Dear wonderful people!
It is with such gratitude and joy that we write this letter to our farmhands at Barstow’s Longview Farm and our Barstow’s Dairy Store and Bakery staff, past and present!
We trust you to not only handle cash, prepare food, and be welcoming to our customers – to treat our herd with patience and respect, work long days, and do incredibly difficult work, – but to represent us, the Barstow name, our family.
We realize it can be weird working for a family. Getting phone calls at the restaurant asking for people you’ve never heard of. You’re around all of these loud people that are related, handing sandwiches out the drive-thru to a guy in a tractor, fielding strangers that wander onto the farm with a billion +1 questions. It is honestly nuts.
We are so lucky to have had a staff of flexible, motivated, and compassionate people on this roller-coaster ride with us. Whether you worked here one month or 20 years, you’ve helped us grow and evolve our business, and for that we are very grateful.
But we also hope that working for a family has been fun! We know that this job is often a stepping stone for people and it has been a first job for many. We have thoroughly enjoyed watching our employees grow, graduate, intern, learn, and work toward their dreams!
We would bet that this job, in some ways, more than you bargained for. Making sandwiches, taking orders, washing dishes, or milking cows, feeding calves – you know the drill. But in addition to all of that, you have shooed farm dogs from the drive thru window, helped us herd run-away cattle, picked trash from the compost bin, and put up with our farming family dynamic. You have been an advocate for our dairy farm, answered questions about our herd, and stood up for New England agriculture. We appreciate the extra mile you have gone for our family business – this is something we do not take for granted.
Today we celebrate our staff, all of you! For showing up, with a smile on your face, ready to work hard. Thank you!
You may not share our last name, but you are all, without a doubt, a part of the Barstow Family!
With love and gratitude,
Shannon, Kelly, Denise, Steven, David, & Steven II