Gratitude Journal: February 2021

Last year, in the beginning of COVID, our whole world at Barstow’s Dairy Store and Bakery changed. And while we scrambled to adapt to new protocols and change our restaurant to meet the needs of our community, almost nothing changed up the hill on the farm.

Every single day of the week and every single day of the year, since COVID, (since 1806!), the cows have been fed, milked, housed, and cared for by the farmers at Barstow’s Longview Farm. Amidst the chaos in the world, we never missed a herd check with our vet, we got our crops in (with some help from our neighbors), we generated green electricity for our community, we even won a sustainability award from the Sustainable Business Network in Boston.

February is the month of love, but at Barstow’s we celebrate #farmlove 24/7/365. #Farmlove captures the devotion farmers bring to their profession every day, showcasing our commitment to our herd, land, planet, and community.

COVID19 did not stifle our #farmlove. In 2020, we received 135 new baby calves into our herd, celebrated the engagement of Denise Barstow and her fiancé, Dylan, and Steven and Caroline Barstow welcomed a new baby girl into their family here on the farm! Life continued, love prevailed.

Our #farmlove encompasses our extended Barstow’s family too – YOU! We’ve been offering the Name the Calf Contest online since March and if you pull together all of the beautiful, generous, kind comments from the entry form section, it makes this word cloud. Now that’s a lot of love! Thank you! You can see all the comments and the word cloud on our blog, here.

Last February, we shared Joey’s #farmlove story – check it out here. We’d love to hear yours! Share your #farmlove story with us this February for the chance to win a $50 gift certificate to Barstow’s Dairy Store and Bakery! Enter here.

February Festivities

Barstow’s, like many farmstands in the Pioneer Valley, is open year round. Keeping our doors (and drive thru window) open helps us financially support our staff and family members without gaps. It also means we are available to serve you our homemade prepared foods, lunches, and baked goods, in these darker, colder months!

Consider Barstow’s for your upcoming Super Bowl household gathering. We are taking orders now for lasagnas, mac and cheese, sweet and sour kielbasa, and more. Check out our full catering menu here. We are also stocked up with frozen chili, chicken tenders, and burger patties to make at home.

We are happily taking sweet orders for your sweetheart! Valentine’s Day cake, pie, cheesecake, cookie, etc. orders are due by February 11, please. And we’re taking pre-orders for our February Winter Dinner (Shepherd’s Pie!) on February 23, too.

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