Fable Farm Fermentory is collective effort of many folks. Two of them, pictured above, are brothers Jon Piana, and Christopher Piana.
We began our journey as farmers back in 2008 when we initiated our vegetable CSA venture, Fable Farm. We’ve been growing vegetables and hosting festive community galas ever since. Using our CSA pick-up day as an opportunity for community to gather around local food and drink and the farm as a venue for musicians and artists to share their art, we set out to contribute to a thriving rural culture.
Moving to Barnard, Vermont to initiate a CSA vegetable farm brought us forth into a culture and place rich with apples and cider-making lore; and our vegetable farming business provided a financial and cultural incubation for our fermentory and wine-making skills to rise up. The CSA gatherings, initially held in the backyard of an historic farmhouse in downtown Barnard, have since blossomed into a bustling marketplace, now called Feast and Field Market.
In Pursuit of a Perennial Agriculture
Having begun as that of annual vegetable production, our agricultural practices are becoming increasingly perennial-based, paired with value-added processing methods. Over the last five years, we’ve grafted and grown hundreds of cider-specific apple and pear trees in nursery beds peppered around Barnard. And for the next couple of decades, we’ll be planting many apple and pear trees, among other tree/shrub crops and herbs throughout the farm. We’re on a journey of designing and implementing a perennial agro-system of hedgerows, swales, forest gardens, and orchards.
Fable Farm Family
We are a congregation of farmers/growers, herbalists, chefs, winemakers and artists growing native to the foothills of Central VT. Fable Farm is a fermentory, a venue, and a culinary company providing farm fresh prepared foods for various cultural events held on the farm. In the fermentory we aim to procure living wines from local fruits, herbs, saps, and honey. In the kitchen we use fresh wholesome food sourced directly from our farm and partner farms. We host art events, theatre and live music for the public to enjoy the fruits of rural culture, and also host intimate private events such as weddings and dinner parties on the farm.
The Land
We’re located in the, piemonte, or foothills, of the Green Mountains in Barnard, VT. Situated at 1700 feet, atop the Broad Brook watershed, our farm is a mosaic of fields, forests, and gardens rich with ecological diversity. We work cooperatively with partner farmers and advocates to steward the historic Clark Farm. Now conserved by the Vermont Land Trust, this 450 acre haven is a living legacy of the european settlers who sculpted small farms out of an old-growth wilderness back in the late 1700’s. The farm is now managed by a network of dairy, livestock, vegetable, and fruit enterprises. We’re honored to pick up where the farmers of yesteryear left off in doing our part to generate fertility and ecological diversity on this farm and environs.
Feast & Field Market
Through collaborative efforts, a proper rural venue has emerged on the Clark Farm, at the toe of our knob garden, among an elder hedge of Maple, Apple and Hawthorne known as the Feast and Field Market. Every Thursday from June through October, folks come out of the wood-work to listen to live music, buy farm products, enjoy farm-fresh tacos, and settle into community. You’ll find us there every Thursday from June through October providing cider tastings and selling bottles.