#FarmLove – Sanctuary Dairy Farm

Back in 2009, nine-year-old Beck Johnson of Sunapee, New Hampshire had a dream. Like lots of kids, he dreamt of ice cream—but in this case, he wanted to make it, not just eat it. The young man—the tenth generation farming land they first settled in the 1760s—and his sister, Maranda, became known locally as “The Ice Cream Kids.” Beck earned an Ice Cream University certificate from Penn State and the family traveled to Italy to learn from the masters themselves. The Sanctuary Farm ice cream stand and its youthful founding visionary earned lots of publicity everywhere from the local paper to the Associated Press. “I really like seeing happy people enjoying their experience here,” Beck told the Eagle Times newspaper in 2014.

After building a successful business, Beck is about to start college but he and his family will continue the solar-powered ice cream stand he has built over the years. It now offers a wide range of frozen treats including hard ice cream, gelato, soft-serve and sorbet. The dairy recipes start with a base made with regional milk and cream and the Johnsons buy fresh fruit and other ingredients from local farmers as much as possible. Favorite flavors include Apple Pie made with chunks of locally baked Beaver Pond apple pie; Blueberry made with fruit from Bartlett’s Farm; and Maple Cream-Maple Candy-Fudge made with real New Hampshire maple syrup, chunks of maple candy and generous swirls of homemade fudge.

As if the ice cream itself is not enough of a draw, there is always a menagerie of animals like goats and donkeys to visit and feed, games like horse shoes set up for old-fashioned family fun and hiking trails throughout the conserved acreage of the dairy farm just 1/3 of a mile down the road. “The core of this family business is to provide a gathering place for families young and old to enjoy life’s simple pleasures,” says Susan Johnson. In 2012, driven by Beck’s interest, the family installed a solar panel system that provides sustainable energy to the entire operation. For this, among other accomplishments, Sanctuary Farm was named New Hampshire Dairy Farm of the Year in 2016.

Along with their dairy farm and year-round ice cream stand, the Johnsons run a veterinarian practice next door to the family’s home. The Johnson’s son Jared and nephew, Ethan Johnson, manage the farm on a daily basis, while Dr. Jolyon Johnson and his wife, Susan, run the veterinary clinic and help out on the farm as needed. The family is also trained in wildlife rehabilitation and, over the years, Dr. Johnson says, they have helped animals ranging from turtles and blue herons to foxes and orphaned fawns.

Recently, Jared shared via Facebook that he was on the way to the hayfield and found a long-lived survivor of the family’s work. The turtle’s shell still showed the fiberglass seam where the Johnsons had repaired it after an unfortunate encounter with a car. “It’s still alive and kicking!” wrote Jared happily.