Feast & Field

Jun 05, 2025 05:14PM ● By E. Senteio Photography By Lynn Bohannon

Every Thursday evening from late May through September, a working farm in Barnard, Vermont, transforms into something special—some might even call it magical. Visitors spread picnic blankets under apple trees and set up lawn chairs while children chase each other between rows of picnic tables. Ice cream cones and cider are plentiful. The smell of wood-fired flatbread pizzas topped with farm-fresh sausage fills the air. As the sun sets over the hills, laughter, conversation, and live music drift across the orchard as stars fill the sky and join in the revelry.

A Bushel to a Feast

What started in 2009 as a small vegetable CSA (community supported agriculture) pickup at Fable Farm has grown into a one-of-a-kind community event. Brothers Jon and Christopher Piana of Fable Farm noticed how, over time, the pickup became a weekly gathering. “It just felt right,” Jon recalls. “So, we built an earth oven, made pizzas, and had local musicians play for donations.” All these years later, the event draws hundreds of people—locals and tourists alike—to share in an authentic farm-to-table feast. “We were always trying to find ways to bring people together,” Jon says. “We wanted the farm to be more than just a place to grow vegetables.” Now, as he puts it, it’s become a “beloved, iconic gathering.” Feast & Field is so popular that it has branched out, recently adding Rumney Sessions. “With Rumney Sessions, we keep the Thursday gatherings going October through March,” Jon says. “It turns out people still want to gather, even when it’s cold.”

These winter sessions are “more low-key, but still full of good food, good music, and good company.” There are also roaring firepits, steaming hearty soups, and the serene beauty of a Vermont winter evening to stave off the nip of chilly weather. Collaborating, Not Competing

Three local farms collectively host Feast & Field: Fable Farm, Eastman Farm, and Kiss the Cow Farm. As a collaborative team, they manage the land and share infrastructure. About a decade ago, the three farms formalized their partnership. “We act like one farmer,” says Joseph Morel of Eastman Farm. “We formed a co-op to share the barn, the land, and the kitchen. It makes it all possible.”

The collective runs operations out of the shared Rumney Barn. “It’s our co-op headquarters,” Joseph explains. “And it’s where Feast & Field happens.” All three farms use the barn as a workspace and storage, housing anything from vegetables, wine, and cider to ice cream and meat.

Randy Robar of Kiss the Cow Farm

“Feast & Field is what it is today because of the collaboration of the three farms,” says Randy Robar, who owns and runs Kiss the Cow Farm with his wife Lisa. He says each farm is an integral part of the event’s success.

Through collaborative farming, the collective keeps Barnard’s fields open and productive in a way that would be hard to do alone. For the farmers, it’s about resource-sharing and mutual support. “We all wanted to keep farming sustainable and build community,” Jon says. “That meant collaborating, not competing.”

Individual Strengths, Collective Flavor

Each farm brings its own flair and flavor to the feast. Fable Farm provides and cooks an array of vegetables and makes ciders and wines from its orchard and vineyard. Eastman Farm supplies grass-fed beef. There are vegetarian options, too—perhaps a fragrant curry stew or a fresh salad loaded with farm veggies. Kiss the Cow Farm provides ice cream in popular flavors like 2 Die 4 Dark Chocolate, Sultry Salty Caramel, Blueberry Lavender, and more. The synergy allows each farm to thrive by focusing on its strengths while presenting a united experience to the public. “You can sit in the orchard, eat ice cream or a taco made with beef from across the road, drink cider from the barn,” Jon says. All of that while enjoying a band from Vermont or Quebec playing music under the stars.

The menu changes, with some items being standard and others seasonal. But all menu items are curated almost entirely from food grown on-site. “Over 70 percent of the food you’re eating at Feast & Field is coming from the land where you’re eating it,” notes Joseph, who has led the farm’s culinary efforts since 2014. “And that matters. You taste the place.” The cattle are raised on grass and managed through rotational grazing. “That builds the fertility in the soil,” Joseph adds. “The beef and food you eat here isn’t just local; it’s part of a whole ecosystem.”

Apple wine and ciders from Fable Farm are the perfect accompaniment to the bucolic feast. Which wines are available depends on the harvest. A few possibilities are apple, grape, pear, birch tree sap, honey, and various blends. “We don’t use commercial yeast in our wines,” Jon says. “Everything is fermented using native yeasts from the fruit itself. It’s a way to let the land speak through the wine.”

Kiss the Cow serves up a definite fan favorite, “real ice cream,” says Randy. “Let’s just say that we meet practically everyone who comes to Feast & Field because they all stop by to get an ice cream!” For many, an evening at Feast & Field wouldn’t be complete without a scoop or two.

While it’s the food that draws the crowd, live music performances provide the perfect backdrop to help create the vibrant atmosphere and palpable character of the Feast & Field experience.

BarnArts: Musical Garnish to a Feast

Musicians love performing at the Feast & Field venue, says Linda Treash, executive director of BarnArts, the local arts nonprofit that manages and curates the BarnArts Feast & Field Music Series. “It’s a particularly beautiful place to perform, outdoors in an apple orchard with a community of people who really enjoy having a good time.” In fact, she adds, so many performers reach out hoping to play the event that they can’t all be accommodated.

Music Program Manager of BarnArts Vic Johnson and Executive Director of BarnArts Linda Treash.

Linda gives credit to BarnArts Music Program Manager Vic Johnson for Feast & Field, who coordinates 18 weeks of the BarnArts Feast & Field Music Series. BarnArts makes a point to feature a wide range of styles and artists, with new artists each season. “Our music programming has a mission of providing gender balance and diversity,” Linda explains. “Fifty percent of our musicians are women-led bands, 50 percent are local musicians, and each season we also bring in international acts to broaden the palette.” Artists come for the experience and the enthusiasm of a community that treasures the music.

BarnArts is an essential part of the Feast & Field experience. “Vic, Linda, and the whole team keep doing an awesome job,” Jon says. “They get such good bands we wouldn’t be able to have without them. The music is so smoothly integrated into the whole experience.” As music fills the orchard, joyful audiences explore the new and revel in the familiar. Some relax and let it all happen around them. Couples and children dance in the grass, families tap their feet, retirees take a spin, and toddlers toddle, finding their own sense of rhythm.

The True Heart of the Feast

But food, farms, and farmers are always at the heart of Feast & Field. The event is not mere entertainment, Joseph says, but “an agricultural act.” Jon agrees: “It’s a unique thing, that the food you’re eating is from the land that you’re celebrating on. I don’t think people realize or think about that a lot.” “The farmer grows the food on the farm, cooks the food on the farm, and serves the customer on the farm,” Joseph says. That philosophy is tangible in every bite. As guests dine, they’re literally tasting the fields around them—beef raised on the neighboring pastures, vegetables plucked from the rich soil, fruit fermented into cider in the barn just steps away, freshly churned organic dairy. It’s a locavore’s dream come true.

But Feast & Field is more than tasty local food and music. It’s about sustainability. It’s a collaborative effort to sustain a rural economy while strengthening the community. Jon says they are trying to be better at telling the story of not only how the food is from the land within their very community but also how much Feast & Field supports the farmers who are also part of that very same community. A community in which each farm has deep roots and rich ties.

And There’s More

On Thursday evenings, when cooperative hosts welcome the crowd, they each make a point to highlight the collaborating farms and the products they offer, effectively promoting everyone together. The experience doesn’t end at the Feast & Field table—guests also learn how to find each farm’s goods beyond the event. Whether it’s visiting Kiss the Cow’s farmstand for organic raw or pasteurized milk, eggs, vegetables, herbs, and flowers, buying Eastman’s grass-fed beef at a local market, or taking part in Fable Farm’s subscription wine club, they all get a shout-out. What begins as a Thursday night meal becomes a deeper connection to the farms, the farmers, and the fields that make it all possible. It’s not just a celebration of food with music. It’s a celebration of the land, the people who work it, and the community that gathers around and supports it.

Inclusive by Design

From its inception, Feast & Field has been about community. Sustainability is not possible without support. Support is not possible without community. Community is not possible without connection. That’s why Feast & Field has always been committed to inclusion and keeping the event welcoming and accessible to all. For most of its history, the weekly gathering had no admission fee. Anyone could come, listen to music, and be part of the scene for free. Food and drink are sold separately. Only recently, a nominal sliding-scale entry donation was introduced. These donations are needed to help support the event’s growing costs.

“We now have a sliding scale of $5 to $25. That helps us cover the music, parking, toilets, lighting, infrastructure things like that,” says Jon. However, he emphasizes that no one is turned away from Feast & Field if they are unable to donate. This pay-what-you-can model, along with reasonably priced fresh-from-the-farm sips, savories, and swirlies, keeps the event feeling neighborly, accessible, and all-inclusive, but more importantly, community-driven rather than commercial.

Joseph says, “It’s very much an event for and by the community.” Linda agrees. “This is about community. We want everyone to know and feel like they belong here.” Feast & Field gives farmers, neighbors, and soon-to-be friends a chance to come together and connect. Longtime residents mingle with newcomers while families share a laugh with vacationers. Jon and his brother Christopher always “wanted the farm to be a space for community, celebration, and culture.” That seems to have come to fruition. On any given Thursday night, you might find a retired dairy farmer chatting with a software engineer from Boston who’s tasting Vermont grass-fed beef, fresh dairy, and cider for the first time. Feast & Field creates common ground for people to share and celebrate what Vermont’s land and community can do together.

Showing Up

Feast & Field is more than a weekly event; it’s a living and growing community. It’s not only a collaboration of Fable Farm, Eastman Farm, and Kiss the Cow Farm, but an alliance between the land and the people. An alliance that yields more than just delicious harvests but also nurtures a community rooted in sustainability and shared values that foster a closer connection with the land and with each other.

They all agree, as does the community that comes back again and again, that there is nothing else like it. “The unique experience is what makes it so popular,” says Randy.

In a time when connection can feel rare, Feast & Field offers something simple and profound: a place to gather, eat, relax, laugh, and celebrate the land and community. It’s a cliché, but true: Feast & Field nourishes both body and soul. Joseph sees the weekly rhythm of the event as vital for both farms and families. “It’s so much more than an effort to sustain a rural economy. People need spaces where they can connect with the land, food, and each other,” he says. “It’s about showing up and being part of something. Feast & Field is that place.”

Feast & Field

feastandfield.com <http://feastandfield.com/>
Where: Fable Farm, 1525 Royalton Turnpike, Barnard, VT

When: Thursday evenings

Summer series: late May through September
Winter series: Rumney Sessions in the Rumney Barn October to March
Time: Gates open at 5:30pm, music starts at 6:30pm
Tickets: Sliding scale $5–$25 (pay what you can)
Food: Farm-fresh pizza, tacos, salads, cider, wines, ice cream, seasonal soups, and more!
Music: Curated by BarnArts, barnarts.org. 18 weeks of diverse live performances.
Family friendly: Children welcome. Sorry, no pets are allowed as this is a working farm.

BarnArts Feast & Field Music Series 2025

June 5: Interplay Jazz W/Michael Zsoldos Jazz
June 12: Shandy Rill Folk
June 19: Cate Great/Cold Chocolate Circus/folk & bluegrass June 26: La Muchacha y el Propio Junte Columbian folk rock
July 3: Lakou Mizik Haitian roots July 10: KeruBo Afro-jazz/folk July 17: Quincy Saul’s Research and Development Band Funk/world/soul/intergalactic
July 24: Khumariyaan Pakistani hyper-folk & Pashtun
July 31: The Wormdogs Roots/Americana
Aug 7: Mal Maiz Psychedelic Latin
Aug 14: Zikina Afro-jazz/rock
Aug 21: Beecharmer Bluegrass/old time
Aug 28: Bow Thayer’s Choirs of Aether Improvisational rock
Sept 4: Timbermash Bluegrass/Americana
Sept 11: Queer Dance Party DJ Sept 18: Fabiola Mendez Puerto Rican folk/jazz
Sept 25: Closing Equinox Celebration

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