Hey guys! You may all know, by now, how much I love Stonyfield! I have been so blessed to be a part of an amazing group of bloggers that make up Yo-Getters and Clean Plate Club. A few weeks ago I was selected, with 12 other Stonyfield bloggers, to fly to Vermont and take a tour of a few Stonyfield’s dairy farms (all expenses paid, may I add!!) This was such an amazing experience and I am so thankful to Stonyfield fo r allowing me to participate.
I learned so much about Stonyfield. Stonyfield is so much more than just yogurt (but the yogurt is pretty amazing). They play such a huge role in the agriculture world. They support and outsource to small farms. Kyle Thygeser, who guided our tours on Saturday, plays a huge role in creating these relationships and making sure each farm has the resources they need to become organic, or any other issues or concerns that may arise.
The first farm we visited on Friday evening was Kimball Brook Farm located in North Ferrisburgh, Vermont. They are a regular dairy farm and have amazing milk including Maple Milk AND a cappuccino which I chugged after being up at 3 am 🙂
Kimball Brook Farm hosts Summer Supper Parties and we were invited to join in with the festivities! We all had an amazing dinner all that was all locally grown or produced. Also, live music! It was such a gorgeous place and we got to visit with their cows too.
Saturday morning we awoke early and headed to Green Wind Farm in Enosburg, Vermont. Julie and her family run this small, gorgeous dairy farm. This was my favorite stop. Julie and her family are transitioning from a conventional farm to organic with Stonyfield and Kyle’s help.
They own 25 dairy cows and Julie had a name for every single one and knew every single one. This moved me. I loved how close she was with her “children”.
After the tour of Green Wind Farm, her family made us an amazing classic, farm cooked breakfast! Pancakes, french toast, egg scramble, their own personal, fresh maple syrup, yogurt, and much more! It was SOOOOO good!
After leaving Green Wind Farm we headed to lunch to meet Gary Hirshburg, co-founder of Stonyfield. It was such an honor to meet with him and chat about the history of Stonyfield and learn what his passions are. I learned that Gary and Samuel Kaymen’s original mission (and still today) was to help family farms survive, and keep the food and food production healthy. Read more about it here!
To this day, Gary is passionate about making sure consumers know what they are eating and making sure we know what is being put into our bodies, is safe. He is the Chairman of Just Label It. Go follow it now!
The second farm of the day was Churchill Farm in Cabot, Vermont. This was a completely different farm compared to the other two farms we visited! They had a robot that milked their cows daily! It was so neat to see how their farm ran on technology, daily. Each cow knew where to go and what to do when it was time to be milked.
This family was so sweet and you could definitely tell that the entire family works together for it to be a success.
My entire weekend in Vermont was filled with amazing food, meeting and creating some great friendships, kissing lots of cows, and most importantly, I learned how big of a role Stonyfield plays in the agriculture world. They truly care about the farmers and about what consumers are eating daily. I feel so blessed to be a part of spreading the word!
I had soooo many photos! Take a look at #StonyfieldFarmTour to check out all the amazing pictures!
two words…..maple milk. That’s Vermont in a nutshell right there. Looks like you had a great trip!