Dublin & Dairy: How Dublin Christian Academy is Honoring Its Roots

If you’re from New England and read the news often, you have probably caught wind of how dairy farms in the region are struggling. And they’ve recently hit an even deeper blow when Danone announced they would stop purchasing dairy from over 90 Northeast dairy farms. In our role as a food distributor, we have a responsibility to our farmers to help them find solutions to problems like these. 

When Pete Miller of Miller Farm (you might remember reading about them last year) came to Food Connects looking for ways to get his Vermont dairy into schools as another market for his high-quality product, we were a bit stumped at first. Schools often have milk available for students in single-serving small bottles. For many public schools, purchasing local milk every week just wasn’t financially feasible—making it a tough sell for Pete to invest in the special bottling equipment needed. 

Enter Dublin Christian Academy (DCA). DCA is a local pre-K through 12th-grade private school in Dublin, New Hampshire. And a staple of most private schools is their school nutrition programs are often independently run, are not limited by the same USDA purchasing standards, and have larger budgets. When we approached DCA about purchasing Miller Farm milk, it was a no-brainer—the school itself used to be a dairy farm. And now, they have a standing order which makes creating the 8 oz single-serving bottles more sustainable for Pete. Knowing that he will have a consistent buyer for the products makes it easier to sell to other schools with less frequent purchasing schedules.

And since August 2021, DCA has purchased more than 2,600 8 oz bottles of Miller Farm milk!

We chatted with Bethany Paquin, Director of Development, to learn more about the school. We wanted to get to know DCA a little bit better and why they’re on board to help local dairy farmers like Pete. 

What made you decide to work with Food Connects?

In 2020-2021 we weren’t able to offer a foods service program to our students because of COVID-19—we provided food to dorm students, but not our normal mass lunches. This gave us the opportunity to look at how our meal service worked. We wanted to offer different food choices and responsibly grown and raised products.

Our values align with “community,” and we love to source our food from farms and local producers. The campus was originally Staghead Farm, before the lands and buildings were donated to become a Christian school in 1964. At first, students were running the farm, which wasn’t sustainable for the school, but our early experiences have left us with very nostalgic feelings about that part of the school’s heritage.

How has the students’ response been to the Miller Farm milk? Are they excited that it is sourced locally?

The students are really enjoying having the local milk available. The younger students are especially enthusiastic about the maple and chocolate milk, which they haven’t had in the past. 

Is there any feedback from the field trip to Miller Farm? What did the students learn? 

Our seventh, eighth, and ninth-grade classes visited. The students are at a point where they are thinking more about where their food comes from and how it is produced. The students said they had a lot of fun and enjoyed learning about the milk bottling process and seeing all the animals, especially the cows that produce the milk. Silas Paquin, an eight grade student, said he drank a whole pint of milk and it was really good. Seventh-grader Sarah Ryan was amused by watching the chickens jump on the cows!

How has this benefitted your students?

There are certainly all the nutritional benefits. But it also develops connections for them in the community. More and more, the students get to recognize the businesses in the community where they get their food from—deepening their sense of place.

Anything else that you would like to share?

This past fall, we had an alumni dinner and featured some Food Connects producers, like Grafton Village Cheese. And this is just another opportunity to build some connections between these farms and the extended DCA family which includes alumni, former faculty, and former parents and grandparents.

Our parents are also really glad to see this partnership—knowing that their kids are getting good quality food from farms and businesses in the community that they trust. It’s a win-win!

Producer Spotlight: Miller Farm

Dairy farms are the backbone of New England agriculture. And Food Connects is thrilled to announce that among the dairy, yogurt, and gelato we sell, we are now adding milk to our list of products! So we would formally like to introduce our first milk producer—Miller Farm, located in Vernon, VT. Owner, Peter Miller, took some time to share more about the family farm.

How was Miller Farm started? And why did you decide to continue the family business?

My great-grandfather Arthur Miller was farming in Brattleboro on Bonnyvale road at what’s known as the Francis Miller Orchard until he needed to “expand”, and then moved to Vernon in 1916 to our current farm. 

Although I was trained as an engineer, once we had kids, we realized that the farm is the best place to raise them. My daughter Abigail and her husband Brandon represent the next generation farming here are significantly financially invested in the milk processing enterprise.  We are intending to invest in this farm into the future.

What makes your products and farm unique?

Within the Organic market, we are producing a creamline milk product family. We believe it’s healthier and tastier than much other milk, we’re a bit artisanal, using batch processing, rather than the high temperature continuous process, giving a different flavor profile than typical “store” milk. 

Still, the vast majority of our milk (about 97% currently) is sold to Stonyfield as part of their “direct supply”.  Apparently, our farm produces about 10% of this direct supply.  We are still big Stonyfield fans, and see them as a fairly “local” business that has gone big.  We produce nearly 2000 gallons of milk per day here, so unless something significant changes, we will continue to have a great relationship with them. 

We're excited that you're Food Connects first milk producer! So a fun question, what's your favorite way to have your milk? Any fun recipes? Or just right out of the bottle?

No favorite recipes, except a whole lot of people tell us they like putting the Maple Milk in their coffee.

Why is selling locally and the local food movement is important to you?

We have always wished for our “own” product, probably a bit from an ego standpoint, however, when the pandemic unfolded, there were a lot of interruptions in the national food system, and exposed the vulnerabilities of a global economy. That catalyzed our efforts to make a local product. Just recently, reports of ransomware in the meat industry has again exposed the national food system.   

Another aspect of producing a finished product is that we can control our sale price. For generations of milk producers, the price has been set by external factors, which invariably lag the cost of production, therefore, most farmers just “work harder, longer.” It reminds me of a plaque that my wife got from her grandmother: “There are 2 choices for dinner: take it or leave it.” We are pleased to be in control such that we can set a reasonable price based on our cost.

How does working with Food Connects help your business and what are you excited about in this partnership?

One thing that excites me about working with Food Connects is that some of the orders that have come through seem to be for farmstands—I just love the idea of re-training our shoppers to get more and more of their food from small outlets than just the (necessary still) grocery chains.

Any events coming up or fun facts about your business/products?

We are trying to develop a couple more flavors! Strawberry has been requested numerous times. Also, a friend brought us blueberry milk from Maine and asked that we consider producing it. 

Keith Franklin, a partner in the farm has maintained a top-flight Social Media presence on Facebook, Instagram, and now even some YouTube. He’s had up to 35,000 views of certain items. His authentic farm-centric view of agriculture has been very well received.

Anything else you would like to feature? Anything that you are doing to respond to the COVID-19 crisis

Wishing it would go away. . .  I got my shots as soon as I could! Covid is so central to everything, and most everyone I know in most every sector is soooo ready for it to be a memory, especially my Nurse Practitioner wife. Neither the medical workers or the farm sector had the privilege of a “Covid Renaissance.”

Check out their Brattleboro Food Co-op feature and Bennington Banner article.