyle Thygesen – Farmer Relationship Manager, and Britt Lundgren – Director or Organic and Sustainable Agriculture.
The Destination:
We landed each night at the picturesque Stoweflake Mountain Resort and Spa in Stowe, VT. Stowe is about 45 minutes from the Burlington International Airport and is on my list of places to go back and visit with the family. From there we drove around Vermont visiting farms in North Ferrisburg, Enosburg Falls, and Cabot, VT.
The Farms:
The first farm we visited was Kimball Brook Farm in North Ferrisburg, Vermont. This farm was about 1-2 hours south of Stowe. This was our “bonus” farm of the weekend. Kimball Brook is a Dairy Farm and hosts Summer Supper events in August for the local community (and anyone who wants to visit), their next one is scheduled for August 19th starting at 3pm if you’re in the area. The Summer Supper was a great start to the weekend, amazing local food, great music, and a little sneak peek into the local community.
On Saturday we started very early as we drove about 45 minutes north of Stowe to Enosburg Falls. We visited with Julie Wolcott at Green Wind Farm and her amazing family. Green Wind Farm is a dairy farm, but they produce more than just milk! They also make some amazing Vermont maple syrup (produced under the brand Pumpkin Village Foods). Following our farm tour at Green Wind, the entire family invited us into their home for a farm fresh breakfast feast. Breakfast consisted of fresh blueberry pancakes, french toast, fresh maple syrup, eggs, and so much more. I think they need to make a cookbook of some of these recipes for us city folk who don’t prepare our food from scratch. This farm was in the process of converting from a conventional dairy farm to becoming a Stonyfield organic dairy farm. Stonyfield works with the farms and helps support them during their transition.
Following a short lunch break with Stonyfield co-founder Gary Hirshberg, we headed east to The Wonder Why Farm to meet Jen and Morgan Churchill. The Wonder Why Farm filled my heart with so much joy, their children Nora and Sam guided us on our tour of the farm. I had been away from my own kids for several days by this time so being able to hang with little ones was much needed. The tour started with Sam telling us all about the baby calves and introducing us to their newest baby who was only 2 days old. I absolutely loved that both children shared their farm stories with us and could have listened to them all day.
Each farm was completely different from each other, but they all shared the same mission of bringing organic milk to families around the US. These farms supply milk directly to Stonyfield and could end up in my home on any given day. When you think of “big” businesses like Stonyfield, you don’t really think about all the people (and cows) that are involved in making something as simple as yogurt. It feels great to know that making a purchase of Stonyfield Yogurt in my supermarket can support families (and farms) like the Wolcott’s and the Churchill’s.
Over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing some of my favorite parts of the Stonyfield Farm Tour so make sure you subscribe or come back. There’s just too much information to share in one post! Be sure to follow the other bloggers linked above as well to hear their stories from the farms. Thank you Stonyfield for this amazing opportunity and for loving the planet, people, and cows.
To see more of my Stonyfield posts and to find some new recipes using Stonyfield Yogurt: http://www.backtocalley.com/?s=stonyfield
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So fun to see your photos…what a fabulous weekend it was!
Beautiful! I want to go to there!