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Cricket Creek Farm

Northeastern American Mixed Forests Trust T1

A century-old Berkshire dairy saved from development and reborn as a grass-based farmstead creamery

Size: 202.3 ha
Climate Zones: Humid continental climate with warm summers (Köppen Dfb); the Berkshire hills are cooler and snowier than the Hudson Valley to the west.
Regenerative Focus: Regenerative Grazing, Regenerative Agriculture & Soil Health, Regenerative Entrepreneurship, Education

About this land node

Cricket Creek Farm is a small grass-based cow dairy on about 500 acres (202 ha) in the Berkshire hills of Williamstown, Massachusetts, one of the oldest dairy farms in the region. When the farm came up for sale in 2001 the Sabot family bought it to keep Williamstown's largest farm from development, and, inspired by Vermont's Shelburne Farms, rebuilt it around grass-fed dairy, farmstead cheese and education. Today a mixed Jersey and Brown Swiss herd of 30 to 40 milking cows is rotationally grazed on about 200 acres of pasture, producing raw milk and seven award-winning farmstead cheeses, with grass-fed beef, whey-fed pork, eggs and a bakery sold through a daily farm store, a year-round CSA and regional shops. The farm is open to visitors, trains cheesemaking apprentices and aims to exemplify small-farm viability.

Overview

Project Vision: We see Cricket Creek in twenty years as a working dairy that outlasted the industry's collapse: pastures deep in carbon, a herd on grass, cheese that tastes of this place, apprentices who went on to farm, and a farm store where the community still meets its farmers.
Project Purpose: To produce nourishing food that honors the animals, respects the land and feeds the community, and to exemplify a sustainable model for small-farm viability on one of the region's oldest dairy farms.
Project Title: Cricket Creek Farm
Ecoregional Location: Northeast US Coastal Forests, Northeastern American Mixed Forests (NA10)
Local Location: Northern Berkshires
Political Location: Williamstown, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States

Ecology & biodiversity

Biodiversity context: The Berkshire–Taconic region holds large forest blocks, calcareous wetlands and rare limestone-loving plants, and its valley farms sustain grassland birds; land trusts and farms together keep the valley floor open.
Ecological corridors: The Taconic and Berkshire ridges form a north-south forest corridor linking the Hudson Highlands and Connecticut to the Green Mountains, with the Housatonic and Hoosic rivers as valley corridors.
Natural boundaries: The farm lies along Oblong Road in South Williamstown, in the valley between the Taconic Range to the west and Mount Greylock and the Berkshire plateau to the east, with the Green River and Hoosic River valleys nearby.
Ecosystem unity: The site lies in the Berkshire–Taconic landscape of western Massachusetts, in the Northeastern American Mixed Forests bioregion at the transition between the Northeast US Coastal Forests and New England-Acadian Forests ecoregions, where fertile valley farmland meets forested hills.

Climate & water

Climate Zones: Humid continental climate with warm summers (Köppen Dfb); the Berkshire hills are cooler and snowier than the Hudson Valley to the west.
Rainfall patterns: Precipitation is spread evenly through the year with no dry season; late summer and early autumn are slightly wetter, often boosted by thunderstorms and the remnants of tropical storms. Winter precipitation falls as snow, sleet and rain, and spring snowmelt drives peak streamflow in March and April.
Average Rainfall: Approximately 1,150 to 1,300 mm per year, with heavy winter snowfall.
Temperature Extremes: July highs typically reach 26 to 28°C with occasional heat waves above 32°C. January lows average around -11°C, and cold snaps below -22°C occur in most winters.
Average Temperature: About 8°C annually, from roughly -6°C in January to 20°C in July.
Watershed: Within the Housatonic River watershed, which flows south to Long Island Sound, or the Hoosic River watershed in the northern Berkshires, which flows west to the Hudson.
Nearby water bodies: The Green River flows north through South Williamstown to the Hoosic River about 5 km away.

Land & terrain

Elevation & slope: Gently rolling lowland and low hills, mostly between roughly 50 and 200 metres above sea level.
Landforms: Glacial valleys floored with marble and limestone, bounded by the schist ridges of the Taconic Range to the west and the Berkshire plateau to the east.
Soil Types: Loams and silt loams formed in glacial till and outwash over marble and limestone in the Housatonic and Hoosic valleys, with stonier acidic soils over schist on the hills; the valley soils are among the most fertile in New England.
Soil health: Grass-based management since 2002, with rotational grazing, manure returned to pasture and local hay, maintains permanent sod and organic matter on a farm cropped for more than a century.
Erosion risk: Low under permanent pasture and hay; moderate on steeper hillside paddocks and lanes in wet weather.
Renewable resource potential: Solar on barn roofs and field margins; composting of manure and crop residue; soil carbon in pasture and cover-cropped fields.

People & history

Land Acknowledgements: Cricket Creek Farm lies within the homeland of the Mohican people, the Muhheaconneok, whose communities lived along the Housatonic and Hoosic rivers. We acknowledge the Mohican people and their descendants in the Stockbridge-Munsee Community, whose relationship with this land continues.
Recent land history: One of the region's oldest dairy farms, long run by the Phelps family, Cricket Creek was put up for sale in 2001 and bought in 2002 by the Sabot family to prevent development of Williamstown's largest farm. A grass-based dairy manager was hired in 2003, cheesemaking began in 2005, and farmers Jason DeMay and Amy Jeschawitz brought their Brown Swiss herd to build the farmstead creamery that operates today.

Regenerative practice

Regenerative Focus: Regenerative Grazing, Regenerative Agriculture & Soil Health, Regenerative Entrepreneurship, Education
Regenerative Methodologies: Rotational grazing of 30 to 40 milking Jersey and Brown Swiss cows plus young stock on about 200 acres of pasture, with local hay in winter; a nurse-cow calf system; raw milk sales and farmstead cheesemaking from the farm's own herd; whey from the creamery fed to pigs; grass-fed beef and rose veal; a bakery and farm store; a year-round diversified CSA; cheesemaking and farm apprenticeships; an open-farm policy welcoming visitors.
Environmental objectives: Keep about 500 acres, including 150 acres of hay, 100-plus acres of pasture and woodland, in grass-based farming rather than development; manage pasture and herd health through rotational grazing; close nutrient loops with whey, manure and hay.
Community objectives: Feed the Williamstown community through a daily farm store, CSA and farmers' markets; train young farmers and cheesemakers; welcome the public onto a working dairy; demonstrate a viable model for small dairies.
Community engagement: The farm store is open daily and visitors are welcome to walk to the barns and meet the animals. The farm runs a year-round CSA, sells at farmers' markets and to cheese shops and co-ops across western Massachusetts, hosts apprentices who live on the farm, and offers workshops on small-dairy management; it is a member of Berkshire Grown.
Economic Model: A family-owned farm supported by raw milk, farmstead cheese (about 25,000 to 47,000 pounds a year), grass-fed beef, veal and pork, eggs, bakery goods, a farm store and CSA, with value-added cheese central to competing in a crowded market. Grants such as the Local Farmer Awards have funded creamery efficiency upgrades.

Impact

Expressed Impact: Cricket Creek shows a path for the small New England dairy: land kept in farming by a family that chose stewardship over development, milk turned into cheese that carries the taste of its pastures, and a farm open enough that the community sees how its food is made.
Key impact metrics: About 500 acres, with 150 acres of hay, 100-plus acres of pasture and about 200 acres grazed; 30 to 40 cows milked, about 80 animals in total; seven farmstead cheeses, about 25,000 to 47,000 pounds made per year; farm store open daily; year-round CSA; cheesemaking apprenticeships; farming on this land for more than a century.

Visiting & links

Nearest urban centres: Pittsfield (population about 44,000) and Great Barrington are the nearest centers; Albany is roughly 60 km west and Boston about 200 km east.
Website: https://cricketcreekfarm.com