Larson Farm and Creamery Appeal
Donation protected
Dear Friends of Larson Farm and Creamery,
Greetings for the holiday season and New Year.
This is a time of year to reflect on our accomplishments and goals for the future. To quote from our mission statement: The Goal of Larson Farm is to become financially sustainable while increasing our sustainability environmentally and socially. To become more deeply interfaced in the local food shed. To expand our educational impact, thereby our influence. To co-create a farm collaborative with a high quality of life for all, while influencing the world for good.
2018 was a year of growth for our creamery operation. Our products are now in the three large Burlington natural food stores and stores in Montpelier, Middlebury, Rutland and Manchester. Our milk and ghee is being delivered to customers in the Boston and North Shore area through Farmers to You. As exciting as this expansion into dairy processing has been though, we will continue to emphasize the value of our ‘Raw’ unpasteurized milk that is unfortunately limited by regulation.
Cynthia and I are excited about recent developments with the hiring of Equinox Food Brokers to help us expand yogurt sales. We are working out the details for Wilcox Ice Cream to distribute our gelato. They are really great people, helping us in every way they can. Gelato is in fact, our most profitable on a per unit basis, so we are ramping that up. Yogurt is second and the two are the focus of our marketing efforts
2018 was also a painful year with creamery manager turnover that led to product spoilage issues. We had to temporarily pull the plug on our Icelandic Skyr, sales of which had been rocketing upward.
In October our daughter Mercy, who was finishing her summer position on an organic farm in Colorado, came home and is now in charge of the day to day operations in the creamery, and doing a wonderful job. She and I designed test batches to try to locate the mold source in the skyr, and I expect to be back on line within the month.
Last summer our Dutch pasteurization vat was down for almost 6 weeks, and we limped along with the old 15-gallon Jaybee vat. Thank goodness we had that, but at huge expense to labor cost and reduced daily output which forced us to put off sales to the Upper Valley group of co-ops in New Hampshire, for which we have high hopes.
This month, we began to ramp up gelato production. On our first big run, the blast freezer that ‘hardens’ the gelato once it is packed failed. It has been over a week. Our refrigeration guy tried to save money be replacing a few parts, but this morning it became evident that we need a new compressor, bringing the repair cost to almost $2,000. A new one costs $6,500, so we are ahead with the repair, but wonder how we are going to pay for it.
We’ve also outgrown our walk-in cooler space. I am looking at a used refrigerated truck body as a good lower-cost solution.
So, dear friends, Cynthia and I have put all our chips on the creamery to make our farm financially sustainable and to keep the farm in operation, but we have run out of chips. We are in a really tight spot at the moment, needing more cash to cover these repairs and catch up on bills so we can be in a position to meet growing sales and continue nourishing the land and our neighbors. To this end, we will be raising the price of our bottled unpasteurized ‘Raw’ milk for the first time in 8 years from $4 to $5 plus deposit, though families who purchase 4 or more half gallons will still be able to get the old price.
Can you help us in some way through a financial gift so show your support of our mission? By joining us, you are making a statement that you want Larson Farm and Creamery to continue. You believe it is critical for our communities to have local sources of healthy and delicious fresh food. You want to be able to have food choices. You want food organically grown in a sustainable way that protects the environment, sequesters carbon in the soil. Your investment is like an insurance policy for nourishing food for yourself and future generations.
Remember, it is all about investing in the vision of the world we want for future generations.
We are happy to share our business plan privately with anyone who wants to help us. We need all the help, encouragement and good will we can get.
To your health and happiness,
Rich, for the Larson family
Larson Farm and Creamery
661 South Street
Wells, VT 05774
www.LarsonFarmVT.com
Greetings for the holiday season and New Year.
This is a time of year to reflect on our accomplishments and goals for the future. To quote from our mission statement: The Goal of Larson Farm is to become financially sustainable while increasing our sustainability environmentally and socially. To become more deeply interfaced in the local food shed. To expand our educational impact, thereby our influence. To co-create a farm collaborative with a high quality of life for all, while influencing the world for good.
2018 was a year of growth for our creamery operation. Our products are now in the three large Burlington natural food stores and stores in Montpelier, Middlebury, Rutland and Manchester. Our milk and ghee is being delivered to customers in the Boston and North Shore area through Farmers to You. As exciting as this expansion into dairy processing has been though, we will continue to emphasize the value of our ‘Raw’ unpasteurized milk that is unfortunately limited by regulation.
Cynthia and I are excited about recent developments with the hiring of Equinox Food Brokers to help us expand yogurt sales. We are working out the details for Wilcox Ice Cream to distribute our gelato. They are really great people, helping us in every way they can. Gelato is in fact, our most profitable on a per unit basis, so we are ramping that up. Yogurt is second and the two are the focus of our marketing efforts
2018 was also a painful year with creamery manager turnover that led to product spoilage issues. We had to temporarily pull the plug on our Icelandic Skyr, sales of which had been rocketing upward.
In October our daughter Mercy, who was finishing her summer position on an organic farm in Colorado, came home and is now in charge of the day to day operations in the creamery, and doing a wonderful job. She and I designed test batches to try to locate the mold source in the skyr, and I expect to be back on line within the month.
Last summer our Dutch pasteurization vat was down for almost 6 weeks, and we limped along with the old 15-gallon Jaybee vat. Thank goodness we had that, but at huge expense to labor cost and reduced daily output which forced us to put off sales to the Upper Valley group of co-ops in New Hampshire, for which we have high hopes.
This month, we began to ramp up gelato production. On our first big run, the blast freezer that ‘hardens’ the gelato once it is packed failed. It has been over a week. Our refrigeration guy tried to save money be replacing a few parts, but this morning it became evident that we need a new compressor, bringing the repair cost to almost $2,000. A new one costs $6,500, so we are ahead with the repair, but wonder how we are going to pay for it.
We’ve also outgrown our walk-in cooler space. I am looking at a used refrigerated truck body as a good lower-cost solution.
So, dear friends, Cynthia and I have put all our chips on the creamery to make our farm financially sustainable and to keep the farm in operation, but we have run out of chips. We are in a really tight spot at the moment, needing more cash to cover these repairs and catch up on bills so we can be in a position to meet growing sales and continue nourishing the land and our neighbors. To this end, we will be raising the price of our bottled unpasteurized ‘Raw’ milk for the first time in 8 years from $4 to $5 plus deposit, though families who purchase 4 or more half gallons will still be able to get the old price.
Can you help us in some way through a financial gift so show your support of our mission? By joining us, you are making a statement that you want Larson Farm and Creamery to continue. You believe it is critical for our communities to have local sources of healthy and delicious fresh food. You want to be able to have food choices. You want food organically grown in a sustainable way that protects the environment, sequesters carbon in the soil. Your investment is like an insurance policy for nourishing food for yourself and future generations.
Remember, it is all about investing in the vision of the world we want for future generations.
We are happy to share our business plan privately with anyone who wants to help us. We need all the help, encouragement and good will we can get.
To your health and happiness,
Rich, for the Larson family
Larson Farm and Creamery
661 South Street
Wells, VT 05774
www.LarsonFarmVT.com
Organizer and beneficiary
Sara Young
Organizer
Wells, VT
Cynthia Larson
Beneficiary