Big Picture Farm

Townshend, VT

Big Picture Farm is a small hillside goat dairy, farmstead confectionery and creamery located in southern Vermont. Their award-winning goat milk caramels and farmstead cheeses are made with fresh, raw, creamy goat’s milk from their herd of 40 healthy and happy, free-ranging goats. They also produce small amounts of aged goat cheese in the summer months and sweeten their chocolates with their own bees' honey during winter. As an Animal-Welfare-Approved farm, the health and happiness of the animals is central to their farm operations.

Big Picture Farm practices rotational pasturing for their herd on 88 acres from May to November, using solar-electric fences to move the goats twice daily for fresh forage. The goats are exclusively fed organic pasture and supplemented with GMO-free and organic whole grain, minerals, and alfalfa.

An apprenticeship with Big Picture Farm includes shadowing the milking of goats and various chores such as feeding pigs, chickens, cats, and dogs. Additionally, apprentices assist with the weekly cheese making, work in the garden, and handle miscellaneous tasks around the farm.

Each caramel that they produce comes from a specific place, and is made from the milk of a specific animal, eating specific flowers, leaves and plants at a specific time of year. What’s exciting for farmers Louisa and Lucas is taking a proactive stance on sharing this context with customers. A requisite for “local” food, they believe, should be that it arrives on the plate accompanied by an intimate knowledge of its production. Every goat on the farm has a name and plays host to visitors who are allowed to mingle with them on select days! The farm also boasts an agri-tourism spot for guests to experience life on the farm first hand.