Lydia Ratcliff: Vermont Farmer, Stubborn Survivor

Jenny — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 10:06:38 +0000

Note: this audio program and slideshow have been picked up by Word of Mouth on New Hampshire Public Radio! The audio interview was also broadcast March 28th on WGBH radio in Boston!

Milking Time at Lovejoy Brook Farm

About 40 years ago, farms were thick on the ground in Andover, a rural town in southern Vermont. Today, 75-year-old Lydia Ratcliff’s Lovejoy Brook Farm is the last working farm still in operation. But can it survive much longer? ThoughtCast’s Jenny Attiyeh grew up visiting Lydia each summer, listening to her tales, eating fresh corn and carrots from her garden, and watching the animals give birth, and grow old. On a recent visit to see Lydia, Jenny brought along her microphone …

Note: this slideshow was commissioned by the BBC Radio program Americana.

Lydia Ratcliff is a survivor. She’s farmed her 90 acre plot of land in Andover Vermont for 43 years, and though she’s now come down with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, she still climbs on top of that tractor in hay season.
Does she offer a lesson for the rest of us? Does she represent the future of farming in Vermont, or is she one of the last of a dying breed?
Click here to listen (9 minutes.)

ThoughtCast® » small farm

Lydia Ratcliff: Vermont Farmer, Stubborn Survivor