Fat Toad Farm

Caramel

From Fat Toad Farm’s Website: Fat Toad Farm is a small family-run goat dairy located in the hills of Central Vermont. It is run by our family, Steve Reid, Judith Irving, and Calley and Josey Hastings. Our goal is to work closely with the land and our animals in order to produce healthy local food for our customers. Our family has spent the last several years building a high quality Alpine goat herd. This past year, we took a major leap and became a certified goat dairy producing fresh goat cheese, goat milk caramel, and farm fresh and pasteurized goat milk.  Our twenty does are rotationally grazed during the pasture months and are fed grain and local hay to supplement their diet.

The process for making caramel from goat milk is quite different than making cheese. It’s more like making maple syrup. We hand-stir fresh goat milk and organic cane sugar over the stove for about four hours. During this time, the sugars in the milk and the sugar caramelize and produce the most incredible creamy caramel sauce. Rest assured that a lot of deep thinking and bad singing to the blasting boom box go into this caramel!

Mascot


We sell our caramel in single 8 oz jars or in a one-of-a-kind wooden box with sliding top, made locally by Vermont Wooden Box Company, which features one jar of each flavor.  Visit our website at http://fattoadfarm.com.

Fat Toad Farm Caramel is available at the Hannah Grimes Marketplace!

Farm of the Month: Brookfield Farm

By Jan Sevene, January 2009

Brookfield Farm
Holly and Christian Gowdy
460 Old Drewsville Road
Walpole, NH 03608
(603) 445-5104
Cdgowdyco(at)aol.com

Looking for quality organic meat, but prefer buying small quantities? Husband and wife team, Holly and Christian Gowdy of Brookfield Farm in Walpole, N.H., are making it easy to fill your order.

Although large quantities are available, to accommodate today’s smaller families, Brookfield Farm’s butcher creates smaller retail cuts. All vacuum-packed and frozen, their hamburg is sold in smaller portions of approximate one-pound packages. Most small steaks and roasts weigh-in no more than a convenient three pounds.

Certified organic, their grass-fed beef receive no grains, hormones, or antibiotics.
“It’s really good meat. Customers appreciate it is grass-fed, very lean and flavorful,” Holly says. “Mostly, I think, our customer base is focused on supporting a local farm. They appreciate the fact that the animals are right here in Walpole.”
In transitioning to include other meats, this past summer Brookfield Farm nurtured humanely raised veal and lamb, both grass-fed. Currently expanding to dairy production, the 200 certified organic acres they either own or manage are home to 6 Black Angus and 15 Normandy cattle, a sturdy French dual-purpose breed used for beef and milk production.

Farm tours are available by appointment. Call, email, or find Brookfield Farm on the Eatwildwebsite: http://www.eatwild.com/products/newhampshire.html. Either way, get to know the local Gowdy family, and the healthy, quality products they offer. They are waiting to convince you, “you can taste the difference.”

Other meat sources:

Country Critter Farm
Michael and Julie Thibodeau
240 Forest Lake Rd.
Winchester, NH 03470
(603) 239-8657
countrycritterfarm@earthlink.net
lamb

Winrose Farm
Bob and Ruth Jennings
103 Francestown Road
Greenfield, NH 03047
(603) 547-3390
winrosefarm@aol.com
http://www.winrosefarm.com
Pastured pork

Green Ledge Farm
Larry and Diane Savage
472 Poor Farm Road
Francestown, NH 03043
(603) 547-3454
larry@greenledgefarm.com
http://www.greenledgefarm.com
Certified organic beef

Eatwild.com is your source for safe, healthy, natural and nutritious grass-fed beef, lamb, goats, bison, poultry, pork, dairy and other wild edibles. This website provides:

* Comprehensive, accurate information about the benefits of raising animals on pasture.
* A direct link to local farms that sell all-natural, delicious, grass-fed products.
* A marketplace for farmers who raise their livestock on pasture from birth to market and who actively promote the welfare of their animals and the health of the land.

What Does a Local Living Economy Mean to Us?

In November 2009, a group of community members gathered to explore the concept of a Local Living Economy.  The BALLE Network has its own definition, but what does it mean to us – citizens of the Monadnock Region?

Here is a small sample of ideas to describe a Monadnock Local Living Economy – What would you add?

The Monadnock Local Living Economy is a place where:

  • All citizens can have a great quality of life.
  • Our basic needs are met within our community and region.
  • Individuals realize that they are beyond the worth of their jobs.
  • Leadership helps identify common ground and overarching community goals.
  • Citizens are creating a new definition of what our needs really are.
  • Individuals and banks are investing in social capital.
  • We are working cooperatively and collaboratively.
  • All citizens are engaged and feel included.
  • Celebrating our community.
  • We are thinking of our community as a system.