|
Jim Williamson
Jim Williamson is 75 years old and has lived in Bennington for 65 years of his life. The first 10 years he lived in White Heather, a town near Arlington, VT. Jim has one brother, three daughters, and a son. His parents purchased the farm in the 1960s on State Line Road, which divides North Bennington and New York State; Jim then inherited it after his father passed away. When his parents purchased the farm there was no electricity, except for one light bulb in the kitchen. Before buying the farm on State Line Road, Jim’s father worked for Mr. Miller, a millionaire. Mr. Miller gave Jim’s father 8 Guernsey heifers and one bull, which started their small dairy farm on State Line Rd. Jim’s father tried Holstein cattle on his farm but didn’t like the breed and went back to Guernseys. The State Line Farm grew to own around 100 head of cattle (100 cows) at its highest point. Jim’s mother raised around 1,000 chickens and sold the eggs, canned foods, and was the director of Shaftsbury School. The family sold fresh milk, eggs, maple syrup, and honey. Jim went to school first in White Creek, then later transferred to North Bennington. He would wake up every day at 4:30 am to help his father milk the cows, Jim would usually milk about 10 and his father about 12. In the winter a local blacksmith nearby would attach a sleigh to his truck and give the kids around a ride to and from school everyday so they wouldn’t have to walk in the cold. After school every day Jim would continue his work around the farm until it was finished. He also started his own trapline to trap animals that he could sell the furs of for about 50 or 75 cents! One morning Jim found that he had trapped a skunk, he went to school, and was sent home because he smelled so strongly of skunk. He also hunted hedgehogs, which he could sell for 30 cents a fur, and deer. The institution of electricity and the increased availability of automobiles made running a farm a lot easier. When Jim’s father began having heart attacks Jim was a sophomore in high school and had to transfer to Agricultural school in order to learn how to run the farm. A few years later Jim’s father was killed in a tractor accident, and Jim was talked into continuing the family farm.
During WWII Jim, a man from Arlington, and Bernard Whitman, the man who ran Whitman’s Feed at the time, were the only 3 men exempt from the war in Vermont due to agriculture. Also, in times of scarcity Jim’s farm became one of the local suppliers of foods, milk, hay, and other products. Jim remembers during the war he would have to mix the little gasoline he had with kerosene because gasoline was so scarce he had to preserve small amount he had to run the lone car that they had. Jim also said that once cars became more available everything became a lot easier. After Jim took over the farm he eventually got married, and had 3 daughters and 1 son. He sold milk, maple syrup (his “moneymaker”), honey, sorghum, and eggs. Jim sold milk for 60 years. He used to sell 10 gallons of milk a week, to steady customers and neighbors. He had milk machines and a bulk tank to keep the milk in. Bernard Whitman drove the milk out of the farm to sell for Jim in Manchester. Jim stopped selling milk and eggs in June 2004. From time to time Jim would have hired hands around the farm, “hired young fellows.” His wife and middle daughter also helped a lot around the farm. In the winter Jim would log his property and also tap the trees to get the syrup he sells. He has always sold his syrup on the honor system out of his farm and has not been “ripped off” yet, that he knows of. He has sold his syrup once to South America, and once to Africa, but he said the freight cost double the syrup so he would never do that again. Once Jim owned the farm he “buried prit’ near a mile of stonewalls” dug 7 manmade ponds which he stocked with bass and trout, one pond that was over water that “a drunk” claimed would be a good place to dig for water, and increased to have 9 feed lots. He worked on the Soil Conservation Board for 36 years where he controlled land claims but he got sick of it eventually. The board would use aerial maps to pinpoint the exact acreage of properties and Jim remembers people often trying to lie about their property measurements but the aerial maps eliminated those problems. During his time on the board he saw several ice jams wipe out the shores of the Battenkill, and destroy bridges among other things.
Nowadays, “every day’s something different” He fishes in 2 ponds that are stocked; the stocked fish have to be transferred between ponds once a year. Jim also has a deer camp on his property where there are usually 6 or 7 deer killed a year, by the various people who come to the camp. He still welds often, to help his neighbors whenever they need something fixed. He also trades bales of hay with his neighbors for eggs, or his favorite, cake, or simply buys eggs from his neighbor nearby. Jim still has a few hens and chickens but nearby foxes have taken 32 of his 44 total, leaving him with only 6 hens and 6 roosters. He has a friend that comes to hunt gray squirrels, and eats their meat, but Jim won’t eat squirrel now after having skinned dozens they shot during a migration, he said they look like rats. Jim’s son John also keeps beehives on the property from which they produce and sell honey. John has encountered many problems with bears in his beehives, one in which 2 bears got into the honey so he shot one and it fell directly onto the beehive. The game warden came to the farm because it wasn’t bear hunting season so it had to be seized and instead left the bear because he was scared of all of the bees it was covered in John also makes his own wood furniture that he sells to New York City. Jim originally had a windmill on property and pumped water through it, but he eventually donated it to the Fire Department, where he used to serve and work.
Today, Jim checks his fences about 2-3 times to make sure none of the cows have gotten out. Jim sells calves and gets good money for them because in Vermont most cows are bought from Canada and there are only 2 large dairy farms left in Bennington, one on Harwood Hill, and one in Old Bennington. He once sold 40 of his Guernsey cows to Trevor Babcock, a farmer in Ithaca, New York. He also sells bales of hay mainly to horse owners. Today Jim’s main project is working to produce a diesel from Canola that he and John have been growing on the farm. The only setback is a $10,000 press that they need to purchase, but once they do, they will be able to produce the diesel for all of their own machinery, and sell it as well.
|
