AIRES-HILL FARM

Vermont 2018 Farm of the Year

Our Story: From the First Generation to Today

It all began in 1826, when Franklin Thompson started milking cows on a 130-acre farm along the Canadian border in Vermont. Little could he know known seven generations later, his Berkshire farm would still be thriving.

Karie Thompson Atherton took the reins of Aires-Hill Farm from her father Edward Orlyn Thomspon and Uncle James Bryan Thompson in 2014. In 2018, Aires-Hill Farm won the prestigious New England Green Pastures Award, also known as Vermont’s Farm of the Year Award. Karie suffered many concussions and that lead to her and her husband Nick to transition the 400-cow dairy into a diversified operation focused on goats, hay, and maple.

In 2024, life took a new turn, the Vermont farm was sold (for the first time in nearly 200 years) to a family outside the Thompson name, while the Athertons followed their hearts south to

Bath County, Kentucky.

We’re Nick, Karie, and Maggie Atherton, a Vermont-born family now planting new roots in the Bluegrass State. Karie is a 7th-generation dairy farmer, and Nick a 5th-generation maple producer with deep experience in both farming and maple equipment.

When we arrived, we quickly realized our new property wasn’t suited for goats, but it was perfect for cattle. The local demand for beef led us to transition from goats to Registered Angus. Of course, Maggie made sure we kept at least one goat, a highlander, and added a horse- because what’s life without a little variety?

Nick remains deeply involved in the maple industry, where he’s been well established for decades. He works for a maple equipment company and continues to sugar in Vermont every spring, allowing us to bring the finest Pure Vermont Maple Syrup straight to Kentucky.

Today, we’re proud to be first-generation Kentucky cattle farmers, combining generations of Vermont heritage with new Bluegrass roots, using our knowledge of cows, crops, and maple to build something special here in the heart of Appalachia.