Political unease, higher prices felt miles from Canadian boarder.
Every day for 6-year-old John Jenkins Jr. is sunny side up.
He’s a superhero running nonstop at the Hard Climb Farm & Stand, a family-owned dairy operation in the Northeast Kingdom, just 10 miles from the Canadian border.
“He’s a wild man,” said John’s mother, Kellie Jenkins. “He’s the one who does the tours when people come here on the farm. He’ll tell you all about it, show off all his animals.
“When he was born, he was given his first cow, and it was registered in his name. So now he owns six animals. So, he’s pretty proud of that,” she added.
Jenkins says he shows the dairy cows through the 4-H club.
“He’s got all his little fun ribbons, but he’s one of the kiddos that is the most helpful,” she said. “He sees poop under a cow, the one’s not his, and he’ll go help scrape it up. He’s a big helper around the farm here. He loves to be with his dad, loves living on the farm.”
The 48-acre farm raises cows, chickens, ducks, and quail. They sell the milk and eggs along with maple products and local handmade items, in a small, enclosed farm stand. It is open 24/7 and is unattended. Jenkins says it successfully operates on the honor system.
“I don’t think we’ve ever gotten hugely stiffed. Maybe a couple of bucks here or there because people don’t know how to do math,” she said. “But everything seems to be working out.”
They have a camera at the stand, she says, gesturing toward the ceiling. “We want to extend the honesty and trust to the community, and that goes a long way.”
The clientele that rides by their farm, on Route 100, is eclectic. There’s the Amish who settled nearby and use horse and buggies to clip-clop along at 10 miles per hour. There’s city folk in SUVs and trucks zipping to a local ski resort, and there’s also the Quebec neighbors.
There’s no doubt Canadians have been shaken by both the tariff talk and the overall tone of the Trump administration.
“Anybody who comes here and who might bring up that conversation, my husband automatically apologizes like, ‘This isn’t right. None of this is,’ ” she said. The family welcomes them all. One of the rules posted on the wall reads “Mind our own biscuits.”
The political uncertainty is also bad for business, Jenkins says.
“It’s pinched us for a little bit where nobody wanted to come over across the border,” she said. “I think it’s easing back a little bit. I think people are like, ‘You know what? It is what it is.’ We’ll see how the summer goes.“
On Easter Sunday the close-knit family all worked together to milk and feed the 45 milking cows and clean the barn.
Touring with John Jr. is fun. Mud doesn’t faze him. He’s been adopted by a cat that belongs to an Amish family down the road, that follows him around. He’ll warn you to stay clear of the bull who likes to poke people, as he climbs around the barn like it’s a jungle gym.
He likes to kiss the baby chicks before returning them to warming lights. He’s got a bicycle tractor that he uses to haul hay, and he follows his dad around doing chores, including milking the cows.
The farm sells raw milk, which is tested to meet state regulations. As part of the rules, people who buy it must leave their contact information.
“Raw milk is real milk, straight from our cows,” Jenkins said. “We drink it, and my son’s grown up on it. There’s a lot of research out there, so people can make their own determinations.‘’
They also sell fresh chicken, duck, and quail eggs.
“The egg scare was something else,” Jenkins said, referring to recent shortages and rising prices.
“We couldn’t keep our eggs on the shelf. … Ours are still only $6 a dozen, which is still reasonable. People were totally understanding.”
She believes the egg scare is over, but ”we’ll see.”
Life isn’t easy in the Kingdom, but it sure is beautiful.
“We’re a small, genuine family farm,” she said. “I think we’re going to stay in it as long as we can, as long as it makes sense.‘’
She also works full time as a director at Ready, Set, Grow Childcare, in Newport, Vt., to help make ends meet.
Now she watches as John Jr. reclines on his tractor, like he’s doing a celebrity shoot for Vanity Fair.
“It’s a great place to raise a kid… Here, it’s all manual labor. Our best friend is a shovel and a pitchfork and a wheelbarrow.”
John Jenkins Jr., 6, takes the neighbor’s cat for a ride after all the chores are done.Stan Grossfeld/Globe StaffYou can now read the most important #news on #eDairyNews #Whatsapp channels!!!
You may be interested in
- Topics |
- Dairy farm
Legal notice about Intellectual Property in digital contents. All information contained in these pages that is NOT owned by eDairy News and is NOT considered “public domain” by legal regulations, are registered trademarks of their respective owners and recognized by our company as such. The publication on the eDairy News website is made for the purpose of gathering information, respecting the rules contained in the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works; in Law 11.723 and other applicable rules. Any claim arising from the information contained in the eDairy News website shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the Ordinary Courts of the First Judicial District of the Province of Córdoba, Argentina, with seat in the City of Córdoba, excluding any other jurisdiction, including the Federal.
Related
notes
BUY & SELL DAIRY PRODUCTOS IN
Latest News
Featured
Join to
Most Read
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
News by State
World
eDairy News Spanish
eDairy News PORTUGUESE
The most visited dairy news website in the world.
