Spring Brook Farm

Reading, VT

Spring Brook Farm, a traditional dairy farm located in Reading, Vermont, covers 1000 acres and houses 100 registered Jersey cows. Additionally, it operates a cheese operation focused on Alpine cheeses, including Tarentaise and Reading. The farm also hosts the Farms for City Kids Foundation, serving as an outdoor agrarian classroom for children from urban centers.

An apprenticeship at Spring Brook Farm involves learning the art of cheesemaking in the French Alpine style. This includes processes such as flowing the milk, adding culture and rennet, cutting the curd, cooking the curd, draining the vat, pressing, turning, brining the cheese, and aging it.

Spring Brook Farm has a twofold mission. Firstly, it serves as an outdoor agrarian classroom for children from urban centers through the Farms for City Kids Foundation. Secondly, it produces top-quality raw milk cheese. Students who visit the farm learn about various subjects such as biology, chemistry, economics, health, and nutrition through participation in the day-to-day activities of the farm. In addition to cows, Spring Brook also raises vegetables, hay, goats, chickens, pigs, and turkeys.

The farm's herd of registered Jersey cows produces over 600,000 pounds of milk per year, which is then converted into wheels of cheese. Jeremy Stephenson, the head cheesemaker at Spring Brook, underwent training with a French cheesemaking consultant to master his craft. He now produces three varieties of cheese inspired by the cheesemaking traditions of the French and Swiss Alps.