Sean Stanton of North Plain Farm, 6/24/09

Sean Stanton, who runs North Plain Farm and Blue Hill Farm, both located in Great Barrington, was our guest on Local Biz in June. Sean has been farming for about 8 years and began because he wanted to know where his food was coming from. Originally he farmed and raised only his own food, for his own family, then expanded when he realized he could raise food for others as well.

He raises chickens for both eggs and meat, pigs, has a small dairy operation and grows 16 different varieties of heirloom tomatoes. He sells mostly wholesale to the Farmer's Market in Great Barrington, Guido's in both Great Barrington and Pittsfield, the Berkshire Co-op Market, Rubiner's, Allium and Castle Street Cafe, all in Great Barrington, and the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge. And as a result of the expansion to Blue Hill Farm he also sells to two Blue Hill Restaurants, in Westchester County and New York City.

North Plain Farm on Route 41 heading north out of Great Barrington has a very casual farm stand located in the boot room of the main farmhouse. There's non sign (one may come within the year), but everyone is welcome to stop by. Payment, in either BerkShares or Federal Dollars, is on the honor system. You'll find a fridge, a freezer and a money box.

He can and does sell the raw milk from his Normandy cows, but only from the farm due to Massachusetts laws. He has long range plans to make cheese with the milk so we can look for to that someday in the hopefully not-too-distant future.

Listen to the Local Biz show featuring Sean by clicking on the name of the show above. And as always, if you know of a business owner who trades in BerkShares who you would like ot hear on this show, let us know. We'll see if we can arrange it.