Patriot Ledger features Dalby Farm

All of us at Dalby Farm were so excited to hear that a couple folks from the Patriot Ledger would be dropping by the farm during our July Open Farm day to speak with our owner Cheryl. They expressed interest in learning about our mission, our history and our many offerings.

We have copied the article below so you can read it right from here- alternatively head over to PatriotLedger.com to read it on-site. It’s also in the physical paper 😉

We hope to see you all at Dalby Farm this Summer at one of our Open Farm Days, for a birthday party, to shop in our store– or even Farm Yoga!
We also have a Ladies Fitness Club starting in August I can’t recommend enough!

Scituate farm offers up-close look at uncommon farm animals

SCITUATE – With some coaxing, Satuit, a black and white goat with long, curved horns, wandered over for some attention from visitors who reached into his pen to pet his back.

“He’s such a good boy,” said Cheryl Bowen-DiTommaso, owner of the friendly goat, whose name is a Native American Wampanoag word that “Scituate” is likely derived from. “Everyone loves Satuit. How could you not?”

To the untrained eye, 15-year-old Satuit seems much like any other goat. But he’s one of just 350 Arapawa Island goats left in the world, and one of the rare-breed farm animals that call Dalby Farm home.

“People don’t think of farm animals as being critical, but 99 percent of our animals are rare,” said Bowen-DiTommaso, who owns the Grove Street farm with her husband, Joel DiTommaso. “These animals are ambassadors of their breeds.”

Dalby Farm has been in Bowen-DiTommaso’s family since 1861, when John Dalby came to Scituate from England and started a poultry farm. After reading an article about protecting endangered and threatened farm animals, the DiTommasos decided to transform the property into a space to raise awareness about animals and nature.

The family got their first rare animals – Satuit’s mother and another Arapawa Island goat – through Plimouth Plantation’s rare breed program about 15 years ago. Satuit was one of the first rare farm animals born at Dalby Farm.

The farm is now home to farm animals ranging from rare poultry to rare livestock, including Pumpkin, a 10-year-old Ossabaw Island pig, and chinchilla rabbits named Bonnie, Baxter and Bailey.

Ellen Williams and her son Dwight, 6, were among the many visitors to Dalby Farm on Sunday for its open house. A Scituate native, Ellen Williams said her family now lives in South America and visits each summer.

“I’m surprised I’ve never heard about this farm before. It’s really fantastic,” she said. “We will definitely come back.”

Bowen-DiTommaso said the main goal of the farm is to educate people about the importance of conservation and preservation, including saving rare-breed animals before it’s too late. To maximize profits, Bowen-DiTommaso said farmers have started creating hybrid farm animals that have preferred characteristics, but that can be vulnerable to things like diseases.

“If we don’t take care of our rare breeds with hardy and good attributes, we will have nothing to draw from in the future,” she said, adding that the farm partners with the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy in its mission.

Dalby Farm offers summer and school enrichment programs for children, birthday parties, tours and field trips and other community events. The farm also runs a country store, both on site and online, that sells all-natural condiments, goat milk soaps and lotions and other items to help support the care and breeding of the animals.

The farm’s next open house will run from 10 to 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, August 6. For more information about Dalby Farm, visit www.dalbyfarm.com.