Around Vermont, high school seniors are about to graduate. For many of them, this was the first year that the pandemic didn't profoundly affect their school days.
We wanted to get a sense of what it was like to go back to "normal," and to understand what really matters to teenagers about to head out into the world. So we asked some students at Harwood Union High School to document what they found significant about their senior years, and worked with them to produce a series we'll be airing all week.
Addey Lilley is an 18-year-old from Waterbury. She interviewed her grandfather, Douglas Lilley, about his dairy farm in East Calais.
We recommend listening to this story if you can! We've also provided a transcript below.
Addey Lilley: So you said that you don't know the year you started farming. But what — do you remember, like, those first few years? Like how old were you?
Douglas Lilley: Probably 25, 26. I decided that I wanted to milk cows. So I built a barn. My brother and relatives helped me weekends. And I'd work on it by myself during the week. And then I went out and bought 25 registered Holsteins. 25. Nice ones, they were. That's how I got started, I guess. It was in my genes. You know, my grandfather was a farmer. My dad was a farmer. And now I would — become a farmer. Or just something that was there, you know.
What would you say was the hardest part about farming?
Chores every day, seven days a week, no time off. That was the hardest. You know, family would have Christmas off somewhere, you know. Everybody would go the Christmas and I always leave, come back and milk. Or a birthday party. You couldn't go — you'd have to come home and milk.
What would you say your favorite part about living in East Calais is?
The farm I'm on is probably one of the nicest farms in town. It is the nicest farm in town, just because the land. Flat. You know, you go over back, you know, when you spread cow manure in that field?
Yeah.
That big field is so flat. And the one over there is full flat. Most of them around here and everywhere, up and down and full of rocks. And that was a nicest piece of farmland in the town of Calais and probably maybe East Montpelier. It is. But it's so hard to keep it today. My taxes are almost $22,000 a year. So it's hard to survive today. By milking — you know, we had to give up milking cows. I mean, you know, I couldn't do it anymore. My body's all worn out. Both arms, my legs, my knees, my hips. Getting up, climbing down tractors, jumping off. Going up the pit and going out and driving cows down. Every single day. Every day — this ain't just when you feel like it. It could be snowing, it could be 30 below, you still gotta go.
"We had to give up milking cows. I mean, you know, I couldn't do it anymore. My body's all worn out. Both arms, my legs, my knees, my hips. Getting up, climbing down tractors, jumping off. Going up the pit and going out and driving cows down. Every single day."Douglas Lilley
Would you say that dairy farming is kind of like a dying art in Vermont?
Yeah, unless you're big. You got to be bigger. You gotta milk you know, 1,500, 2,000 cows, 3,000 cows, you can't be milking 50 cows like I did.
Yeah, there's no room, like, for small local farmers.
When I was a kid, there's 50 farms in that town. When I was a kid. And I was the last farm to go out of business in that town. And there's no farms in that town at all. And once they're gone, they're gone. They can't come back. And all those nice farms. You know, the out-of-staters and other people have just built houses in there. Houses after houses, you know.
That's kind of a shame because, you know, dairy farmers have been the backbone of Vermont.
They are. They're the backbone of Calais. And I go to Town Meeting, people don't care anymore, you know?
So as you know, I am in the process of applying to colleges right now. And one of the supplementals that I wrote for my school is about the farm and coming to visit you on the farm. So, before we end, I wanted to read to you the supplemental that I wrote.
OK.
"Being a product of the farming community has defined how I view the world, giving me perspective and values that I wouldn't have gained otherwise. Knowing the beauty of nature and the hard work of local farmers, my family's history flows through everything I do."Addey Lilley
"I get dressed quickly and hop in my dad's truck taking the hour ride to my grandpa's farm in East Calais. Ever since I can remember I spent weeks on end at my family's dairy farm. Haying fields, milking cows and collecting chicken eggs are just some of the many responsibilities I thoroughly enjoyed taking a part in. Unlike anything else in my life, this was labor-intensive work. From sunup till sundown, except for the occasional jelly doughnut break, I was helping my dad or grandpa with some chores that needed to be done.
"Farming has shown me what untouched nature truly looks like. Clear blue skies touching tall sloping green mountains and golden fields of hay for as far as the eye can see. My favorite memory was taking the English setters and yellow and black labrador retrievers that my grandpa raises for long walks in the woods behind his house. Filled with fungi and rushing streams, I loved spotting birds I recognized and wildflowers whose colors flashed brightly against the green and brown of the forest floor.
"Being a product of the farming community has defined how I view the world, giving me perspective and values that I wouldn't have gained otherwise. Knowing the beauty of nature and the hard work of local farmers, my family's history flows through everything I do. My grandfather has given me perseverance and determination, while keeping me humble and appreciative of the world we live in. I intend to take these attributes with me throughout life, hopefully inspiring others to appreciate and cultivate our planet."
Good. I love that. Almost made me cry! I remember when you was up there laying in the hay, the bale hay, this long, watching us wrap hay. Not making a peep!
Well, thank you for letting me interview you.
OK. I don't know if I give you any good stuff or not.
Oh, you definitely did. You definitely did. Lots of good stuff.
In the fall, Addey is going to Wellesley College, where she'll study political science and English.
This story was produced by Kevin Trevellyan and Anna Van Dine. And special thanks to Kate Youngdahl-Stauss, a teacher at Harwood Union High School who facilitated this project.
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