Historic Cornwall dairy farm gets a new life (and chocolate milk)

CORNWALL — Jeff and Sarah Casel put the finishing touches on a new creamery room in the red barn just south of Cornwall Bridge on Route 7 last month. 

Chris Hopkins had sold the farm to the Casels last year after 12 years of pasturing and milking cows there under his business, Stonewall Dairy.

If you’ve ever driven up from Kent to Cornwall, you’ve had a good look at the farm while slowing down to round the sharp curve it straddles — rather than plowing into the barn’s red wooden side and the peace sign that adorns it in LED lights. A tour of that barn makes plain the long history on which the Casels are building their new business, Calf and Clover Creamery. 

Originally built in the 18th century, Cornwall resident Brian Lorch’s father, Arthur Lorch, milked cows in the barn until the early 2000s. 

“My father always wanted this to remain a farm. That’s why he sold the development rights on part of the land,” said Lorch, speaking of an agricultural easement on 76 acres that was conserved through Connecticut’s Farmland Preservation Program in 2002.

Those sweeping views of open pasture visible from Route 7 are no accident. 

“Over the generations, the town has valued this farm,” said Hopkins, who purchased 20 acres of the Lorch farm in 2006 at the same time that the town of Cornwall purchased another 100. 

Hopkins worked with the Connecticut Farmland Trust to preserve his acreage in 2007. 

The Appalachian Trail has a scenic easement on the land north of the barn.

“Big farms don’t fit in these little valleys,” said Hopkins, who built a significant following of raw milk enthusiasts during his tenure on the land. Along with direct sales from the on-site farm store, Stonewall Dairy maintained accounts with dozens of the area’s small retailers.

“Connecticut dairy is unique,” said Jeff Casel. “In New York there are options for small-scale farmers to wholesale to places like Organic Valley or Maple Hill Creamery, but there aren’t really enough dairies here for that. You would never survive on this small a scale if you didn’t have people buying directly from the farmer. This farm exists because you have local people who buy the milk.”

The Casels first came to Stonewall Dairy five years ago as Hopkins’ employees. 

“After a year, we approached Chris about purchasing the farm. He wasn’t ready to sell and suggested we go work on other farms and get some management experience.” 

The Casels are grateful for that advice, as they feel the experience gained in those intervening years was invaluable. 

Dirt Capital Partners, a group of investors that also provides start-up guidance, financed the Casels’ purchase from Hopkins in 2018. 

“Of all the types of farming, making a living with a dairy is incredibly difficult. Without the support from Dirt Capital, the land easements and, especially, Chris’ support, we would never be where we are today,” Casel said. 

The Casels milk the herd that Hopkins sold them, rotationally graze the cows on pastures he maintained, sell milk to the customer base he and his predecessors established, work in old buildings he shored up, and rely on his drop-of-a-hat visits to the farm whenever there is a problem. “We really walked into a turnkey operation.”

Calf and Clover Creamery’s on-site farm store currently carries the farm’s own raw milk as well as its eggs, beef and veal, plus local honey, pickles and maple syrup. 

“We will always have raw milk, but with our new pasteurizer and bulk tank, we will now have even more to offer,” Casel said. 

Customers can expect yogurt and chocolate milk to debut in the farm store by Christmas and cheeses should arrive closer to spring.