Farm Store
The Farm Market
Since our farm’s establishment in 2011 we’ve been selling our premium raw milk to local consumers from the tiny store housed within our dairy barn. With its big viewing windows which overlook the milking parlor, community members and customers were able to connect with us as they watched milking and chatted with Dan. Its small space, however, limited the fridge and freezer size we could accommodate and thus the amount of products we could sell. In the spring of 2020 we decided to expand that space and, with the help of Covid relief grants and loans, construction of a new, stand alone, dedicated retail building began. Opening on July 11, 2020 the Wayward Goose Farm Market is here! With a state funded Working Lands grant we purchased a commercial 3 door glass fronted display cooler and a 2 door glass fronted freezer, as well as a commercial dishwasher (to help us with the increased demand in our raw milk we needed a more efficient, quicker way to safely wash and sanitize all those jars and lids) and a new Point of Sale System to help make self check out easier.
All that fridge and freezer space is being put to good use! In addition to our own certified A2 raw milk, we have our own yogurt! Icehouse Farm Creamery in Goshen, VT transforms our rich milk into cream top plain and maple yogurt (with maple syrup from Echo Ridge) and it’s available in quart size containers. You’ll also find farmstead regional cheeses from Sugarhouse Creamery and Icehouse Farm’s goat dairy as well as eggs from Distance Farm and Maeflower Farms, fresh organic produce from Mighty Food Farm and Yoder Farm, and baked goods from our own state inspected and certified kitchen. Our beef, pork, chicken, and veal share freezer space with prime cuts from West Pawelt’s own Levy Lamb grass fed lamb as well as ice cream from Battenkill Valley Creamery. Pitchfork Preserves jams and pickles and fresh sourdough bread every weekend from Rupert Rising wood fired bread, along with Lucy Jo’s Coffee means we have everything you need for the best breakfast. Just add some wood fired maple syrup from Echo Ridge! We even have a petite pantry section stocked with staples so folks can get everything they need to create great, healthful meals.
An important component of our existence has been regular donations to environmental, racial and social justice organizations. Sometimes these donations are pretty meager, depending on our own financial circumstances. Other times, through dedicated fund raising efforts, we’ve been able to donate much larger amounts. Our core operating principle, as humans, is based on the simple idea that we should help offset the multitude of the world’s ills in whatever ways we can, no matter how small.
Farms and Producers
Battenkill Valley Creamery
Distance Farm
Echo Ridge Maple Syrup
Ice House Creamery
Laughing Child Farm
Levy Lamb
Lucy Jo's Coffee
Maeflower Farms
Meeting Place Pastures
Mighty Food Farms
Pitchfork Preserves
Progress Pops
Rupert Rising Bread
Shelter Vineyard
Sugarhouse Creamery
Toad in the Hole Studio
Trifolium Farm Honey
Yoder Farm
Directions
Market garden
Each spring we plant a market garden where we grow tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, cucumbers and squash for sale in the farm store. We also grow several different varieties of potatoes, as well as pumpkins and corn, using our 1942 Farmall cultivator tractor to weed between rows until the plants get too big. This little dynamo may be old but she sure does save our backs all with minimal soil compaction. Although not certified organic, we do use mostly organic methods in our market garden. Anyone who's ever grown potatoes knows a thing or 2 about potato beetles and they are a nuisance! We've been using diatomaceous earth, the powdery, fossilized remains of prehistoric hard shelled organisms, sprinkled on and around the plants and found this to work pretty well.
Our Milk
For the past few years we've been transitioning away from purebred Jerseys to crossbreeds that are better suited to a diet of mostly grass and very little to no grain. We now have Montbeliarde/Jersey cows and Jersey/ Milking Shorthorns. Montbeliardes are hardy cows originally from the Jura region of France and Switzerland and the only cows whose milk can be made into world famous Comte cheese. Milking Shorthorns are a heritage breed, also known for their vigor and their longevity. In addition, our cows have all been genetically tested by UC Davis and are certified A2A2. Cows’ milk contains two beta-casein proteins and “conventional” milk (the majority of which is produced by holstein cows because of their capacity for producing large quantities) contains both A1 and A2 beta-caseins. However, certain breeds of cows, typically old world or heritage breeds (like our Jerseys and Montbeliardes), produce milk in which the beta-caseins are both A2. Although more research needs to be done, studies suggest that some people with a lactose sensitivity can digest A2 certified milk.
We bottle our milk fresh most days and sell it raw, unpasteurized, in accordance with Vermont law, here on the farm at our self serve store.
