At home on the farm

The Barnes-Klaunig family at Grey Barn.

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Michael Barnes (the farm manager at Grey Barn) and his partner Lindsay Klaunig (the cheesemaker) wanted their son Elias to grow up "surrounded by animals and nature." So far, so good. —Photo by Lisa Vanderhoop

As I walked out of the farmstand at Grey Barn after picking up some milk, I couldn’t stop staring at a rugged man holding his joyous naked son in his hands. He carefully placed him down in the grass to crawl around with a small gaggle of geese. I went over and introduced myself to Michael, Lindsay, and Elias. It has been six months since Michael Barnes moved to Martha’s Vineyard in April to take over as the new farm manager at The Grey Barn in Chilmark. He moved here with Lindsay Klaunig, his partner in life, and their newborn son, Elias. I ask if he grew up on a farm and Michael says, “I grew up all over the place.” He tells me, “I was born in Oklahoma, moved to New Mexico and lived there about ten years (through high school in Santa Fe), and moved to Oregon for community college in Bend and stayed there a couple years after that.” Despite not living on a farm growing up, Michael and his family grew vegetables and raised chickens (for meat) in the backyard, and always composted.

At age 35, after completing an undergraduate education at Colorado State University, and stints on various farms around the West, Michael rode his bicycle across the country and found a farm in Indiana that he would return to, eventually meeting Lindsay, who came on board as the farm’s cheesemaker. The couple moved to Idaho, then, after Elias’s birth, found themselves working 80 hours a week, with no days off, and realized they needed to make a change. They tell me they “started thinking about the best scenarios for Elias to grow up in, and began looking for a safe, clean outdoor environment surrounded by animals and nature.” Michael saw the job at Grey Barn on Martha’s Vineyard on an agricultural jobs website; deciding to take the job was an easy decision.

Michael oversees 70 acres of grazing and hay, of which 20 acres will be certified organic next year. Grey Barn has 31 adult milk cows grazing, 4 beef cows, and raises 50 – 60 hogs on whey, a cheese by-product, all sold locally. Michael tells me, “One of the reasons I chose this job is I like diverse farms — poly-cultural layered agriculture that maximizes all waste streams on the farm.”

A typical day on the farm for Michael starts with a 5:30 am alarm. He’ll have a quick breakfast, then head out to stock the farm store with milk, then move and feed the chickens. Then he sets up the milking parlor to milk the cows, heads out to move the cows from the field up to the parlor and by 7:15, he’s milking them in the parlor.  By 9:30 am Michael, he’s finished milking and cleaning the milk house. Next he feeds the pigs, checks on all of the animals, their water and fencing. Then it’s time to look at the previous day’s grazing to make sure the cows are getting the right amount of food from the fields. He’ll take down fencing from the previous day’s paddocks and set up new paddocks for the milking and dry cow herd. The rest of of the morning, until lunchtime, is focused on a small task to-do list that usually includes fixing something broken — a constant farm reality. After lunch with Lindsay and Elias, he will finish up as much as he can on his list, order materials, and do inventory. Around 2:00 pm it’s time to wash bottles for milk, feed and water the pigs again, collect eggs, set up the milking parlor, get the cows and milk around 4:15 pm. After cleaning the parlor and milk house, moving the cows and feeding the chickens, Michael can call it a day.

With the driest September on record in 57 years, Michael has had to organize a rotation and “extend the season a little bit. The animals are back on pasture, but that’ll all change in a week.” He admits that he is more at home now, even though he has not had much time to explore or get off the farm yet. Michael takes another call from the driver of 70-foot-long semi on its way to deliver hay, and I let him get on with his pressing duties.

Lindsay is one of the most relaxed new mothers I have ever met. She grew up in suburban Indianapolis and tells me she tried Indiana University for a year and then “went out to Washington state to pick blueberries on a whim through WWOOF [World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms].” When the season was over she “got a job flipping cheese” and loved it. The next year through WWOOF she took an apprenticeship in New Jersey, making cheese at a primitive cheese plant where no PH meters or thermometers were used, and acidity was tested by tasting the whey. She continues, “It was a good first experience; should a PH meter break, the power go out and you do not have a thermometer, I could still make cheese.” She spent a year there before moving on to manage a creamery making eight different kinds of bleu cheese in Washington, an experience “that committed [her] to cheese.” She spent a couple of years traveling to Romania, Transylvania, and South America to learn local cheese-making, before returning and concentrating solely on cheesemaking at Consider Bardwell Farm in Vermont, where she was “mentored by Peter Dixon, the Johnny Appleseed of cheese.”

She returned to a farm in Indiana and “ got to develop cheeses myself and do a line of cheeses,” and met Michael, the farm’s manager.

Neither Michael nor Lindsay had history on Martha’s Vineyard. Much of Lindsay’s family lives in New Jersey. Her twin sister has visited twice from Maui, and she looks forward to family and friends joining her and Michael and Elias on-Island for Thanksgiving. Lindsay consults on cheese to an upstate New York and a Montana creamery and works with sales at Grey Barn when she is not looking after Elias. Her newest project is growing mushrooms in their basement.

Now that the season is over, Lindsay enjoys being able to park and not having to defend herself against crowds, visiting beaches with Elias and enjoying “the glorious fall weather.” One happy find is an apple tree. She has prepared all their vegetables for the winter and admitted they already have their turkey in the freezer. The Island is a welcome change from the winters of Idaho, and the family looks forward to getting to know their new home, neighbors and sharing their skills with local farmers and new friends.

Kosher Turkeys This Thanksgiving

The Grey Barn and Farm is bringing a rabbi to the Island to perform a Kosher slaughter. If you are interested in reserving a Kosher turkey email sales@thegreybarnandfarm.com or call 508-645-4854.