Once cold and blustery day in October of 2021, I drove Ivy down the lane to the Kimberton Hunt Club to sell wine for an event. I parked next to Sue Miller from Birchrun Hills Farm, who was selling cheese.  It’s funny how some things snap into your life like they were meant to be there all along, and this is the best way I can describe meeting Sue. In late fall of 2021, we started our happy hours on “the farm”.

There is something inherently pure about saying, “I’m at the farm.”  When someone calls, “I can’t really chat right now, I’m at the farm.” An invitation for dinner or drinks on a Friday night, “Ugh, I would love to but I’m at the farm on Fridays.”  Someone asks where they can buy my wine, “The best place is at the farm, Ivy rolls in there every Friday.”  When I am at the farm I am often asked, “Where’s your winery?”  As I point in the direction of my home and winery my answer is “About a mile up the hill.  My bus can coast right down the street onto the farm.”

When it comes to what happens on the farm the adjectives shift.  The Miller family is an extremely hard-working family who endures all the ups and downs of farming on not only a day-to-day basis but hour to hour at times.  Nevertheless, they shed much of their daily routine to engage with people who come to visit the farm on Fridays.  They greet people with warmth and hospitality making the happy hour experience at the farm so much more than cheese and wine.

In all its, purity and reminiscence of hard work, the experience of the farm takes on an air of whimsy when Ivy is parked in the driveway. It is hard for me to articulate the reaction Ivy brings because it’s not all about the happy memories many of us have, there is an excitement that I’ve seen even in small children when they see her pass by.  Once the top is popped up, the music is playing, and the kegerator is flowing she is no longer just a symbol of whimsy, she exudes party. 

Sue and I have branded our Fridays at the farm as “The Cheesiest Happy Hour”. I am hopeful that we can share these happy hours with more and more people so that they too can enjoy the farm, Ivy, the cheese, the wine, and the vibe created by two women producers who live a mile apart on the same hill.

“May we always be what our dogs think we are.”

Sharon