Last week, I finished making our seasonal washed-rind and tomme cheeses for the upcoming farmers market season, and am again producing only blue cheeses. The farm had a visit from New York University students, and has a field trip coming from UVM in a few weeks - yes, I broke my resolution to only take tours from Shelburne Farms, but when people are paying for the privilege, I have a hard time saying "no".
I picked up a new distributor this week, or rather, one that my husband Dan and I were previously acquainted with: Vermont Quality Meats. You may remember that we used to sell veal through them to New York City restaurants back when the price of milk was nine dollars a hundredweight - it's about twenty dollars now; wholesale veal ceased being profitable for us years ago, was it 2002 or 2003? I can't remember, but it was right after my truck loan was paid in full. In any event, they contacted us not for veal, but to place an order for cheese.
VQM was conceived as a meat-selling cooperative in 1999, the same year that I joined the Burlington Farmer's Market and started making cheese on the farm. I had reservations about doing business with them, they were located in the southern part of the state, and my personal opinion is that top-down management works way better than the underappreciated leadership of a volunteer co-op. I seem to recall organizational problems: bickering, threats, mockery - allowed among members and at meetings without censure. The lack of collective discipline and personal attacks eventually became an insurmountable obstacle for us - and for other members who left VQM and started another co-op, Fancy Meats from Vermont. It was one bitter divorce, I don't mind saying. Soon after, our circumstances changed: the milk price went up, gas prices went up, cheese sales doubled, and farmer's market looked like a more lucrative outlet for veal. We no longer had an entire day free to shuttle one calf down to Rutland.
In spite of these challenges, including having their slaughterhouse (Fresh Farms Beef) shut down for a period in 2005, VQM evolved into an organization with a general manager, two sales agents, and five drivers taking weekly trips to New York and Boston. They even have a website, vtqualitymeats.com. Imagine my surprise to hear from the salesperson they were recently sold to members Dave and Barbara Rochat, sheep farmers from Chelsea.
VQM still sells its signature lamb, pigs, and goats, plus Boyden Farm beef (Cambridge), veal, rabbits, birds, cheeses, and eggs, direct to restaurants. Congratulations are due for that after all this time, if nothing more. They also deliver fresh produce and herbs for Pete's Greens of Craftsbury.
It remains to be seen whether or not the new VQM will work out for us, depending on how swiftly they pay their account, and how much cheese they can move. At least we don't have to officially join this time around (with the requisite un-refundable membership fee).
