Oral history interview with Lee and Bob Light

Oral history interview with Lee and Bob Light

Lee and Bob Light describe their background in New Jersey and marriage in 1962 when Lee graduated from high school. They speak of how involvement in the anti-war movement and other influences resulted in their decision move to Plainfield, Vermont, in 1972, selected in part for schooling for their children at The New School, and because of the vibrancy of the Goddard College community. They speak of their attendance at early NOFA and Plainfield Food Coop meetings, homesteading, and, in 1973, beginning direct sales of organic strawberries and raw milk, cheese, and butter from four Jersey cows at their Little Wood Farm. They describe both negative and positive response generated by a 1975 article in The New York Times that featured them, "Back-to-Land Movement Seeks Self-Sufficiency." They then speak of expanding their dairy operation to 25 cows, with bottling and sales directly from the farm, and in 1983 moving to Hollister Hill Farm in Marshfield, Vermont where they began more intensive dairy farming with sales through Cabot Creamery. Lee mentions the 1970s women's liberation movement ethos that "a woman could do everything a man could do," and consequences from pushing herself too hard to do physically demanding work.

12 August 2015

AudioFile1970s-41

MP3

Audio Files

Plainfield (Vt.)

Permission to publish material from the Vermont 1970s Counterculture Project must be obtained from the Vermont Historical Society.

Rowell, Leslie

Light, Leonora V.

Light, Robert, 1941-

Marshfield (Vt.)

1 hr., 3 min., 27 sec.

Vermont Historical Society Library, 60 Washington Street, Barre, VT 05641-4209