Photo: Jeffrey P. Roberts

People Taking Care of Places
Speakers: Tim and Dot Leach
File size: 264k
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Woodlawn Farm, Mettowee Valley, Vermont
"This farm is in our blood. I can't visualize ever leaving here. I want to make sure my children will be able to make a good living here, too. We hope at least one of them will be the seventh generation on the farm." - Tim Leach

Photo: Jeffrey P. Roberts

Tim and Dot Leach own a 428-acre dairy farm along the Mettowee River in southwestern Vermont. They are the sixth generation of the Leach family to operate Woodlawn Farm, which today milks 350 Holsteins and sells its registered stock around the world.

Tim and Dot, along with many of their neighbors, have voluntarily sold the development rights to their land to the Vermont Land Trust in order to enhance the farm's financial stability and preserve the agricultural heritage and rural character of the Mettowee Valley. Since its founding in 1977, the Vermont Land Trust has conserved nearly 200,000 acres of farm and forest land, roughly three-and-a-half percent of Vermont's privately owned land.