Screamin' Ridge Farm™ produces sustainably grown vegetables and a growing selection of flavorfully crafted food, like soups, pesto, salsa, and tomato sauce. Run by Joe Buley, Jr. and his staff, we follow a biorational approach and run the farm year-round—relying on unheated passive-solar greenhouses, interior row covers, raised beds, and sunny days for winter production. 

Joe registered Screamin' Ridge Farm™ with the state of Vermont in 2004. But he hatched the ideas behind the farm and began researching how to make his dream a reality several years before that. He calls the concept behind the farm culinary-supported agriculture. Joe started his career as a chef. His experience working with fine agricultural products began at the L'Ecole Supérieure de Cuisine Française—Centre Jean Ferrandi, a prestigious culinary school in Paris where Joe was the only American student at the time. There he learned the subtleties of flavor balance and the importance of starting with fresh, high quality ingredients.

For the next 20+ years, Joe built a career as a chef in restaurants in Brooklyn NY, San Francisco, San Diego, Laguna Niguel CA (yeah, at the Ritz Carlton—who knew they make Rolls-Royce convertibles!?!), and Austin TX. During this time, Joe married Lori and they raised three beautiful daughters, Nikita, Olivia, and Annik. The family enjoyed living in San Diego for about 5 years, then Austin TX, also for about 5 years, but spent most vacations on the East coast, always with a visit to Vermont among the destinations. Both of Joe’s parents were raised in Vermont and he spent a lot of time here as kid, visiting his grandparents in East Randolph in the summer and skiing with his family in the winter. Like many people with strong childhood ties to Vermont, he wandered as a young adult, but felt strongly drawn back to Vermont once he had children of his own.

In 1999, plans came together to move the family to Montpelier Vermont. Joe worked as a chef-instructor at the New England Culinary Institute, bought a house in East Montpelier with seven and a half acres of land, and began learning how to farm. For a few years, Joe pretty much worked two full-time jobs as he juggled his chef-instructor position with the work of getting a farm up and running. Finally in July 2009, Joe was able to devote all of his time to the farm.

With three big double-wall greenhouses, a few employees, and just enough chickens to supply the family with eggs, Joe sells most of his produce at the Summer and Winter Capital City Farmers Markets in Montpelier and through Joe's CSA. He also uses his produce and that from other local farmers to make soups and sauces for sale at the Farmers Market and Hunger Mountain Coop in Montpelier—Look for the Joe's Soups label. Joe’s vision of sustainable, culinary-supported agriculture is really coming together. His work augments that of other small farms, representing a viable, sustainable model that promotes business diversity, local community, and a hyper local economy. Screamin’ Ridge Farm is proud to be a part of this movement—one really tasty bowl of soup or chef-curated CSA share at a time.