Foreword
In May of 1975, my wife, Anne, and I rented a little farm in Irasburg, Vermont. Within a week, we had purchased a family cow named “Pet.” It was all part of our master plan—we were going back to the land in search of a meaningful life. We wanted to provide for ourselves independent of a world that we saw heading in a different direction.
We thought we were ready for the task at hand. I had read lots of books and had studied the history of agriculture while at college. Anne had taken several animal science courses at UW Madison. We had both done stints at dairy farms and had worked on the historical farm at Old Sturbridge Village. We were so wet behind the ears. What we lacked in experience, we made up with idealism and ambition.
It was right about this time that we came across a little book called The Cow Economy by Merril and Joann Grohman—a book about the very lifestyle we wanted to lead. Everything we needed to know about keeping a family cow was in this little book. Feeding, breeding, and the general principles of animal husbandry were all discussed right down to last nuanced detail. With help from our friends and neighbors and the advice contained in this little book, we made our way into the world of dairy farming.
Our cow Pet had Sundance. Two years later Sundance had her own heifer calf, and before we knew it, we were raising a group of heifer calves on the surplus milk. By 1979, we were milking six cows, making dairy products on our kitchen stove, and delivering them to our local community. In 1984, we obtained a milk handler’s license from the State of Vermont. Our dairy herd had increased to twelve Jersey cows by this time. Somehow, as the years had passed, we had transitioned from being homesteader “back-to-the-land” family cow types into commercial dairy farmers. Fewer families were keeping cows at this time, and it provided us with a wonderful opportunity to start a small dairy. The demand for wholesome farm-produced dairy products was there, and we stepped up to the plate.
Forty years have gone by since we bought our first cow, and we have seen many changes during this time. We have sharpened our farming skills and improved our herd and our land. We have developed an innate understanding of the concepts of organic farming. As our knowledge base has increased, we have shared our experiences with others in the field of agriculture. A burgeoning local foods movement has developed with a general public hungry for meaning in the food they eat. Micro-dairies, like the one we started forty years ago, are springing up everywhere. The family cow is coming back.
Considering this new trend in sustainability and local food consumption, it is only fitting that Joann Grohman’s book The Cow Economy is being reissued to provide inspiration and information to a new group of latter-day homesteaders who are now just going back to the land. This is no ordinary text. Republished as Keeping a Family Cow, this book combines food philosophy with a practicum of knowledge and experience that Ms. Grohman has acquired in her eighty-five years in and around Jersey cows. Joann’s book is a field manual for both the experienced and inexperienced alike. Everything you ever wanted to know about cows and more is covered in this volume. The basics of animal husbandry are discussed as they were in the original edition, along with a lot of newer information about organic practices and current concerns in the world of milk. If you want to know about haymaking or dairy-product production, it’s all in here.
Anne and I recently had the pleasure of visiting Joann Grohman on her Carthage, Maine, farm, and we got to experience this woman’s magic firsthand. We drove for hours through the western Maine woods to get there. Our sojourn was like going back in time to another place earlier in our lives. Here was the complete simplicity and goodness that we had longed for so many years ago. This was a true “cow economy”—a self-sufficient farm based around one dairy cow with chickens and pigs. After tea with warm milk and a tour through gardens of lilacs and comfrey, we left wondering why we had become commercial dairy farmers instead of following our hearts as this woman had done all these years. There was something magical about Joann as she walked barefoot through her realm. Her wealth and experience are chronicled in this volume that has something for anyone with cows.
As we drove away in the early evening, we were filled and inspired with so much awe that we were pulled over by the local police for driving over the speed limit in a local town. We left Joann Grohman’s dream world to return to our normal lives. A meaningful life with one family cow might be out of reach for most of us, but this book can help us achieve some sanity in a world that longs for simplicity.
—Jack Lazor