Episode 8 - Liberty Hill Farm
Christa Hein : Hey there. Welcome to the Farm Educators Roadmap. I'm Christa Hein, former non-profit girl turned farm education entrepreneur. I've spent the last 30 years creating hands-on programs that connect people to the land, animals, and the traditions that nourish our daily lives. If you're listening, you probably believe what I do: that farm education is needed now more than ever. Not just on rural farms, but in suburbs, cities, and everywhere in-between.
In this podcast, you'll hear real stories and practical advice from farm educators all across the country, people who are creating change through their programs in creative and inspiring ways.
Whether you're dreaming about starting your first program, are already knee deep in your own farm education work, or are just curious about how others are impacting their communities through farm education. You're in the right place. [00:01:00] Let's dig in.
Welcome to the Farm Educators Roadmap, the podcast where we explore the journeys of farm educators and those shaping the future of hands-on agriculture learning. I'm Christa Hein, and today we have a very special guest joining us. Beth Kennet of Liberty Hill Farm in Vermont. Beth and her family opened the doors of Liberty Hill Farm in 1984, and since then, they've been pioneers in agritourism, sustainability and farm-based education.
Their farm isn't just a working dairy, it's a warm, welcoming experience for guests from all over the world. As Vermont's first Green Agritourism Enterprise, Liberty Hill Farm blends traditional farming with conservation and energy efficient initiatives, all while providing guests with the opportunity to milk cows, bottle feed calves, and enjoy Beth's legendary farm to table meals beyond the farm.
Beth has been a driving force in environmental [00:02:00] stewardship, land conservation, and community building efforts. She's a spokesperson for Cabot Creamery, a leader in Vermont's farm to table movement, and a true advocate for connecting people with the land that feeds them. Her work has been featured in Gourmet, the New York Times, Travel and Leisure, and even Good Morning America.
Today we'll dive into Beth's journey, the role of agritourism in sustaining family farms, and how Liberty Hill Farm has created a model for immersive farm-based education. Beth, welcome to the Farm Educators Roadmap!
Beth Kennett: Christa thank you so much for having me join you. This is wonderful. I really appreciate your advocacy for farm-based education and the way you get out into the community, and now with your podcast, the world. This is wonderful. Thank you so much for including me.
Christa Hein : Yes, absolutely. Beth, can you take us back to the beginning? What inspired you and your family to open Liberty Hill Farm to guests way back in [00:03:00] 1984?
Beth Kennett: Wow. Well, actually, the economy. So in the early eighties, there was a lot of volatility in the economy and certainly in particular in the dairy economy.
Bob and I had purchased this farm in 1979, a big old farmhouse with 10 bedrooms, and we weren't gonna have that many children. So we had a neighbor who said, utilize the assets of the big old farmhouse and diversify your income in order to survive. So that was really the motivating force.
It wasn't because I had any grand goals back in 1984, other than the fact that I was Bob's hired man in the dairy barn. And we had two little kids, and by the time you paid for somebody to work in the barn with Bob, provide childcare for our children and you know, had the wardrobe to go out to work and travel over a mountain from our [00:04:00] little river valley, it would have taken a really good job.
So. this way, I was able to stay home, help Bob in the barn, work with the cows, work with the children, and provide a diversification of our income. What was interesting to me was, of course, in 1984 was when the whole bed and breakfast thing started and people would call me up and want bread and board or bed and butter, didn't even know what a bed and breakfast was, and I quickly found out that it wasn't the bed, the pillows, or even the pancakes.
It was truly the cows and the opportunity for people to engage in the farm and learn about dairy farming, learn about agriculture, learn about what we do with our land, and that became really not only the driving force for our business. but a tremendous opportunity [00:05:00] for our family to really engage with people.
And they loved it. They responded. It was even before the term agritourism was really out there. It was really, really interesting.
So we started hosting guests at our dinner table in 1984, and by the late eighties, I had a professor from the University of Vermont who came to me and said, you are doing a thing, this thing is real and we need to talk about this with other people. And Bob Townsend from the University of Vermont was working with Ella Real at UC Davis and they were like, okay, how do we put structure around? What do we call this? It was really fun to work with a professor from California, a professor from Vermont, and say - okay, what do we call this? How do we structure this? So that's kind of where I got started personally and professionally with that.
Christa Hein : So how has [00:06:00] the farm and the business evolved over the years?
Beth Kennett: So it's amazing. We have been incredibly blessed over the last 41 years of having people at our dinner table, and people who have come to visit the farm literally from across the country and around the world, as you said in the intro.
What's been amazing is how over the years more and more people are here for the farm. We are a destination. Absolutely. And they come in wanting to really learn about where their food comes from. That
in 84, there was not the farm-to-table movement that we know now. I can remember arguing, politely, with the Deputy of Agriculture in Vermont and the Deputy of Tourism because neither of them wanted to [00:07:00] support this crazy idea of people coming to visit farms. And I remember it being really, really difficult.
I had the incredible blessing of in 1998, our United States Senator Patrick Leahy, did a trade mission to Ireland. And Ireland, of course, as you know, all over Europe, “agriturismo”, agritourism, however you wanted to pronounce it, depending on what country and language you were speaking, was very popular.
Senator Leahy, he took me with him to Ireland, and it was there in 98 that I really, really understood and could see for myself that it's not about the bed, it's not about the pancakes or even the cows. It was the tremendous opportunity for economic development for rural areas. And that indeed Vermont, we have maple syrup and we have cows and Cabot cheddar cheese, and we had what it would take to [00:08:00] entice people to come visit our farms, have our maple syrup, engage with the cows, explore the rural areas, and contribute to the rural economy. And that really helped me. With that whole concept that agriculture, it wasn't about me, it was about economic development and it was the opportunity for farm families to really be able to provide income for the next generation to engage multiple members of their family. So you might have a family member that really didn't wanna milk the cows or really didn't wanna work with the crops, but maybe they had the incredible gift and skills of working with people.
And that gave them those opportunities to contribute to the farm economy and contribute to the whole package of agriculture. Case in point [00:09:00] is our daughter-in-law, our son, David's wife, Asha, grew up outside of Boston. And she was headed for grad school in Paris. She'd already lived in France for a year, she wanted to study international policy, had never met a cow until the day she met David. She is now our farm tour guide. She engages with our guests. She is thrilled to translate. What Bob and David and I take as common knowledge or basic biology or you know, and can translate it and provide for our guests these unique analogies, unique examples, and really take their questions and help them really understand what we're doing on the farm, how we do conserve our land and our water resources, and how we really engage in the farm community. And she's a great translator. Had never met a [00:10:00] cow until the day she met my son when, you know, she was really supposed to be in grad school in Paris.
Christa Hein : Yeah. Yeah, it is wonderful how that farm education model can really be a whole family experience. I found that with my own family as well.
Beth Kennett: That's great. That's great. I'm glad you understand that it's, you know, it's beyond the shovel.
Christa Hein : Uh huh. So, you mentioned sustainability. Liberty Hill Farm is known as Vermont's first Green Agritourism Enterprise. So, you mentioned a little bit about what that meant as far as the history of it. How does sustainability play a role in your farm with that kind of green enterprise?
Beth Kennett: Okay, so you know, I get an award from the governor of Vermont back, I don't know, 25 years ago, for being the first certified Green Agritourism enterprise in the state of Vermont.
And that came about because at that point in time, you know, the whole Green Hotel movement was really getting [00:11:00] going and I felt strongly that farmers are green and so I fulfilled all of the requirements of the Green Hotel, green hospitality, but what I brought to that whole protocol was the fact that as a farm, we are green on multi levels as a, a good example is we were able to get rid of our propane gas heat water heater for the barn because we have a unit that recycles the heat from the cow's milk to heat the water in the barn to wash all the milking system and provide hot water if we need it for baby calves. Whatever we need hot water for, it's the heat that comes off the cows milk. And so it's totally recyclable every day. When you milk the cows, it heats the water.
So, there's where some [00:12:00] really fun things that we could bring to that program that of course, you know, the hotel industry isn't like. But, there's many ways we're doing, uh, we're double cropping on our fields, so we do a cover crop here in Vermont. You, you really wanna cover your fields in the fall with a vegetation to help prevent soil erosion.
And of course, that's true throughout most of the U.S. So, our cover crop is triticale. Triticale is a grain that's between wheat and rye, and we harvest it in the spring rather than destroying the cover crop the ways some farmers do. They put it on to just hold the soil in place and then they get rid of it in the spring.
Instead, we have this early spring forage that we can feed to the cows. So I think for us, sustainability is really looking at every aspect of our farm and [00:13:00] seeing if it can do double, triple duty. Where can we utilize a resource in a way that improves the overall farm and provides these, you know, added benefits.
To me that's what sustainability is really about. It's not keeping the status quo. It's like adding benefits, contributing to the furtherance and I think for me, I grew up on a farm that had been in my mother's family in Maine since 1642, but my great-grandmother was native Abenaki. So I grew up literally playing on the graves of my ancestors and knowing that I had well over 350 years of being connected to that land.
And I now have my grandchildren here on the farm every day. They were here last night for supper. They'll be here this afternoon, you know? So we have three generations here constantly. We [00:14:00] know that all that we have and all that we do needs to continue on for multiple generations to come. So for me, that's what sustainability really means, is bringing, constantly contributing to help keep this going for more generations in the future.
Christa Hein : And it sounds like you're not just doing that with your farm, because it looks like you've also been involved in conservation efforts like the Connecticut River Farmers Watershed Alliance and the White River Partnership. So how does that work connect with the work on your farm?
Beth Kennett: I think in my mind, being so I serve as an appointment from the Governor on the Connecticut River Joint Commission, which is Vermont and New Hampshire, both sides of the Connecticut River. I’d helped create the Connecticut River Watershed Farmers Alliance, as kind of an outgrowth from Bob and I helping to create the White River Partnership 'cause we live on the White River, but White River [00:15:00] flows into Connecticut. The shorter answer is. It's important to me that farmers be at the table. Yes, that whenever there are questions about the environment, environmental stewardship, land conservation, that farmers be represented at that table and that we are actively engaged in creating policy and programs that will help us continue to contribute and make those improvements.
In all of our resources. That's why I go to meetings and my family's like, “where are you going now?”
But, what's been interesting over the years is going into a meeting, you know, with 30 people and you're the only farmer there, and they're like, why are you here? And I'm like, I’m sorry, farmers are paying property taxes on the land. And by the way, we're the ones whose livelihood [00:16:00] depends upon our land and water resources.
This is not just an abstract idea for us. This is something that is our life.
Christa Hein : Yeah. You know, as a farmer, I think that there can be lots of preconceived notions or misconceptions. What have you found as the most common misconceptions that people have about dairy farming, either when they meet you or when they visit?
Beth Kennett: So at first I was gonna say, well, when does a cow start giving milk? They, they…uhhuh. But I think one of the ones that I read yesterday was about how agriculture is low-skilled work. And our guests find out very rapidly, are stunned to learn about the complexity of farming in this day and age and how we integrate technology.
There's so many skill sets that you have to have to be able to farm. So one of the cool things in the last few [00:17:00] months is our son David has installed health monitors into our herd, which is basically Fitbits in the cow's ear. That monitors their movement, their digestive system, their temperature, it's an overall health monitor.
He knows when they're lying down. He knows when they're eating. He knows when they're getting up and moving around. He can tell if you know their agitated, maybe they're gonna start calving and he can read it on his phone. So the Fitbit that the cows wear, that information goes up to the satellite, comes down to a computer in the utility room of the barn, and then goes from there to David's phone so he can be at home four miles away and say, Hey dad, can you go check Padma? 'Cause you know she's not doing this or she's doing that. And Bob has to get up and go down to the barn and check on Padma because David saw on his phone. And the tremendous amount of information. We had a [00:18:00] guest here last weekend is a university professor and she loves statistics. So I whipped out our Dairy Herd Improvement Association statistics, and I just printed off the hot sheet for Bob and David before I talked to you, the tremendous amount of information and statistics for the cow's milk - quantity and quality and their genetics. We have that statistics for each individual cow collated back to the early 19 hundreds.
Christa Hein : Oh!
Beth Kennett: And we have their genetic pedigrees back to the 18 hundreds, and most of our guests don't know their family genealogy to the 18 hundreds, and they're like, you can trace these cows? We're like, yeah, we can trace 'em back to the first shipment that came over from Europe in, you know, 1880 and they're like, oh my land!
Yeah. So that's really fun. As well as David is doing in vitro fertilization and implanting embryos into our recipient heifers [00:19:00] and they're like, whoa, wait a minute. He's doing what? And he's like, oh yeah, yeah. Does the flush from the super cows and then, you know, fertilizes the eggs and implants the embryos, and they're like, okay, wait a minute.
Yeah. Oh yeah. This is not about shoveling. And taking soil samples from our fields and sending those off to the laboratory at Cornell and getting back the data. And the fact that our cows have a nutritionist that comes every couple of weeks to take samples of our feed as it changes through its fermentation over a year, and take those feed samples, sends those out to a laboratory near Cornell, and we get back the nutritional data that we then change the cows ration according to where they are in their stage of lactation and supplement, whatever our feed can't provide to the cows, so that they have all their proper prenatal vitamins that they need in order to [00:20:00] succeed and be successful in our herd. And people are like, well, wait a minute, you, you are using laboratory analysis on, yeah. And we're like, yes, absolutely.
Christa Hein : So, how big is your herd?
Beth Kennett: So, we are only milking about a hundred cows, so we have a very small herd. It's a small farm in Vermont. It's a small farm in the U.S. We have about 230 animals altogether because we raise all the bulls and heifers, all of them. And then we can sell the bulls when they're a year of age as breeding bulls to other dairy farms throughout the entire Northeast.
So all of New England, upstate New York, and then any additional females that we have, we can sell to other herds as well. So again, that goes back to your question about sustainability. Every animal, every aspect of the farm contributes.
Christa Hein : Mm-hmm. Yeah.
So, let's move on to your cooking, because your home cooking has been featured in Gourmet Magazine and beyond, so what role does farm-fresh food [00:21:00] play in the experience that you offer at Liberty Hill Farm?
Beth Kennett: What's amazing to me and I guess it's because, I grew up on a farm in Maine and have lived here in Vermont for 50 years, we have guests that have never had a farm-fresh local food. And I love particularly in the summer when I can point to everything on the table and tell you who grew it. You know like today, uh, while we're talking, Kevin and Paula are gonna come in downstairs to drop off my eggs. Like in Vermont, we know the hen that laid the egg. We know the tree that we tapped for the maple syrup on your pancakes. You know, we know the cow that made the milk. It's just that's what we do. But to be able to go around – my potatoes, I either get from Kevin or from Stewart Brown up on Jerusalem Hill. Stewart brings me carrots.
The sweet corn is from Julie who has the next [00:22:00] field north of us. They also sell beef. I can say who grew all the things on my table, and that blows my guests mind, because they don't know who made their food. And for me to say, oh yeah, you know, Kevin walked in, and we've had guests here when Walt walks in the front door with the blueberries and Kevin walks in the back door with the, they're like, this is crazy.
Yeah. So it's fun and it's fun to cook with things that grew here in our valley. My daughter-in-law, Asha, who I talked about, is the manager of our farmer's market in Rochester. You know, like I said, she came a long way from Paris, but it's so fun to engage our guests with when you go home, look for a farmer's market, look for a farmer, look for local food, and to, to really underscore [00:23:00] that that is what's wonderful and people will take my recipes home and they get home and they say, well, why doesn't it taste like yours? I'm like, well, my ingredients are awesome and amazing.
Christa Hein : Well, and that opportunity for them to connect to you as not only the cook of their meals but as you know, the farmer and the person who is raising that milk. I mean, I'm sure they're just leaving with their hearts and bellies full. But just that experience that they couldn't get, if they weren't right there with you.
Beth Kennett: Right, I think that one of the fun things for us, because we are part of the Cabot Creamery Cooperative, is that our guests here in the U.S. can go home and go in their grocery store and find our Cabot cheddar cheese, find our Cabot butter, and they're like, oh, I know the cow. I know Panina. She's so cool. And she made milk. It goes into this butter, it goes into this cheese, and so yeah, it's really, really fun.
Christa Hein : That's fantastic. So [00:24:00] what advice would you give to somebody interested in starting their own agritourism or farm education program?
Beth Kennett: Okay. My number one advice over the last decades of talking to people about it is make sure, and this may not be what you think it ought to be, but make sure that you have really strong family relationships.
Because when you open your farm, to guesst, you are opening your home, you're opening your life. And it's not like going into a grocery store. People are looking at what you do and how you do it in a very intense way. So you have to be sure that your family is united and supportive of this endeavor in agritourism.
And that is the number one most important thing is that everybody's on board, to however they might contribute to the ag. I mean, you know, Bob's not gonna flip pancakes. But [00:25:00] he certainly had to be supportive of my doing it. And what was really interesting in 1984 was that neither of our parents were supportive at all.
They thought we were nuts and as I said to you, I had to argue quite a bit with the Commissioner of Agriculture and the Commissioner of Tourism. There was a lot of non-supportive people in our life. So you have to find the people that do support you and are there for you and really understand that what you are doing.
It's not about making money. It's about opening your farm and your life to these guests and engaging with them on a very deep level. Because when people find out not just meet the cow that makes the milk. They're like, how do you care for her? How much do you care for her? And they wanna know that and that it's really important to be very open and [00:26:00] transparent. So that's not I’m sure the answer that most people, I've had people who were wanting to do the tourism go like, oh, wait a minute. Yeah, well, what's that got to do with anything? You know, I'm gonna do this business. And they see it as a business and it's far deeper than that.
Yeah. And if you truly engage in that way, your guests will feel that. They'll know you are caring for your animals, for your land, for your farm, for your community. And the other thing is that I advise people, make sure you have a good relationship with your neighbors as well. It's all about relationships.
Make sure you have a great relationship with a kid at the gas station. Because they're gonna be the one that the guests stop and ask directions to how to get to your farm. So you want the kid at the gas station, the woman at the checkout register in the local store to go like you are going to the [00:27:00] farm. You want them to be your advocates, to be your ambassadors. Yes. It, it sounds really funny to say. Yeah, the kid at the gas station is a great ambassador for the farm. It's real. Yeah, So look for your ambassadors in unique ways.
Christa Hein : That's such great advice. So what's next for Liberty Hill Farm? Are there any exciting projects or initiatives on the horizon?
Beth Kennett: So, Asha wants very much to develop more of the kind of more formal ag education piece. So we were asked by one of our guests several years ago to create a nonprofit 501c3. So we did Liberty Hill Center for Agricultural Education. And what Asha would like to do is to find people who are supportive that she, we have a little old schoolhouse on our property.
And she would like to be able to fix that up and actually use it for groups to come, whether it's school groups. I mean, we do a lot [00:28:00] with Girl Scout troops. What's hilarious - we do a lot with Girl Scout troops in Westchester, New York, outside of New York City. They come to Vermont and stay for a week and earn their SOW journey, SOW. SOW journey about agriculture. They also learn about cooperatives, and they learn about women-owned businesses. And we do a, a lot of, you know, kind of multi-level with the Girl Scouts. It's not just about they're going out and picking berries or milking a cow, but also understanding women in business, understanding the cooperative model. And it's not just for our dairy farm marketing co-ops, but co-ops extend to banking and insurance and lots of other things as well. So Asha would like very much to be able to convert the old schoolhouse into an ag schoolhouse to be able to accommodate workshops of for people of all ages.
Christa Hein : That is so exciting.
Beth Kennett: It's very exciting. Yes.
Christa Hein : [00:29:00] Well, for listeners who want to visit Liberty Hill Farm or learn more about your work, where can they find you?
Beth Kennett: www.libertyhillfarm.com.
Christa Hein : Awesome.
Beth Kennett: Really easy.
Christa Hein : Beth, this has been such an inspiring conversation. Your passion for farming. agritourism and sustainability shines through and it's clear that Liberty Hill Farm is so much more than just a place to stay. It's a place where people connect with the land, with their food, and with each other.
To our listeners, if you're looking for a truly immersive farm experience, whether it's milking cows, enjoying a farm fresh meal, or simply soaking in the beauty of Vermont, be sure to check out Liberty Hill Farm and you can find more information on their website.
Beth, thank you again for joining us and for sharing your wisdom with the Farm Educators Roadmap Community.
Beth Kennett: Thank you so much Christa. I appreciate the opportunity to be here, and our mantra, which is on a applique over my kitchen sink, says, “All the [00:30:00] world is welcome.”
Christa Hein : Beautiful. To all our listeners, if you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with fellow farm educators.
We'll be back soon with more stories, insights, and inspiration to help you on your journey. Until next time, keep growing, keep teaching, and keep connecting people with the land.
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