Black Dirt Farm

Black Dirt Farm is a diversified family farm in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. They collect food scraps from the community, forage hens, make compost and worm castings with the excess food and manure, and use them to nourish our soils and crops. The farm is firmly based in regenerative agricultural practices and the creation of sustainable food systems. Black Dirt Farm is owned and operated by Tom Gilbert and Molly Barber, with daughters Kai and Thea.

A $30,000 loan from the Vermont Farm Fund will allow them to expand their egg operation. They will use it to construct and outfit a new 30’x96’ greenhouse, to house our new flock of 1,000 birds, with an attached wash and pack house. A new automated nest and egg collection system will reduce labor associated with time-consuming tasks – egg collection, handling, washing and packing – and increase the quality and outcomes.

Their laying hen operation provides more than eggs to the food system and jobs to the local economy.  As an integrated farm, seeking to mimic the flow of carbon through an ecosystem, their various enterprises are connected through the carbon value chain.  For instance, birds are foraged on a food scrap-based compost mix with food scraps they collect from over 60 businesses and institutions in the region, and the compost mix they don’t consume is made into compost and worm castings that are sold into the same region to grow more food.  As a result, growing the layer operation will increase their on-farm capacity to handle regional food scraps, thereby increasing the region’s capacity to recycle its organic materials.