THE POWER OF THE FARMER COOPERATIVE: Catlin and Annie Claghorn of Taconic End Farm

Most new farmers rely on marketing to differentiate themselves from their peers, but for farmers of an older generation, self-promotion can prove uncertain and somewhat overwhelming territory. Supplying to a cooperative rather than directly to shoppers offered two long-standing dairy farmers the best of both worlds: a steady, familiar client without the fuss of advertising.

Humans have been cultivating land in one way or another for centuries. Yet even today, after years of innovation, farming remains incredibly hard work. Catlin Claghorn can attest to that. “I don’t know how the ancestors did it,” he says. “There’s always a period when chaos threatens to engulf you, usually around haying time.” Catlin and his wife Annie milk forty-eight Jersey cows on Taconic End Farm, their 100-acre property in Leicester, Vermont. The farm is aptly named; it is nestled near the Taconic Mountains, which run from northwest Connecticut through Massachusetts and end in central Vermont. Although Catlin and Annie sell raw milk, organic beef, and maple syrup directly from their farm, they primarily produce milk for Organic Valley, a farmer-owned, organic dairy cooperative comprised of family farms across the U.S.

For Catlin and Annie, dairy farming is somewhat of a beautiful mess. On any given day there is two rounds of milking to be done, fencing, haying, gardening, cleaning, spreading manure, cutting firewood, and of course general maintenance of machinery. They admit that work can feel monotonous, overwhelming, and exhausting all at once but are also quick to gush that a farming lifestyle allows them to dictate their own schedule, work together, eat wonderfully fresh food, and be close to their land and animals.

After all, a love of the natural world is what drew them both to farming in the first place. Catlin credits his suburban childhood in Fairfield, Connecticut for instilling in him a genuine curiosity about growing. He vividly remembers coming across the remains of an old stone mill in the woods near his house one day. As a young boy, he thought it nothing short of heroic that someone had carved such a beautiful and once-functional thing out of granite. He realized then that he had never seen grain growing in Connecticut and knew nothing about how it was processed. In fact, he’d never seen so much as a field of corn. He longed to better understand the connection between farm and plate, food and survival.

Annie loved animals from the time she was little. She took care of a pony growing up in Holden, Massachusetts, where her father was a computer programmer and her mother worked as a post lady and ski instructor. During her senior year of high school, Annie jumped on the opportunity to follow her two older sisters to Vermont, where she could attend the Grassroots Project in Craftsbury, now known as Sterling College. The Grassroots program specialized in hands-on Environmental Studies and gave Annie the opportunity to learn more about agriculture, forestry, and raising the animals she had always connected with.

Catlin and Annie’s stars crossed at a Rutland contra dance in 1983, when Catlin was working as a carpenter and Annie was working as a relief milker and café cook. With dreams of farming held close to their hearts, they decided to invest in a dairy together. They quickly fell in love with their present-day property thanks to its rich soil and affordable price. They began milking twenty Jersey cows and earned their organic certification a little over ten years later, in 1996. Both agree that their survival and success as small-scale dairy farmers is due to their organic status. “If it wasn’t for the organic market we would have dried up and blown away a long time ago,” says Catlin. He and Annie have been able to sell their milk for a higher--and steadier--price than conventional dairy farmers, many of who flounder under competition and fluctuating demand. The Organic Valley cooperative has also grown to become a huge name in the organic food industry, serving Catlin and Annie as an equally steady and reliable client.

Vermont itself has proven a stimulating home for the Claghorns, who find that small-scale, local farmers are now celebrated in the state, even if the percentage of people who actually eat locally is still small. It has been exciting for Catlin and Annie to observe this growing awareness about local food production because when they first bought Taconic End Farm, farming was not considered a particularly admirable endeavor. “Now there is a certain appreciation for small farmers and more of an education about what goes on to raise food…No one would ever have dreamed Middlebury College would have a garden twenty years ago. That’s a fun thing for us to see—all the young people that are so interested,” says Catlin.

The Claghorn’s son, Lewis, is one of those interested young people. Catlin and Annie homeschooled him on the farm and although he never showed a particular preference for farming as a youngster, he has warmed to it in recent years. After joining 4H, a partnership program between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the University of Vermont that allows high school students to collaborate on farming projects, Lewis developed en enthusiasm for large-scale dairy. He now studies dairy science at Cornell University and hopes to manage his own large herd of milking cows one day.

Even though the Vermont foodscape is more welcoming to new farmers than it once was, Catlin and Annie admit that earning a steady customer base today requires more business savvy and attention than ever before. “We see these young entrepreneurial kids that are just learning but right from the start they have the marketing thing down,” says Catlin. “It’s a lot to grow something, but on top of that to have the whole farmers’ market too…it’s a lot to juggle it all.” Lewis will certainly have to develop a different set of skills than his parents to find success within Vermont’s changing farming culture.

Although they haven’t had to build the marketing side of their business, simply being surrounded by fellow farmers and nature enthusiasts has pushed Catlin and Annie to grow as farmers. “God, everything—I’ve learned everything. When do you stop?...We grow things we never dreamed of—artichokes, dry beans. There are new foods to grow and new ways of growing it all the time,” says Catlin. He recently attended a Seed Savers Exchange meeting in Randolph, Vermont, where a group of elderly women impressed him with their knowledge of breeding plants and seed varieties. He and Annie also take advantage of Environmental Studies lectures at neighboring Middlebury College when they can. This year, they particularly enjoyed listening to the nature writer Janisse Ray read from her latest book about seed saving and biological diversity.

When their cows stop lactating for two months in the winter or whenever they find a spare moment, Catlin and Annie enjoy canoeing and kayaking, visiting art museums and brew pubs, and exploring Maine, where Catlin goes deep-sea fishing. Annie likes making homemade mozzarella, Colby cheddar, and blue cheese with their milk and thanks to Catlin’s penchant for experimenting in the garden, there are always new vegetables to can, preserve, and cook with. Although they haven’t found the opportunity to travel far from the farm due to the demanding nature of milking, Catlin and Annie are grateful for the Vermont beauty they experience every day. “You live somewhere long enough and it simply becomes home, and you like it because it’s your home…We’d love to go to England or here or there and hopefully we will someday, but you look around and realize it’s really beautiful here too,” says Catlin.

The following recipe calls for heavy cream, which can be made from the natural cream in raw milk available at Taconic End Farm. Chill a gallon of raw milk overnight to allow the cream to separate and rise to the top. Simply spoon the cream (about 2 cups) away from the remaining skim milk.

GRAPEFRUIT CUSTARD PARFAIT

Custard Layer

½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick)

¾ cup granulated sugar

2 tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp grated grapefruit zest

½ cup grapefruit juice

½ cup orange juice

½ cup heavy cream

4 egg yolks, lightly beaten

Compote Layer

4 oz grapefruit flesh, pith and peel removed (about ½ grapefruit)

4 oz cranberries, fresh or frozen

1 tbsp grated grapefruit zest

1 tsp grated orange zest

¼ cup grapefruit juice

3 tbsp orange juice

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 cups water

3 tbsp cornstarch

Whipped Cream Layer

1 cup heavy cream

1 tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

Garnish

1 cup crumbled gingersnaps to garnish (about 15 cookies)

Sections of fresh grapefruit (optional)

For custard:

Warm butter in a medium-size saucepan over medium heat until melted. In a small bowl, combine the ¾ cup sugar and cornstarch. Stir into melted butter. Add grapefruit peel, grapefruit juice, orange juice, and cream. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Remove from heat and gradually stir about 1 cup of the hot mixture into egg yolks. Add egg yolk mixture back to saucepan and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat and cook for 2 more minutes, stirring frequently.

Let custard cool in the saucepan for a few minutes and then place the saucepan in a large bowl of ice water. Stir frequently until custard is cool. Chill until ready to assemble parfaits.

For compote:

Put the grapefruit, cranberries, grapefruit and orange zest, grapefruit and orange juice, vanilla, sugar and 1 ½ cups of the water in a medium-size nonreactive saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook for 8 minutes over medium-high heat.

Dissolve the cornstarch in the remaining ½ cup water and add to the pan. Reduce the heat to medium and stir constantly until the mixture thickens, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool completely.

For whipped cream:

Whip the cream, maple syrup, and vanilla in a mixer until stiff peaks form. Chill until ready to assemble parfaits.

Assemble parfaits:

Spoon a layer of custard into the bottom of six tumblers. Follow with a layer of compote and then whipped cream. These first three layers should fill the tumblers half way. Repeat, filling tumblers completely. Chill for at least one hour.

When ready to serve, garnish parfaits generously with gingersnap crumbles and, if desired, sections of fresh grapefruit.

Serves 6