Burlington Partners

Cobb Hill Cheese

Artisan Cheeses

Cobb Hill Cohousing
Four Corners
Hartland, VT 05048

Cobb Hill is an intentionally planned community in Hartland Four Corners begun by Donnella Meadows, renowned founder of the Sustainability Institute. Since 2000 the community at Cobb Hill has been making these two award winning Farmstead Cheeses. The community members are all dedicated to live in ways that are socially and ecologically responsible. In addition to making cheese, and operating a large working farm, the community grows, and sells organic vegetables and flowers.

Cobb Hill Cheese is made with raw whole milk from the farm’s small herd of grass fed Jersey cows. They farm without chemical fertilizers, feeds or additives, and produce two kinds of cheese: Ascutney Mountain, an alpine style Swiss cheese, and Four Corners Caerphilly, a Welsh-style cheddar, using vegetable rennet.

Their cheese is sold at their farmstand, as well as in many regional coops and small stores. They can be found at the Norwich, VT Farmers’ Market on Saturdays from May through October. They also ship wheels to specialty cheese shops and restaurants throughout the Northeast.

Diggers’ Mirth Collective

Certified Organic Vegetables, Salad Greens, Culinary herbs

Dylan Zeitlyn, Elango Dev, S’ra De Santis, Hilary Martin, & Hayden Boska
PO Box 1914
Burlington, VT 05402
p: (802) 324-5962
c: (802) 865-0120

Diggers’ Mirth Collective takes its name from a radical agrarian movement that flourished briefly in England in the late 1640s and early 1650s, when a laborer named Gerrard Winstanley published a series of tracts challenging private property rights and arguing that “the earth. . . [was created] as a common storehouse for all.” The Diggers put their beliefs into practice by manuring fields and sowing crops on wastelands in Surrey until they were driven away by local landowners.

At the Intervale, Diggers’ Mirth Collective was founded in 1992 by Dylan Zeitlyn and three other partners. A total of 11 young farmers have been part of the collective over the years. The group has been farming together for six seasons, and they say they’re pleased with their current balance of skills and personalities. The five friends and partners all work the same number of hours, earn the same amount of money, and arrive at all production and marketing decisions jointly.

Diggers’ Mirth manages 10 acres of Intervale land, putting half in cover crops each year to build organic matter and restore fertility and dedicating the balance to production. In addition to farmers’ markets, they sell to the restaurants American Flatbread (whoo hoo!), Mirabelle’s, and Trattoria Delia, as well as City Market, and Healthy Living. “We’re really lucky in Vermont that the people understand the idea of local versus California,” says De Santis. Ultimately, it comes down to the customer demand that keeps local grocery stores committed to buying from local farmers.

The Diggers can be found at the Burlington Farmers Market every week from Mother’s Day weekend to Halloween weekend, and driving around town all summer delivering to stores and restaurants in their sweet ass delivery truck.

Pitch Fork Farm

Heirloom vegetables, salad greens, hot peppers for our hot sauce, garlic that we use throughout the winter

Eric Seitz & Molly Conant
Burlington’s Intervale
(802) 233-6445
pitchfork.farm@yahoo.com

Named after their spokes-dog, Pitch, this 2-acre farm at Burlington’s Intervale grows heirloom vegetables and culinary herbs. These farmers run their operation with concentration on simplicity, economy and conservation.

Eric Seitz & Molly Conant are in their third year as an incubator farm down at the intervale. They have expanded their production each year and are planning on increasing their sales to local restaurants, natural food stores and farmers’ markets. They can be found every Saturday between Mothers’ Day and Halloween at the Burlington Farmers’ Market.