Ryan Percy, the latest generation working the Percy Farm, stands next to his father, Paul, as they pose for a photo by Peter Miller.
The Percy Family has been farming their land in Stowe, VT for since 1930.
The story begins with Ali Weeks, who was living alone in the original farmhouse on the corner of Weeks Hill and Percy Hill Roads in Stowe. After the death of his first wife, he asked a traveling salesman if he knew of any women in the state that could become his live-in housekeeper. A widow named Ida Percy, who was living in Newport, Vermont, became that housekeeper for a couple of years. Ali soon could not afford to pay her and she moved back home. After sometime, Ali asked that same traveling salesman if Mrs. Percy was still unmarried. He sent for her again and proposed marriage. She had four children from her previous marriage. Ali Weeks asked that her family take over the farm after his death, as he had no children of his own, and only asked that he be allowed to live out his life in the farmhouse. This is how Percy Farm came to be. Ida’s son, Elton Percy and his wife Lucy, brought their four children to Stowe to work the farm and soon gave birth to their fifth child, Paul, in 1940. Paul’s son, Ryan, was born in 1975 and earned degrees in Dairy Management from the University of New Hampshire and a B.S. in Agriculture from the University of Vermont. From 2005-2013, Ryan took time to travel the world and live in Tahoe, CA. He returned in 2013 to help his dad continue to run the farm (https://www.vtcng.com/stowereporter/archives/ryan-percy-comes-back-to-the-farm/article_920f2eaa-0caa-5ef2-ba7a-20b8cd222939.html). Ryan manages much of the operations for the dairy farm and currently lives with his wife, Courtney and two daughters, Lydia and Louisa, on the farm. Paul and his wife, Lee, still live in the old farmhouse and manage the Percy Farm Corn Maze in the Summer and Fall, located next to the beautiful Stowe recreation path, and our maple sugaring operations in the Spring. Paul is still working daily with Ryan today. He recently retired from his extraordinary tenure of 37 years on the Board of Directors for Agrimark. Paul was inducted into the Vermont Agriculture Hall of Fame in 2022 (https://www.wcax.com/2022/08/31/vermont-ag-hall-fame-winners-announced/). The Percy Farm is part of the Agrimark/Cabot Co-operative. Most of our milk goes into cultured products such a cheese, yogurt, sour cream and cottage cheese made in the Cabot plant in Cabot, VT.
Did you know?
On a daily basis, most cows average about 70 lbs. of milk per day, or about 8 gallons per day. 8 gallons is about 128 glasses of milk per day.