In early February 2026, the backroads of the Northeast Kingdom were soft and quiet, the landscape blanketed by snow and settled into a deep cold. As Punxsutawney Phil made his prediction for six more weeks of winter at 7:25am, a winter day at Sweet Rowen Farmstead was already underway for several hours. 

Sweet Rowen Farmstead is a grass-based hill farm in the Northeast Kingdom. Their small herd of pasture-raised Vermont Heritage Lineback cows produces milk, which they bottle and craft into cheese and yogurt.
 

Owner, Paul Lisai, typically arrives at the farm first, and on this morning had helped two pregnant cows with calving, milked the cows with one of his crew, and moved fluid milk from the farm to the creamery in his modified Ford milk tanker.

The creamery, with beautiful shiplap pine siding, is heated with a wood-fired boiler, and the original creamery room still stands on the first floor. Renovations have expanded the creamery significantly, and the second floor has been converted from Paul's apartment to a bright, cozy office space. By midday, operations are in full swing and there is a cheesy aroma filling the air: the creamery manager is wrapping and labeling award-winning Mountain Ash cheese wheels (first place, American Cheese Society) and the head cheesemaker is laboriously hand-pressing a huge batch of Freedom Heights VT Alpine cheese. Sweet Rowen has also achieved first place from the American Cheese Society for their delicious Nettle cheese spread.

 

At the farm, snowy pastures roll gently over a hilly landscape, with gorgeous mountain views. The herd manager is busy with the monthly rotation of hoof trimming, which Paul prefers to do in-house for the health and benefit of the cows. In between farm chores, another staff member is carefully rebuilding a new milking parlor, which was purchased to improve the flow of cows for milking and the quality of life for staff with radiant heated floors and an elevated curb for milking at standing height.

Frozen water mounds glisten outside the calf barn, a reminder of the intensely cold nights, though inside is comfortably warm with the sun shining. Several calves are chewing on hay among the packed bedding, curious and timid to newcomers but noticeably familiar with Paul. One of the calves, Galaxy, was born in November, from a first generation matriarch cow, Star, who was born at Sweet Rowen when it started back in 2012. Star represents much of Sweet Rowen’s character and love for pasture, so calving Galaxy so gracefully at thirteen years old was a special moment for everyone.
 

The main barn holds the milking parlor, where the cows have full movement in open stalls. The sand bedding here improves comfort for the cows and reduces infection by limiting bacteria growth. Even in winter, the cows always have access to the outside; they go out each morning and then spend much of their day in the barn, eating about three round bales, equivalent to 5,000 pounds, of hay everyday! 

Paul and his crew name each of the calves and know the cows by name. They run a closed herd to reduce disease transmission, meaning they don’t buy any cows, and they don’t allow anyone to step on the farm who has been on another farm. The original genetics at Sweet Rowen came from land-raised, heritage breed Lineback cows that had been on the local landscape for 150 years. Paul then took his love for New Zealand grass farming, and cross-bred the Linebacks with New Zealand region kiwi genetics. The smaller, more efficient kiwi frame with their affinity for pasture grazing has mixed nicely with the Linebacks’ heavier weight and triple-purpose characteristics to result in a herd of Vermont Heritage Linebacks that is evolving specifically to Sweet Rowen’s landscape and farming style.
 

Paul’s commitment to happy, healthy cows and working farm are apparent with the tidiness and care of his facilities. Paul attributes the success of his business in no small part to the skill and dedication of his amazing crew. They often work through full days without any direction which allows Paul to do what he enjoys most: the everyday farm and creamery work. In 2024, Sweet Rowen received the Highest Quality Milk Award  - Overall Best Quality from the Vermont Dairy Industry Association.
 

Paul grew up in Grafton, Vermont on the apple orchard his dad managed. He moved to Craftsbury and lived on a dairy farm while working towards a four-year degree in sustainable agriculture at Sterling College. As that interest evolved, he saw firsthand how challenging farming could be: the farm in Craftsbury owned 1,400 acres of land but could barely pay the bills, a true example of being land rich but cash poor. After college, Paul spent some time in New Zealand and became inspired by different ways of dairy farming.

Back in the states, Paul stayed in the Northeast Kingdom. He saw the rise of value-added products and watched Jasper Hill grow rapidly in their early days. He began his own dairy journey with six cows, renting a small farm and a creamery with his friend, Marisa, of Ploughgate Creamery, who taught him how to make cheese. By 2011, Paul began selling his products at farmers markets and delivering milk to Hardwick in the back of his pickup truck.

Sweet Rowen Farmstead began in 2012, when Paul built the original 16x12 foot creamery room, where he was running small 50 gallon batches with about twelve milking cows at a rented farm a mile down the road.
 

Sweet Rowen started working with Farm Connex fourteen years ago, before it was purchased by CAE. The original owner and founder of Farm Connex, Don Maynard, found Paul in 2012 as he was running routes for WIC in the Northeast Kingdom. Don took over Sweet Rowen’s distribution and began delivering and promoting products farther away, which was a huge bump for Paul’s business. When Don first started picking up at Sweet Rowen, they were moving 5-10 crates a week. They now move over 250 crates a week with Farm Connex, spread across two weekly pickups!

Farm Connex now moves about 95% of Sweet Rowen’s products throughout the state, and Sweet Rowen is a valued anchor account for Farm Connex. Farm Connex is CAE's local food logistics and transportation program that helps with all aspects of self-distribution and storage.

In 2017, Paul bought the current farm and put it into a land trust with Vermont Land Trust. He started with 18 cows, then increased to 30 cows, and now Sweet Rowen is milking around 50-60 cows, a comfortable number to support the crew. For an operation like Sweet Rowen, it takes eight to ten cows to sustain a full time employee. By comparison, a conventional dairy has about 250 cows per employee.
 

By the summer of 2027, Sweet Rowen Farmstead will be certified organic. Paul and his team have been working on this huge transition for two full years, with more than a year to go before certification.

“I think organic farming is a massive privilege, and to be able to make that jump in my career is a huge stepping stone for me. You don’t just buy an organic farm; it’s something that has to be built or passed down.” 
-Paul Lisai, Owner, Sweet Rowen Farmstead

Although he has some mixed feelings about organic certification, like raising the price and potentially putting products more out of reach for people who need food, he believes organic certification will satisfy his clients and keep his farm viable. It will also allow him to make future pivots, be a safeguard for changing markets, and provide him with a long-term exit strategy.

Farming is a great privilege for Paul, who often talks about working in and for a community, and expresses his gratitude for his herd and the working landscape. Though his daily work usually keeps him within the short stretch of road between the farm and the creamery in rural Albany, he connects to a network of farmers throughout his days using a portable recorder. Chatter about daily chores, the weather, haying conditions, and other shared challenges are sent out as voice memos, a convenient way to support and learn with his cohort. He also has a dream for a community site right on the farm: If he keeps farming for another 20 years, he wants to build a creamery with a community space, kitchen, and cafe right at the farmsite overlooking the mountains.
 

Sweet Rowen’s award-winning products are available at about 50 independent grocers around the state, 10 farm stands seasonally, plus through a few CSAs. Learn where to find Sweet Rowen and more about the farm online, here. 

Photographs by Kelly Bogel Stokes.