Community Supported Agriculture for the Upper Valley of New Hampshire and Vermont

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Sunrise is a Vermont hill farm that’s been producing food for more than two centuries. 

Judging by the old barbed wire and re-grown forests, Sunrise was originally cleared as part of the great sheep boom in the early part of the 19th century. Much of the acreage returned to forest and the barn was rebuilt for dairy farming late in the 1800s. By the late 1900s, when hillside dairies all but disappeared from Vermont, the farm pastures reverted to sheep and horses, with a small vegetable garden for the house.

One of these days, probably in a quiet winter sometime, we’d love to research more of the history of Sunrise. It’s not an easy task, since the farm has repeatedly expanded and contracted in acreage over the centuries, leading to many land deeds and side inquiries. On top of that, the town’s land records are kept in White River Junction, and in the rare decades when it wasn’t flooded by the White River, the downtown was typically scorched by fire. The complete historical trail has grown faint.

This much is clear: Chuck Wooster and Sue Kirincich bought the farm in February 1999, and Chuck started Sunrise Organic Farm LLC the following year. In addition to the vegetables, Sunrise Farm provides chicken, lamb, pork, and maple syrup to the farm members along with saw timber and biomass chips for the commercial market.

That first year, the CSA had seven shares, and the bulk of the effort went into restoring the barn and putting in place the basic systems. The CSA grew slowly but steadily in subsequent years: 12 shares in 2001, 20 shares in 2002, 30 shares in 2003 and 2004, 45 shares in 2005, 50 shares in 2006 and 2007, 87 shares in 2008, and now, for our 10th season, 120 shares. Given that we’re now cropping almost all of the tillable land, it’s safe to say that we’ve reached our cruising altitude.

In 2007, Chuck and Sue placed a permanent conservation easement on the farm through the Upper Valley Land Trust, ensuring that Sunrise Farm will be available for agriculture and forestry far into the future.