Hannah & John Doyle Front Load Hardship

“Raising animals is heavy. Even when it goes really well, it's heavy. And when you have losses, like we have had in the last couple of years, it changes the math -- even the finances of it. Okay, yeah, we lost money because we lost so many hens, but what we also lost sleep and tears and to wake up and go out and have a hundred chickens killed in one night--that happened to us once--and it just is so devastating.”—Hannah

“To know that food is not a product that you buy at the store and food is not something that is made by a company and branded and marketed to you, food is something that comes from the earth and nourishes your body.  That's more important to me than whether or not [our kids] decide to operate a farm.”—John

Boneyard Farm is a labor of love. Hannah and John began on a small farmstead on ten hardscrabble acres in northern Vermont. They scaled up in 2021, purchasing a former conventional dairy. With the help of the Vermont Land Trust and the farm’s previous owners, their 180-acre property is forever conserved as working agricultural land. Hannah Doyle runs the day-to-day business of the farm and the vegetable operation. John is behind the scenes on infrastructure and maintenance, and he manages the rotational grazing and animal health for their livestock. He builds all the things and fixes all the problems. Two young boys, Reuben and Dimitri, help out on the farm and provide tons of laughter.

Boneyard Farm web site

Boneyard Farm email address

Boneyard Farm Instagram

Boneyard Farm Facebook

New England Grazing Network web site

Janet McNally’s Tamarack Farm web site

Vermont Grass Farmers Association web site

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