The Barstow family would like to take a moment to acknowledge our staff during these last two, very strange weeks. Despite these stressful and uncertain times, the Barstow’s team has truly risen to the challenge. Our business has fundamentally changed during this pandemic. Instead of just customers at the counter, they are also at the … Read more
#FarmLove Winter on the farm is the trade off between wet gloves and the passable dexterity of frigid fingers. It’s the alley scraper frozen to the floor in a puddle of manure. It’s wrestling a newborn on a frozen morning into a warm calf jacket and a hot bucket of milk. Winter, like every season, … Read more
When we opened Barstow’s Dairy Store and Bakery in 2008, it was strictly to save the farm. The milk market was crashing and we needed a way to diversify the family business – or else. Hurried, stressed, but frankly, pretty excited, the Barstow family flung open the doors of the farm to the public in … Read more
On a chilly October Sunday, we hitched up the tour wagon, placed out some bakery samples alongside the Cabot cheese, and unlocked the gates, while tunes of vintage country bluegrass carried on the breeze. On October 6th, the Barstow family, and 22 other farm families, celebrated Open Farm Sunday in honor of Cabot Creamery Cooperative’s … Read more
The AgriMark Cabot Creamery Cooperative holds the Young Cooperators (YC) Leadership Conference for the next generation annually. The conference is meant to build leaders in the Cooperative, grow connection to our amazing brand, and network with fellow farmers. It’s one of my favorite weeks of the summer! This year, the conference was hosted right here … Read more
As we wrap up Dairy Month, the 2019 Dairy Month Lecture Series is also coming to a close. The Dairy Month Lecture Series has been my pet project for the last three years. I have basically become a professional eavesdropper, listening for any mention of milk, cheese, butter, and dairy farms – taking mental notes … Read more
“Gentle, gentle” a mother tells her 3 year old as he grabs handfuls of chocolate brown hair off of Moose the farmdog, who has ambled onto the Barstow’s Dairy Store and Bakery porch in search of crumbs and attention. I smile and reassure her that Moose is great with kids, in fact he’s got a … Read more
2019 marks Cabot Creamery Cooperative’s 100th year in operation – a century of commitment to the farmers in their co-op, the quality of their products, and the consumers who support Cabot. As a member farmer of the Cooperative, it’s a real joy to celebrate this milestone with our larger dairy team. Barstow’s Longview Farm has … Read more
Last night was Barstow’s second ever Dinner & a Speaker event titled Rural Prosperity: how we lost it and how we get it back. A huge thank you to Dr. Holly Hanson, history professor at Mount Holyoke College, for her fascinating lecture! Dr. Hanson outlined four relationships that contribute to rural prosperity: Farmer and Nature … Read more
I grew up in the Pioneer Valley, and as the kid of dairy farmers, my parents perfected the economical values of a “stay-cation.” I love my home and I’ve been lucky to have gotten to explore as a kid – and now as an adult. One place I had never been until very recently was … Read more