Turkey Hill Farm, VT: Home Page

ABOUT TURKEY HILL FARM: STUART & MARGARET OSHA

Our homestead sits on a ridge in central Vermont that has been home to hill farms for generations. We both grew up on nearby farms and treasure the lessons and values of those times.

Here at Turkey Hill we are purposely working on a modest scale to develop the self-sufficient practices we feel are crucial to the future. We are eager to share insights with others who are exploring their own sustainability options.

On 10 acres of fields and a 40-acre woodlot, we take care of two milk cows, chickens, pigs, a pair of work horses, flower and vegetable gardens, and a maple sugaring operation.

OUR PHILOSOPHY

We use organic methods and revitalized farm community practices to take a forward-thinking approach to global warming and the end of fossil fuels. Our goal is to produce as much of our own food as possible while being kind to the earth and using a minimum of non-renewable resources.

We are developing a local food system right here in our neighborhood, swapping products with our farm neighbors and offering some items for sale to a wider circle of customers.

We offer ourselves as consultants to those who would like to learn more about any aspect of homesteading, and welcome conversation about how small-scale farming is key to surviving the future.

Our thinking is informed by James Howard Kunstler’s book, The Long Emergency, as well as Wendell Berry’s philosophy of sustainable agricultural practice and Thomas Berry’s spiritual vision of our place in an interdependent web of creation. In the kitchen, we follow the nutritional insights of Sally Fallon and the Weston Price Foundation.

We are grateful to be part of an emerging movement that places locally grown food at the center of more wholesome lives, respectful of the carrying capacity of the earth.

Stuart Osha’s book, Loving a Dying Way of Life: Poems and Stories about Farming in Vermont, self-published in 1999, tells the story of Stuart and Margaret’s farming heritage, threats to the continued viability of small farms, and the power of love and vision to save them.

Available at Cover to Cover Books in Randolph, Vermont, or by direct order from us. Also available as a two-volume CD or cassette tape.