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Tuesday July 21, 2015 Edition
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Celebrating Dairy Family And Landmark Quality Happy 85th Birthday Monument Farms

Everyone loves a parade and especially when it celebrates Monument Farms products. Available all day at the celebration were cheese, milk, creemees, live entertainment and summer fun!
photo by Cookie Steponaitis
Everyone loves a parade and especially when it celebrates Monument Farms products. Available all day at the celebration were cheese, milk, creemees, live entertainment and summer fun!
Hanging on the walls of Monument Farms office are advertisements from local papers spanning the past fifty years. The special thing is that the same qualities that Monument Farms started with are the ones the third and fourth generation still prize today! Local and still going strong! Happy 85th!
photo by Photo Provided
Hanging on the walls of Monument Farms office are advertisements from local papers spanning the past fifty years. The special thing is that the same qualities that Monument Farms started with are the ones the third and fourth generation still prize today! Local and still going strong! Happy 85th!

Tuesday July 21, 2015

By Cookie Steponaitis

Monument Farms has 2500 acres and 500 cows give or take and is not the biggest dairy in the Champlain Valley nor are they trying to be. Rooted in four generations of family, phenomenal customer loyalty and an eighty five year old tradition of making, processing and selling their own dairy products, Monument Farms had a birthday which they just celebrated with loyal customers.
    On Saturday, July 18th from 11 a.m. 4 p.m. Monument Farms thanked its customers for continually buying and enjoying their skim milk, 1% milk, 2% milk, whole milk, chocolate milk, heavy cream and half and half for generations. The Monument Farm family opened its doors and with a happy heart celebrated with tractor parades, farm tours, live music, t-shirts, games, food, prizes and a petting zoo with little animals of all shapes and sizes, a family formula for success that has changed little since 1929 when Richard and Marjory James began Monument Farms.
    The celebration of this farming milestone offers the visitor a window into the world of agriculture in the Champlain Valley and how technology has changed, but the ethos of family, quality product, exceptional service and serving a local population have kept Monument Farms successful and part of special memories for so many Vermonters. When asking several locals for a Monument Farms memory a huge grin usually appeared accompanied with the comment, “Best chocolate milk in the world.” One older member even looked a bit chagrined and admitted that as a child thought Monument Farms cows came in two special kinds; the ones that made the chocolate milk and the ones that made the white milk.
    While looking around the small store in Weybridge that serves as the hub of Monument Farms business and daily interactions with the customers who stop in droves to pick up a gallon or twelve of Monument Farms fresh milk, a timeline and photos recount some of the changes that have occurred along the way to both Monument Farms and dairies in general. It was 1938 when milk pasteurization was introduced on the farm and 1964 when the first bulk tank was installed. 1967 saw a fire take the barn and many photos document over fifty years of continual delivery and providing all milk products to Middlebury College. 1968 saw yet another change when the milk production facility was enlarged and high temperature pasteurization increased production capability. What started with twenty acres and twenty five cows grew into a company that is a landmark in the community, employs thirty-eight people and has generations three and four now directly involved with the daily operations.
    In an article from several years past that honored the 80th birthday of matriarch Marjory Bingham James, Marjory shared reminisces of the start of the farm when she and Richard first married and came back to the area during the Great Depression years and starting out on a shoe string. Marjorie recalled a busy life of farm work, children, milking and everyone having a job. In addition to the farm, both Marjorie and Richard were active in civic work and served as leaders of several local organizations. Starting up blood drives for the Red Cross and serving dinners in Home Dem Club were just some of the family activities. As Monument Farms milk production continued to add more routes, there were also changes made to the delivery methods, what began in milk cans moved to glass bottles and then to paper cardboard containers to finally the current recycling packaging.
    Leading Monument Farms today at the head of the family company are President John Rooney and Vice-Presidents Bob and Peter James. Leadership positions rotate at Monument Farms and from the beginning the farm has been honored with awards including the Vermont Seal of Quality, Commissioners’ Choice Seal of Quality, Lake Champlain Farm of the Year and many more. Monument Farms has joined with other dairies to incorporate an anaerobic digester which is the latest in technology and has been brought on board with an eye for planning and focus on the size of Monument Farm’s own distinct needs. Monument Farms has constructed an anaeobic digester and it is one of the smallest in the state, and electrical production is net metered. The digester was utilized to offset the power costs and create a supply of bedding.
    Monument Farms has ten milk routes in Addison, Chittenden and Franklin Counties and the local merchants who purchase Monument Farms products are treated to the second most important fact of the 85th birthday; Monument Farms customers are family and are treated above and beyond. Delivering not only Monument Farms products, but Cabot products and Maple Meadow Eggs as well the stores find that the Monument Farms staff not only deliver the inventory but stock the shelves, rotate the stock and complete the order forms. No matter if it is the processing department, delivery or sales, farm management or the office staff, Monument Farms will always be some of the best and freshest local milk available to the Champlain Valley.
    The James and Rooney family and all the people proudly working with Monument Farms extend from the heart a huge thank you to the generations who come day after day and year after year to purchase their products. They hope you enjoyed the celebration. On the slim chance that you might be one of the very few who have not had Monument Farms milk, stop by the office and store in Weybridge and grab a bottle of the chocolate milk. It comes from the heart of Vermont and four generations of a family who raise cows, produce milk and deliver it to the people fresh and with no growth hormones, no rBST and no fancy gimmicks but just traditions rooted in generations, the soil of Addison County and the belief that Monument Farms mission is to bring the best milk products to Vermonters in Addison, Chittenden and Franklin counties.
    Happy Birthday Monument Farms and a toast, with milk of course, to 85 more.


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