Ep 020 Maple Breeze Farm

     John and Bonnie Hall are two of the most down-to-earth people we have met in our travels.  They raise American Milking Devon Cattle (and produce amazing maple syrup) on Maple Breeze Farm in Westbrook, Connecticut.  
     The Milking Devons are called "American" now, but maybe that's because they no longer exist in their original home country of England.  And yes, the yummy Devonshire cream you may have heard of comes from these animals.  They are tri-purpose cattle, being used for milk, beef and as oxen (draft).  They are one of the few animals left in the United States that holds that distinction, and there are said to be between 500 and 1,500 left in existance.  
     John's lineage, and the lineage of his cattle, can be traced back -- way, way, way back -- and if so inclined, John's great-great's might have hitched up the great-great's of his cattle to a cart to supply colonists with milk and meat.  Both the family and the herd have been in about the same spot since 1635. Yankee stubbornness, as John would say.