Focus on Farms: Knoll Farm

An every-now-and-then series featuring the farms in the Mad River Valley

Knoll Farm bills itself as a “brave little farm.” It is that and so much more. Brave, beautiful, and historic, it has been a working farm since 1804, and its buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Turn off busy Route 100 in Waitsfield onto Bragg Hill Road, drive another mile or so, and you’ll reach a hand-painted wooden sign that alerts you to the delicacies available in the farm store but gives little hint of the treasure you’re about to encounter. Keep going.

Drive up the dirt driveway, park in the lot, and walk past the Farmstand farm store in the red barn selling fresh and frozen blueberries, popsicles, wooden bowls, grass-fed lamb, and skeins of wool from the Icelandic sheep that graze nearby. Resist the urge, for the moment, to stop and buy up everything in sight. Instead, head up the hill, crest the rise, and stop in your tracks at the panorama of the Northfield and Green Mountain ranges. As you stare, chickens may wander over to say hello. Nearby sheep may bleat greetings. 

Soak it All in

Sit on the bench to take in the view or wander the path to the blueberry orchard, where in late July and August, you can pick to your heart’s content. Do so on a Sunday morning, and you’ll be fortified with free cinnamon rolls fresh out of the beehive oven nestled among the bushes. Order a picnic basket in advance, lay a blanket on the grass, or find a sitting rock in the shade and indulge in goat cheese on crusty bread, salumi, pestos and jams, and sweet treats, all made right at the farm or sourced nearby.

Regeneration and Restoration

Knoll Farm is about restoration and regeneration—restoring both soil and souls.

Helen Whybrow and Peter Forbes, the stewards of Knoll Farm, farm in an organic, regenerative way to restore nutrients to the soil. They apply this same principle to its Better Selves Fellowships—using the peaceful, pastoral setting of the farm as a gathering place to ground cohorts of people working toward social and environmental change. In a series of retreats throughout the summer, groups come together to build relationships, make connections, and brainstorm ideas. When conservationists who care for the earth gather with leaders who care for communities, ideas generate and percolate into the world beyond the farm to move us all toward social justice.

It's a heady mission that has nurtured and resulted in change-making efforts around the country, such as the First Light land justice and conservation initiative in Maine. 

Think of the broad reach and impact of Knoll Farm as you stroll its paths and take in the views, grateful that such a place exists. And then, by all means, stop at the Farmstand farm store on your way out.

Knoll Farm is located at 700 Bragg Hill Road in Fayston, Vermont.

Photo Credit: Knoll Farm