Book Honors Dedication, Passion of Vermont Women Farmers

Maegan Crandall
Correspondent

There is something inspirational about Vermont.

It might have something to do with the beautiful landscape — mountains, valleys, green fields and small farms that form the backdrop for quaint towns nestled inconspicuously along winding, country roads.

Perhaps it is the people — natives and non-natives alike — who have chosen to make this state their home.

When you read the intimate stories of the women in Peter Miller’s book, “Vermont Farm Women,” it becomes apparent that both the land of Vermont and the women who work directly with it are equally inspiring.

“Vermont Farm Women” chronicles through interviews and photographs the lives of 44 Vermont women in agriculture who represent dairy, sheep, goat, emu, horse, chicken and Christmas tree farmers, vegetable and flower gardeners, loggers, sawyers and matriarchs. They talk about their struggles and accomplishments, their passion for the land and its preservation, caring for the soil and nurturing the animals, selling their fresh products locally and regionally, keeping their produce free of chemicals, and above all being independent and free to work the land.

According to Miller, the essence of this book is about small farms serving their communities and in some cases their neighboring states. It is about keeping Vermont an agricultural state on a personal and community level. It is also about the small-farm movement pushed by Vermont women.

According to the most recent Census of Agriculture, about half of Vermont’s 6,500 farms reported having at least one woman operator.

Rosa Wallace is one such farmer.

For 136 years — and five generations — Wallace’s ancestors worked the land. Today Wallace works as a single farmer and owns a dairy herd with 225 acres where she farms the same land that her great grandmother Lavinia once farmed.

Although Wallace has watched her town of Waterbury change from an agricultural community to a bedroom town, and the once seven farms that existed when she was a child now dwindled to two, Wallace remains connected to the land.

“I am a Yankee Vermonter. I am high blooded. I have the right to be. I was born to be. So I prefer to hold on to this farm as long as I can,” said Wallace.
Even offers from developers for more money than she can imagine can’t persuade her.

In addition to dairy farming, Wallace invites city kids to live with her during the summer, and school children to visit the farm.

Another woman dairy farmer featured in the book is Kelly von Trapp, who milks 40 head of Jerseys with her husband Martin. They live in a brick house that was built in 1810, and work out of a barn that was constructed a century later.

Like Wallace, von Trapp lives in a picturesque area of Vermont in a town called Waitsfield. The once abundant dairy farms and cow barns have been replaced with converted stables, Thoroughbreds, and trophy houses.

Kelly von Trapp and her husband split the chores with Kelly responsible for book keeping, maintaining a large garden, splitting wood, sugaring, and stacking as many as 900 bales a day of hay during the haying season.

The work is demanding and von Trapp feels it is a simple, good life — but she expresses concerns.

“I feel good at farming and have satisfaction in preserving our landscape. I can find peace in a cow pasture, field, or woods, but sometimes I wonder if it is appreciated. All our neighbors and our community like having farms and open lands. We pay six thousand a year in taxes, and some will say, with our 100 acres, that is not much, but it is a big chunk taken out of our income. I feel we are doing a service to the community and to the state. The towns don’t give much to farmers, although we make it more attractive to tourists,” said von Trapp.

Like many of the women farmers featured in Miller’s book, Mary Beth Fischer, a small pig and cattle farmer from West Springfield, values the idea of sustainability and selling her products locally to the community.

“What I do is local to local and it’s fun growing produce that people feel good about and eating and not wondering where it came from. I enjoy it. I’m an outdoor person and hate doing anything inside,” said Fischer.

Fischer has eight sows that deliver about eight pigs each annually, 40 cattle, a crossbred milking cow, a flock of chickens, and a horse. The farm provides enough to provide food for her family, and a small amount to the neighbors.

Janet Bailey of Fair Winds Farm in Brattleboro also values the practice of sustainability where she owns a horse-powered, organic, diversified family farm of 42 acres.

Bailey and her husband Jay originally purchased the farm from Claude Tate through a small land trust. Tate wanted Bailey and her family to move into his house and begin farming the land again. The Bailey’s accepted and started with one Jersey and some pigs and chickens. According to Bailey, the first years were hand-to-mouth — she had no capital, but still had meat, milk, eggs, and produce.

In 1980 Bailey and her family decided to grow vegetables and sell the produce locally at the Brattleboro farmers market. At the time, the market was small and dying and needed growers. The market’s sales eventually grew from $10,000 a year to $13,000 each Saturday.

Now the Baileys also own five workhorses, 325 chickens, and five pigs.

“Diversification is the key. We try to balance our income among eggs, vegetables, flowers, and horses — which includes sleigh rides and horse workshops — so if there’s a drought, or no snow, one of our other endeavors will cover the bill,” said Bailey.

Bailey also points out that each enterprise the farm uses resources from the others. Bailey believes this kind of sustainability is one of the reasons why her workshops are growing — people have global concerns.

Bailey believes sustainability is a social and spiritual belief.

“I feel horsepower makes sense. It makes us independent from gas and oil, which are at the roots of our conflicts,” said Bailey.

Author Peter Miller was born in New York City and moved to Vermont as a teenager where he began experimenting with photography, shooting local farmers and school activities. Miller went on to train as an assistant in Europe, and as a U.S. Army Signal Corps photographer stationed in Paris, and worked for LIFE magazine for five years. Miller has also published “Vermont People,” “Vermont Gathering Places,” and “People of the Great Plains.” For his trilogy of books on Vermont culture, Peter was named 2006 Vermonter of the Year by the Burlington Free Press and the Vermont State Legislature.

“I have learned,” Miller said, “that it sure is fun to travel, but the best material for photographs and for writing can be found in the region in which you live.”

Additionally, the Vermont Farm Women’s fund was established by Miller, who donated a percentage of the sales of his book and a gallery of photographs from “Vermont Farm Women,” to the fund. The fund supports farm business development awards for education and travel, and leadership development awards which aim to help women farmers develop skills, access, and opportunities to provide leadership in agricultural policy development.

For more information on author Peter Miller, or to purchase a copy of “Vermont Farm Women,” visit his Website at www.petermillerphotography.com.