Scuttleship Farm
We are a pasture-based farm on the “gold coast” of Lake Champlain. We believe that the values of animal welfare, environmental stewardship, and production transparency come together to create nourishing, humane, and delicious meat. All of our creatures live their lives with dignity and adherence to their natural tendencies. We graze our sheep rotationally, moving them to fresh grass daily.
Find our products at our on-farm Barn Store, the Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op, and the Bread and Butter Farmstore!
Farming on the lakefront requires special consideration of our farm’s impact on the littoral habitat and water quality of Lake Champlain. We maintain large buffer strips of native vegetation between our pastures and the lakeshore as well as around the two seasonal wetlands that flow across our land. In these areas, we leave the grass to grow tall and undisturbed as it serves as nesting habitat for a variety of meadow birds in the summer, including Redwing Blackbirds and Bobolinks! We sail, paddle, and swim in this lake and drink from its waters; it is one of Vermont’s greatest resources.
Farming on the lake also ties us to the history of the landscape. The fields we farm have been in agriculture since the Revolutionary War. When Benedict Arnold led the flight of the American Navy following the Battle of Valcour in October of 1776, it was on the shores of Arnold Bay that he scuttled his fleet of gunboats rather than allow them to be captured by the British. He then lead the Americans on foot to Crown Point, marching over the fields we now graze.