It Happens Here: Hornstra Farms brings new life to Peaceful Meadows Farm in Whitman
WHITMAN - Whitman had been home to the Peaceful Meadows Farm for more than 100 years -- until this summer, when it went up for sale. The community was devastated to lose the family-friendly ice cream and dairy institution on Route 18.
"I kind of am passionate about continuing dairy farming on the South Shore and keeping agricultural land in agriculture," says John Hornstra, one of the people who couldn't stand the idea of Peaceful Meadows heading out to pasture.
John is the owner of Hornstra Farms in Norwell, a fourth-generation family business with a sterling legacy of its own.
"I took over 40 years ago from my dad in 1985 and he was down to one rusty old milk truck and about 150 customers," Hornstra told WBZ-TV. "And I've spent my life building my business," which now serves milk in glass bottles door-to-door to 5,000 customers on the South Shore.
So when Hornstra heard Peaceful Meadows was going to be sold and developed, he knew he had to step in.
"I've watched a lot of beautiful farms be developed and I'm 59 years old and I kinda have seen enough of it," he said. "I decided that Peaceful Meadows wasn't going to be developed."
"I came to the auction with my guns blazing and my wife saying, 'You're too old for this,'" he said with a laugh.
Hornstra bought it at that auction for nearly $2 million and is now going through the painstaking process of getting it back to good old-fashioned dairy farming. Peaceful Meadows hasn't had actual cows and dairy milking on the property for 30 years. Hornstra is undertaking a major project to change that with plans to apply for grants, rehab the barn on site and bring more than a hundred cows back to the land.
Business at the dairy store and ice cream stand is already booming again - filled with customers very happy to see the business stay in a farming family's hands.
Hornstra said this wasn't really in his plans. He was hoping to wind down and hand off the farm in Norwell to his son. But he sees this as protecting a way of life.
"Everybody thinks their milk comes from a grocery store, but it comes from a little farm," he says. "And those farmers, they milk cows Christmas morning before they open presents, and I hope everybody appreciates that."