Jess and Tom
Tom Trczinski grew up in urban Wilmington, Delaware. He first heard of biodynamics in a sustainable agriculture elective while in college at Penn State. On his first apprenticeship in a garden in Vermont, he participated in a study group on biodynamics, and read about our farm “in the rolling hills of Chester County.” Drawn to be nearer to his family, he moved here and worked under Steven Clee on the dairy. In 2007, having finished four years of apprenticeship, he was ready to take on the journeyman phase of his training, and spent a year in New Zealand. Next, he came back to work on several farms in the Northeast US and settled down in Maine, where he created a micro-dairy (with 6 cows) for a CSA run by someone who had been a coworker in Kimberton Hills years before. Then he received a call from Steven asking him to consider coming back because we needed a dairy farmer.
Jess Trczinski studied public health at Stockton University in New Jersey, imagining to become a physical therapist. Her main motive was to be able to help people. A college friend was a coworker here and thought this would be the perfect place for Jess. So she visited on a festival day, worked in the garden and was deeply moved by meeting the people, especially Ben Simenhof. All her life she had been drawn to gardening, so she applied to be a garden intern. Wishing then to stay for a whole year, she then began to work full-time on the dairy, where she fell in love with the cows and Tom. Only later did she learn that her paternal great grandparents had been dairy farmers! Jess wanted to learn more about biodynamics and enrolled in and completed the two-year North American Biodynamic Apprenticeship Program, working one year in the CSA and one year at the dairy. After that, she sought answers to her questions about grazing in the Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship Program run by the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture.
In 2018 Tom and Jes decided to run the farm together. They married in 2019, and little Olive joined the family in 2021.
Their vision is to bring added value to the milk by selling it as bottled raw milk, and making cheese. By cutting out all grain supplements, we have a 100% grass fed dairy herd, and we maintain Biodynamic Demeter certification. They also instituted the practice of keeping the calves with their moms for up to 100 days. Jess learned cheese-making from Sue Miller, who rented our cheese house, and then took a course in Vermont.
Our farm is for people who want to develop useful skills. Mark Combrinck-Hertz is our barn master, taking over from Larry Adler. Alex Bauers is also on the team. They help move the animals and sometimes help with deliveries. Wes Keller is great with routine. He helps with bottling and other tasks. Michael Weinstock tends to the farm landscape, making it beautiful and orderly.
Training is a major part of their work. New people come every year, and it is inspiring to see them grow into real responsibility. Young people gain skills for life, whether or not they continue their path in agriculture.
Tom and Jess are deeply grateful that people find it important enough to support the building of the new housing for the cows. It will be spacious enough to fit all the animals, will have great air flow and a convenient manure stacking area, and will bring efficiency and harmony to all who work on the farm as well.