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Hello. We’re Ken and Judy Breitmeyer, owners and operators of Breitmeyer’s Farm. Our farm consists of a 4 acre blueberry patch, red raspberries, black raspberries, rhubarb, a 30’ x 30’ hoop house for peppers and tomatoes, elderberries, apple, plum, & pear trees, a veggie garden and a cut flower garden. It is a lot of work for a retired couple like us, but we get lots of help from our daughter Sarah and her family. Our other kids help as their lives allow. We are now the proud grandparents of twenty-nine grand kids. Fourteen boys and 15 girls.
Our farming adventure began like this-- We both grew up in the suburbs of Detroit only a couple miles apart but going to different schools. We both attended Eastern Michigan University but never met until Ken was teaching shop at the same high school where Judy’s sister, Linda, taught. Linda introduced us and we have been together ever since. We moved from Michigan in 1977. We wanted to raise our family in the country and Vermont seemed like the place to go. We were kind of hippies back then, and had thoughts of living off the land. We soon found out that didn’t pay mortgages or taxes, so we got to work figuring out how to be able to afford our dream. Ken is a master welder and was able to get a job at Leo’s Welding. Judy made bagels and sold them at the Farmers Market, people the loved them!
As our skills improved, we sold lots of baked goods, and veggies. Judy began pickling and making jelly and applesauce for our growing family and everyone loved the results. So, we started selling those items at the Farmers Market as well. All the while, Ken was teaching shop and driver’s ed at Craftsbury Academy, and doing all sorts of side jobs to make ends meet. We moved to Greensboro in 2005 and he started teaching Driver’s Ed at Newport High School. In 2007 Ken had a minor heart attack and we decided it was time to make a change, he retired the next year.
Our Greensboro home came with a hay field out behind our house that we didn’t use. Ken had always wanted to do some sort of farming and we loved eating blueberries; so a U-Pick blueberry farm seemed like the obvious answer. We began learning and planning. It became quite a project. In June of 2009, friends and family got together to plant our first 495 blueberry bushes. The next year we planted about 500 more. We also planted our other crops over the next couple years. We had a few building projects going at the same time: a 40’ x 30’ 2 story barn with an attached greenhouse, a stand alone 30’ x 30’ hoop house, a cute little retail shop, and a rabbit hutch/chicken coop. Judy has always been a stay home mom who loves working with kids and gardening. She, with a lot of help from Sarah, tends all the plants and runs the retail end of the business while Ken keeps the place looking beautiful, makes things from wood, and picks lots and lots of berries. When you come for a visit, you will most likely be greeted by one or more of our super helpful grand kids, our little Westie, Tildy, or our big black dog, Taser.
Our farming adventure began like this-- We both grew up in the suburbs of Detroit only a couple miles apart but going to different schools. We both attended Eastern Michigan University but never met until Ken was teaching shop at the same high school where Judy’s sister, Linda, taught. Linda introduced us and we have been together ever since. We moved from Michigan in 1977. We wanted to raise our family in the country and Vermont seemed like the place to go. We were kind of hippies back then, and had thoughts of living off the land. We soon found out that didn’t pay mortgages or taxes, so we got to work figuring out how to be able to afford our dream. Ken is a master welder and was able to get a job at Leo’s Welding. Judy made bagels and sold them at the Farmers Market, people the loved them!
As our skills improved, we sold lots of baked goods, and veggies. Judy began pickling and making jelly and applesauce for our growing family and everyone loved the results. So, we started selling those items at the Farmers Market as well. All the while, Ken was teaching shop and driver’s ed at Craftsbury Academy, and doing all sorts of side jobs to make ends meet. We moved to Greensboro in 2005 and he started teaching Driver’s Ed at Newport High School. In 2007 Ken had a minor heart attack and we decided it was time to make a change, he retired the next year.
Our Greensboro home came with a hay field out behind our house that we didn’t use. Ken had always wanted to do some sort of farming and we loved eating blueberries; so a U-Pick blueberry farm seemed like the obvious answer. We began learning and planning. It became quite a project. In June of 2009, friends and family got together to plant our first 495 blueberry bushes. The next year we planted about 500 more. We also planted our other crops over the next couple years. We had a few building projects going at the same time: a 40’ x 30’ 2 story barn with an attached greenhouse, a stand alone 30’ x 30’ hoop house, a cute little retail shop, and a rabbit hutch/chicken coop. Judy has always been a stay home mom who loves working with kids and gardening. She, with a lot of help from Sarah, tends all the plants and runs the retail end of the business while Ken keeps the place looking beautiful, makes things from wood, and picks lots and lots of berries. When you come for a visit, you will most likely be greeted by one or more of our super helpful grand kids, our little Westie, Tildy, or our big black dog, Taser.