Fourteen years ago, I moved to Vermont. My plan (you know how those go) was to find a farm and build an innovative new farming model that could serve as an example to young farmers. But then life happened, and Farmers To You happened, and now fourteen years later… I’ve finally found my farm!
I would like to talk to you about milk—that magical substance that is the starter food for most mammals on the planet.
It is known as the perfect food, however so many of us as adults have difficulty digesting it. So interesting.
I’d like to call your attention to two problems that plague the conventional dairy world: how milk is valued, and how it is processed. It is with these challenges in mind that we at Farmers To You have selected our partner dairy farms, whose practices and standards push back against industry norms.
In the work of rebuilding our regional food system we often hear a lot about eating seasonally, but on this especially cold day I want to talk about living seasonally—which is to say, living fully in the season we are in. Many of us have a favorite season that we wait for while we endure the others for three quarters of the year, yet there is so much to gain from being present.
It’s the new year, and we are just beginning to recover from the last. This was definitely a “hold on for the ride” kind of year for all of us at Farmers To You. I know that for many of you it has been the same.
I am looking forward to getting out of reaction mode this year. We have so many great improvements in store for our little food system—because even though our staff were swamped with the week-to-week volume of ordering and scrambling, they still found time to continue to work on projects and goals that we are passionate about. They are so amazing!
Every year we at Farmers To You get amazing holiday and new year cards from you, our families. Some might think this a rather mundane effort, but to receive these cards makes my heart swell with pride and joy. I feel this especially in reading the messages from our founding families. For some of you, I have watched your children come into this world and for the last ten years grow healthy and strong. We may not live in the same community, but there is something about feeding people that has always inspired and nourished me.
