Farm to Plate Features

We all know that “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” Similarly, as any parent knows, you can put good, healthy food on kids’ lunch plates but that’s no guarantee they’ll actually eat it.

Hen of the Wood, so emblematic of the pastoral farm-to-table movement in Vermont, may go as far as a restaurant can to showcase the state’s bounty.

Lois and Maurice Maxwell started Maxwell’s Neighborhood Farm in 1957. Four sons (Stewart, Bradley, Anthony, and Jeffrey) and a grandson, Matthew, now operate the approximately 800 cow dairy. The Maxwells pursued a methane, or anaerobic, digester as a way to diversify their operation at a time of low milk prices.

In spite of successes, we are struggling to make our small farm profitable—which often leads to increased stress and a sense of failure. We’re grateful that we’ve been able to finance our startup ourselves, but we recognize that most of our farmer colleagues don’t have such reserves.