On-Site Dairy Processing Plant Breaks Ground;Â Will Offer Farmstead Cheeses and Other Products by Summer
The popular new dairy store at Appleton Farms in Ipswich, MA has expanded its dairy store hours to include Saturdays. Now you can pick up your Appleton Farms milk, grass-fed beef, eggs and other specialty items Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 2-6, Tuesday & Friday 11-6, and Saturday 11-3.
“Appleton Farms is one of the North Shore’s treasures, offering something for everyone – local foods, history and culture, public programs for all ages, special events and scenic trails,” said Farm Director David Beardsley. ” The expanded hours in the dairy store is just another reason to get out and explore the 1,000-acre working farm.”
Your Saturday visit doesn’t need to end at the dairy store. Appleton Farms’ newly remodeled LEED-certified Old House Visitor Center is open to the public Saturdays from 1–4pm. With a docent on-site, visitors can see firsthand how the Appleton family lived in the family museum room, discover what makes the house “green,” see our state-of-the-art industrial kitchen, and learn more about the prized dairy herd. The Old House, central to the 1,000-acre farm, offers easy access to more than 12 miles of maintained trails through woodlands and along pastures.
Appleton Farms, America’s oldest continuously operating farm, was given to The Trustees of Reservations by the Appleton Family in 1998. Since then, The Trustees have worked to make the property a welcome destination for visitors from the North Shore and beyond by restoring historic buildings, maintaining trails, providing a wide variety of public programs and supporting local agriculture with its active Community Supported Agriculture program. Most recently, The Trustees set it sights on bringing dairy products to the “community doorstep” by first establishing a jersey milking herd at Appleton Farms and then opening an on-site dairy store to sell milk to the public.
Led by award-winning cheese maker, John Miller, the farm has also broken ground on a processing facility on the farm that will allow The Trustees to make farmstead cheese, yogurt and butter for locavores and community members to enjoy.
“This summer at the dairy store cheese-lovers can look forward to sampling and purchasing a variety of cheeses, including a hard cheese, ricotta and a triple cream” said Miller. The hope is that the store will benefit all local farmers by increasing support for local farms and demand for local foods. As part of that effort, the store will specialize in products generally not available in other neighborhood farm stands.
If you’re hooked on the farm after your visit, return to “Meet the Cows in their Winter Home” on March 13th from 3-4:30PM. This family-friendly public program takes you inside the dairy barn during milking and the cost is only $4 for Trustees members, $5 for nonmembers (pre-registration is required).
To find the store and visitor center, enter the farm off of Route 1A in Ipswich. For more information or to register for a program visit www.thetrustees.org, call 978.356.3825 (dairy store) or, 978.356.5728 (office), or email appletonfarms@ttor.org.