High Mowing Organic Seeds' Farm
When the early European settlers came to New England, they brought with them their livestock-based agriculture. The practice of mowing hayfields and storing winter feed was well-established, and became even more important when they encountered the long winters in northern New England. But instead of calling such a field a “hayfield” like we do today, they called it a “mowing”. These fields, or mowings, were usually further identified by a descriptor referring to location: the “back mowing” was behind the farm, the “low mowing” was in the valley, and the “high mowing” was up on the hilltop. In northern Vermont, where small rivers wind their way through mountainous and hilly terrain, nearly all mowings are “high mowings”. A hundred years ago, farms on these hillsides had names like “High Mowing Farm” or “High Mowing Acres”. When our seed company first started, we not only liked the sound of “high mowing”, but it was an old, regionally specific, agricultural term that fit the kind of seed company we are: farm-based and rooted in a place.