Strafford Organic Creamery is our June Featured Farm and we've got all kinds of sweet things lined up for the month, including this interview with Amy.

FTY: What is your role at Strafford?
Amy: CEO, chief bottler, assistant crate washer, director of the breeding program, orderer of supplies, fixer of small machinery, creative financier of large machinery, person who goes to the hardware store just before they close to get the thing we need before the next morning, and baker of mental-health cookies.

FTY: Can you briefly describe Strafford Organic Creamery and Rockbottom Farm?
Amy: We milk about 70 Guernsey and Jersey cows in a high valley in central Vermont. Our cows and land have been certified organic since 1996. In the summer, our cows graze a half-mile radius around the creamery and milking barn, coming in to be milked and moving to a fresh patch of grass every 12 hours. In the winter, we mix up their feed with hay and corn we grow during the summer. Guernsey cows are famous for carrying the color and flavor of their feed into their milk (which is at its yellowest during dandelion season), and we are passionate about growing them the best possible feed.

FTY: In what ways has the FTY partnership supported Strafford's growth?
Amy: Farmers to You is our steadiest, most reliable customer, and that is a huge thing when cows make milk every day of the year. We so appreciate FTY customers' engagement with their food choices, asking good questions and patiently waiting for ice cream flavors to be in stock or for the egg nog season to begin.

FTY: What is your favorite product?
Amy: They're all my babies, but I can't imagine my tea with out half and half, my cookies without a big glass of whole milk, and I sometimes sneak up to the creamery at night for our new raspberry ice cream.

FTY: What brings you the most joy in your work?
Amy: That's a long list. I love walking to bring the cows in from pasture, especially this time of year when the sun is coming up. I love cranking up the 80s classic rock to jam through the bottling with our super-fun crew. I love seeing the thoughtful, capable young men my boys have become, growing up here with this work. I love leaning into the cows' warm sides on below-zero mornings. Mostly, though, I love working with Earl, fixing stuff together and keeping it fun even when it's hard.

FTY: Anything else you'd like to share with our community?
Amy: I am full of gratitude to our customers for their support. It wouldn't be any good to want to farm like this and process the milk like we do if we didn't have this base of folks who appreciate the products of our work. Thank you.

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