Tim & Janet

By way of biography, let us try to answer the question most often asked of us, “How the heck did you start to farm in the first place?”  This is a fair question to ask of two kids who had grown up in the suburbs of New York City.  We attended Hobart and William Smith College in upstate New York where we met and fell in love. In 1973 after graduation we were married.  We lived in Germany for two years studying Art History while we learned German and explored Europe.  We returned in 1975 so Tim could study law at Vermont Law School.  Janet started teaching pre-school at the Norwich Day Care Center.  During  this period, our ambitions extended beyond teaching and the study of law to include learning carpentry, remodeling  a small cottage, hiking the Long Trail “End to End” and generally for Tim, doing anything to avoid studying law.  The rumblings of a new career were faintly heard.

After graduation in 1978, Tim started a clerkship in Norwich while Janet continued to teach.  We went house searching and found an affordable “fixer upper” in Post Mills.   Much to our chagrin, the house included 12 acres of prime agricultural land.  Silly as it may sound in retrospect, we were looking for a woodlot in order to cut firewood to heat our home.  What to do with this beautiful land?  Well for the first two summers, we had a large garden. Then in the spring of 1980, Janet stopped teaching and gave birth to Moriah, Tim finished his clerkship, and there was the land. 

Call  it the “Greening of America”, call it frustration with doing what was “expected of us”, call it simply “opportunity”,  there was the land inviting us to work with it.  And we did.  First we grew an acre of broccoli and corn selling it from a picnic table in front of our house and off our red truck in front of Chapmans in Fairlee.  The first few years were crazy busy raising a family and learning how to farm.  But they were very rewarding.  Patrick was born in 1982 and we expanded to the Norwich Farmers Market and started selling to restaurants.  We grew to 30 acres. After five years, we started making a profit, no longer relying on the largess of Tim’s parents who not only fed us but toiled countless hours to help assure our success. 

 Over the years as our family and farm grew, we have often reflected upon how lucky we have been to enjoy working the land with wonderful people helping us. We enjoyed raising our children in a nurturing community.  Janet has volunteered on the boards of the Thetford School District, Thetford Academy as well as the Cross Rivendell Trail.  Tim has enjoyed working on the Town of Thetford Development Review Board during several different decades.  He is a past president of the Vermont Vegetable and Berry Growers Association.  Teaching “Sustainable Vegetable Crop Production” for a semester at UVM was a highlight for Tim. 

We enjoy walking the woods and hiking mountains.  But of singular importance over the years has been working with and getting to know and perhaps imparting a little work ethic to several hundred young students looking for a summer job.   A few of their stories follow below.

Jamie Hosley

When he’s not out working in the fields or transplanting in a greenhouse, Jamie takes time to enjoy all things music.  An exceptional bass guitar player, Jamie is a member of a local band, About Gladice, with whom he frequently performs locally.  If you were to ask Jamie at the time he began working at the farm in the late ‘80s, he would have told you he was destined for CDs, radio, and stardom.  Twenty years later he’s still farming and is happy to be back again.  Most of the flowers, plants, and starts that occupy our greenhouses in the spring are the result of Jamie’s speedy transplanting.  In the summer, he plays an integral role on the tractor, cultivating everything from lettuce to pumpkins.

Philip Mason

Philip Mason began working at Crossroad Farm in 1998.  He was introduced to the farm as a strawberry picker and has continued to work every summer since.  After briefly considering a career in politics during his time at Colby College, Philip has decided to pursue agriculture full-time.  He will be returning to the farm full of fresh energy and ideas after a winter skiing and studying in Chelsea, Vermont.  When not farming, Phil loves to spend time hiking, trail-running, reading, and writing. 

Andrew Herrick

Andrew Herrick studied ecological agriculture at the University of Vermont, where he met farmer and mentor, Tim Taylor. While studying at UVM, he managed the student-run vegetable farm, Common Ground. Since his college days, Andrew has been gaining hands-on experience in sustainable vegetable production by working at the farm. He also enjoys coaching the Thetford Academy JV boys soccer team. He is looking forward to another great year of farming.

Christy Parker

Christy Parker has worked for the farm for ten years.  She enjoys creating hanging baskets in the spring and planting lettuce and broccoli in the summer.  Her incessant energy and enthusiasm make Christy one the farm’s most effective team leaders.  When she’s not leading teams of weeders and harvesters, Christy devotes all her attention to her daughter, Darby.  Even though “little Darbs” is only fifteen months old, Darby cannot wait to help her Mom in the field.

Abby Metz

Even though she is graduating from River Valley Community College in May as a Medical Assistant, Abby will be returning for her eighth summer at the farm.  Part-time DHMC phlebotomist at night and farm-hand by day, Abby enjoys the diversity the farm provides.  Seeding, planting, and assembling orders for our wholesale restaurant accounts are her favorite jobs.  In her free time, albeit limited by two full-time jobs, she likes to cook and play with her black lab, Maverick.