The Farmer's Share

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Today’s episode comes to you from Williamstown Vermont where we visit with Jon Waner and Karin Bellemare of Bear Roots Farm and The Roots Farm Market. Together they’ve built up a 20 acre vegetable farm and local goods store in Central Vermont. Jon starts off by sharing how they got started in Long Island, and how they ramped up their business here in the Green Mountains. Karin joins in later on and talks about how business coaching (a few times), grants, and personal growth helped get them to where they are today. 

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Visit the website to see photos/videos from the visit: https://thefarmersshare.com
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Today’s Episode comes to you from Brookfield Vermont where we visit with Kyle Dodda and Betsy Simpson of 1000 Stone Farm. They’ve got many balls in the air with a wide range of crops from veggies to perennial fruit, eggs and meat, hard cider and a restaurant. They sell retail out of a farmstore, wholesale, CSA & go to a farmers market. This seems like a lot to me for a couple growing on about 5 acres, so I joined them in a conversion to figure out what motivates them and how they manage such a diverse business.

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Visit the website to see photos/videos from the visit: https://thefarmersshare.com
Follow the show on Facebook and Instagram: @thefarmersshare
Subscribe to the YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thefarmersshare

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Today’s Episode comes to you from Bradford Vermont where we visit with David Pierson of Pierson Farm. After 42 years of running a mixed vegetable farm to supply a roadside farm stand, with 3 acres of strawberries being one of the big draws, he was able to retire, leasing the farm to a long time employee Dan. We start off the episode walking the farm where the crew is actively planting a new batch of strawberries, check out the farm stand and reflect on the challenges of farming with today’s expensive circumstances, then he shares the benefits of getting to live up to the motto “adventure before dementia.” Thanks for listening. 

Support the show

Visit the website to see photos/videos from the visit: https://thefarmersshare.com
Follow the show on Facebook and Instagram: @thefarmersshare
Subscribe to the YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thefarmersshare

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Today’s episode comes from Granville Vermont where we visit with John Hirsch of Clearfield Farm. With over 10 years under his belt he’s refined his farm business to be lean on labor and focused in scope as his primary crops are wholesale carrots and potatoes. He’s also excited to be getting into grain and doing more intensive rotations with cover crops. We start off the episode with a look at his new harvester, hop in the truck to check out the fields, before digging deeper into his motivations and visions of his farming career later in the episode. 

Support the show

Visit the website to see photos/videos from the visit: https://thefarmersshare.com
Follow the show on Facebook and Instagram: @thefarmersshare
Subscribe to the YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thefarmersshare

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Today’s episode comes to you from Worthington Massachusetts where we visit with Trip Shaw of Four Corners Farm. He’s been growing over 16 years and produces over 8 acres of mixed vegetables for his newly built farmstand. We start off the episodes in this new farm building which has a front porch, farmstand, wash/pack space, walk-in cooler, and even a commercial kitchen space where value added goods will be made to round out this farm stand with coffee, sandwiches, and other taste goods grown on location. We then talk about his Farmall 140 tractors outfitted with new Tilmor tools, walk through the fields and check on the greenhouses before circling back to the barn. 

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Visit the website to see photos/videos from the visit: https://thefarmersshare.com
Follow the show on Facebook and Instagram: @thefarmersshare
Subscribe to the YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thefarmersshare

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Today’s episode comes to you from Plainfield Vermont where we visit with Kagen Dewey and Elise Magnant of Blackbird Organics. They’ve been farming since 2018 and have set their roots on their own farm with high tunnels and field production. We start off the visit with a tour of the greenhouses, walk around the fields, then circle back into a tunnel to hear how they are building their farming career. 

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Visit the website to see photos/videos from the visit: https://thefarmersshare.com
Follow the show on Facebook and Instagram: @thefarmersshare
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Today’s episode comes to you from Newbury Vermont, where we visit with Bob Gray of 4 Corners Farm. He and his wife Kim purchased the farm in the late 1970’s after finding success selling their abundance of vegetables at a farmers market and overtime built a highly diversified farm that supports them and their children. Bob shares about the importance of cow manure, greenhouses and attention to detail, and reflects on his career as a farmer in Vermont. 

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Visit the website to see photos/videos from the visit: https://thefarmersshare.com
Follow the show on Facebook and Instagram: @thefarmersshare
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Today’s episode comes to you from Jericho Vermont where we visit with Spencer Hardy and Jake Kornfeld of The Farm Upstream (https://www.thefarmupstream.com). They are friends who are just setting roots on this new farm and share how they've structured their business to grow collaboratively to support multiple households. 

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Visit the website to see photos/videos from the visit: https://thefarmersshare.com
Follow the show on Facebook and Instagram: @thefarmersshare
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Today’s episode comes to you from Shaftsbury Vermont where we visit with Andrew Knafel of Clear Brook Farm. As he just farmed for the 30th season we reflect on how they grows on about 30 acres and in 11 greenhouses. He markets mixed vegetables and bedding plants mostly all   sold from his retail farmstand. We start off the episode with a look inside a couple of his high tunnels, talk about a large cooler build, and then hang out in the display greenhouse during the December rain to reflect on how he got started, and learn what sustainable farming means to him through the lens of his farming career. 

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Visit the website to see photos/videos from the visit: https://thefarmersshare.com
Follow the show on Facebook and Instagram: @thefarmersshare
Subscribe to the YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thefarmersshare

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Today’s episode comes to you from Johnson Vermont where we visit with Tony and Joie Lehouillier of Foote Brook Farm. They grow sod, and 35 acres of vegetables for both wholesale markets and their on-farm store. We start off the episode seeing what’s growing in one of the greenhouses in early December, take a look in the farm stand, then talk about how they cleaned up from the flooding that buried their entire farm. With over 4’ of water in their barn they lost crops, equipment, supplies, you name it, it was destroyed, or at least severely damaged.  

Vermont has been hit 3 times over the last two seasons with major flooding events and this is one of the farm’s that’s received the blow from each one of these. They are right on a major river and at the foot of nearby mountains, a familiar location for many farms across our region. 

Support the show

Visit the website to see photos/videos from the visit: https://thefarmersshare.com
Follow the show on Facebook and Instagram: @thefarmersshare
Subscribe to the YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thefarmersshare