Fat Toad Farm is a small, family owned and operated goat dairy run by husband and wife team Judith Irving and Steve Reid and their daughters Calley Hastings (currently on sabbatical in New Zealand!) and Hannah Reid.  Our family has spent several years building a high quality Alpine and Saanen goat herd. In the Spring of 2007, we took a major leap and became a certified goat dairy producing fresh goat cheese and goat’s milk caramel (cajeta). We also raise the majority of the food we eat – everything from dried corn for cornmeal, to raspberries for jam. We also barter milk, pork, eggs and of course cheese with our neighbors for products that they produce like maple syrup and honey.

Our Goats

The goats are the heart and soul of our farm, their health and well-being is our highest priority.  Our 47 milking does (female goats) are rotationally grazed during the pasture months on twenty acres of neighboring green pastures, they are also fed high quality grain and hay to supplement their diet. The does are bred in the fall by our four beautiful bucks, Evan, Thunder, Obe, and Mr. Buckley, and after a five month gestation period they will kid in March. Baby goats (kids) are called doelings if they are females and bucklings if they are male. We keep some doelings that will become future members of our herd and raise them together with their mothers.We take great pride in the quality of our herd and their milk and always use the freshest milk to make our caramel and cheeses.  Follow these links to learn more about how we make cheese and caramel.

Our Pigs

Pigs play an important role on the farm. Their great passion in life is whey, a bi-product of our cheese operation. They love it and we love that it gets recycled! In addition to grain, the pigs also consume leftover veggies, food scraps and apples from our orchard.  We barter the majority of the pork we produce with the neighbors and our surrounding community in return for pasture grazing rights.

Our Chickens

Our 40 laying hens also have a very important function on the farm. Like the pigs, they often act as the clean-up crew. In the spring, they roam around free range scrounging for insects of all kinds. In the summer months, they live on pasture in a chicken tractor and are fed whey from the cheese making operation, organic grain, grasses and insects from the field. Some of uor organic eggs are sold at our farm store but mostly we eat ‘em ourselves!

Our Food

In cooperation with our good friends and neighbors John and Lynn Lypkvoich of Spruce Lane Farm, we also grow roughly 80% of our own food and spend a great deal of time in the gardens and greenhouses.  John and Lynn know just about everything there is to know about all kinds of organic vegetables, fruits and berries and sell their mouthwatering goods at the Norwich Farmer’s Market every Saturday throughout the summer.  Enough food is grown in the summer months to provide for both the Spruce Lane and Fat Toad families and interns throughout the year. During the harvest season you can find us in the kitchen canning, freezing and preserving produce. We also have a root cellar in which we store other crops such as, potatoes, garlic, and onions. Good, healthy food is one of the cornerstones of our lives.

Our commitment to the environment

Our family harbors a deep love of Vermont and a strong connection to our natural environment.  It is important to us that we act as careful stewards of the land that sustains us.  We utilize local and organic products and services whenever we can and endeavor to conserve resources as much as possible.  Early in 2011 we started working with Efficiency Vermont to help us increase our efficiency and reduce our energy consumption.  One of our primary goals for the coming year is to devise a way to reuse and recycle the heat that is produced during the caramel making process.   We are also very craft re-users and recyclers of our product containers.  We re-use cheese containers for frozen tomato sauce, pesto, apple sauce, etc., and re-use our jars for herbs, beads, change – just about anything you can think of!

Our Neighbors

Food is alive and well in Central Vermont and we are grateful to be part of this agricultural community. We rely on each other for support, encouragement, equipment and skills. We work hard to grow our own food and manage our own farms, and we always celebrate our hard work with food! We have recently helped to form the Floating Bridge Food and Farms Cooperative, an organization designed to bring together local farms, restaurants and lodging to strengthen the community and to offer agricultural experiences to the public.

Our Interns

Fat Toad Farm simply could not exist without the enormous effort and dedication of our interns. Depending on the time of year we have between 2 and 5 interns working side-by-side with us on every aspect of farm work, from milking goats to making cheese, to stirring caramel, and digging potatoes.  If you are interested in applying for an internship please contact us directly and we will send you an application.

Our Farm Name

Many people ask us how we decided on the name Fat Toad Farm, good question!  For generations this land and farmhouse we occupy was known as Apple Hill Farm in honor of the apple orchard surrounding the house, but when Steve, Judith, Calley and Josey (Calley’s older sister) were ready to register a farm website in the spring of 2007, they discovered the name Apple Hill Farm was already taken. That same spring, as the world began to thaw and return to life, the family started to noticed the significant population of well-fed toads hanging out in the gardens, barns and orchard.  Toads are very sensitive to their environment – they are known as an indicator species and would be the first to flee unhealthy soil or water. The toad population seemed like a good omen, and so Fat Toad Farm was born.  Our good friend and neighbor Ed Koren, a cartoonist for the New Yorker, created our fabulous logo and we were off to the races!

Our Newspaper Delivery Service

“Molly, go get the paper.”