Move from city to farm life proves to be invaluable gift

When Kim and Don Roos moved in 2000 from Fairfield County, Conn., to Jonesboro with their three young children, they knew they were doing the right thing for their family but couldn't have imagined just how right it all turned out to be. Now almost 22 years later, the Roos run Gardenside Dairy at Hatch Knoll Farm with goat milk products ranging from a line of popular cheeses, goat meat in season, goat milk body care lotions and soaps, to wild Maine blueberries and glamping rentals in their 200 acre forest and fields.
"We were an hour from New York City," Kim Roos explains. Their young son was having trouble with bullies in a time when school systems weren't as aware as they are now of the need for policies and quick action. The cost of living was increasing, with "a postage stamp size" property meaning $5,000 in property taxes, and that was over two decades ago. "We made it through Y2K, but it got us thinking, 'Are we happy here? Why are we here?'" The final prod to their resolve was when their third-grade daughter came home from school one day and asked when they were going to get a nice new car like her friends had. Kim laughs as she remembers, "You want to like your children when they're adults."
And like them she does. As Kim talks about the family of five children -- Gabrielle, Zachary, Taylor, Noah and Isabelle -- with the oldest now 30, living Downeast and soon to bring a second grandchild into the fold, her voice is full of respect and joy for who they've become.

Growing a family, building a business
�It's a beautiful property," Roos says of Hatch Knoll Farm. The Roos bought the farm in 2010 when Don and eldest son Zachary decided to add blueberries to the family business. The business itself had evolved from the family getting a few chickens in 2001 and in 2002 a few goats. Kim says, "It was never meant to be a business. It was a project for the kids to learn about where food comes from." Kim was working as a librarian at the local school, and Don continues to this day with his remote work as a technical electrician with a company based in Connecticut. He also contributes 100% during kidding season, Kim quickly points out, which makes for some very long work weeks.
The goats, it turns out, were the entry into a whole new realm that Kim immediately took to. "People were knocking at the door for goat milk," she remembers. They've never sold goat milk, but very soon her goats were producing far more milk than they could use in their household. She started with soap making and in 2003 began the first two lines of cheese, chevre and feta. The timing was right. It was a sweet spot for cheese making on a family farm in Maine, she notes. "For a while Maine said we could sell out of our home as long as we didn't advertise or take it anywhere."
The cheese met with rave reviews and quickly began to provide an income stream that made it clear to Kim and Don that it made more sense financially for her to continue with the cheese business than to continue as a school librarian. They built a licensed kitchen in 2008. "I love it," she says of the farm business and all that it entails. She takes workshops with the Maine Cheese Guild whenever she wants to up the ante, and that has led to making Camembert and cheddar. "Goat milk cheddar surprises people," she says with a laugh. "You can make any cheese from goat milk." The most popular cheese to date is the "Betsy," named after early supporter Betsy French of the French Cellar in Machias. "It's a bloomy rind-aged goat cheese with a line of ash in the middle," she explains.
The five children have helped in various ways throughout the years, with Zachary now "a fully competent farmer" in his own right. Kim and Don don't expect that all will remain in Washington County, but they know that their children have learned valuable skills. "The best thing they've learned from having the farm and seeing us work our butts off is that they understand budgeting and hard work, that to be here [Downeast] they need to have their own business. It's a great lesson that I couldn't have anticipated." She and her husband rest easy knowing that their children are going to be just fine going out into the world in whatever field they choose to follow.

Illness brings out best in family, community
The lessons the Roos family have learned over the past two decades were put to the test in January 2020 when Kim was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. For most of 2019 she had been feeling unwell, with body pain increasing to such severity that she could no longer walk easily, lift pots or sleep. She was used to being able to lift five-gallon pails full of milk and schlepping fully loaded coolers to farmers' markets. She was no slouch to pain, she points out, having gone through five natural births, so it was discouraging to receive advice that made no difference, such as to practice more yoga. Finally, in desperation she told her doctor that they were going to go to the emergency room at Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor. She remembers her doctor telling her that the idea was a good one.
Within eight hours of emergency room time she'd been diagnosed. They found seven compression fractures in her spine and hairline fractures in her pelvis. The cancer had reached into her bones rather than her organs, and while at the time it didn't much help with the news, it turns out that this was a better diagnosis than if it had spread to her organs. Along with chemotherapy Kim had two femur rods placed in her thighs so that she would be able to walk again.
Kim spent 44 days in the hospital, just missing the beginning of the pandemic by the time she went home. "It was torture," she says of learning how to walk again. Plus she was worried. "I was thinking, 'How are we going to sustain the business?'" Her family rallied, and so did the community. Don quickly learned how to make the cheeses that had become her pride and joy. Zachary and his partner, Alex Fouliard, ran the farm, with Gabrielle, Taylor, Noah and Isabelle helping as needed with feeding animals and filling in the gaps. The community contributed to a GoFundMe campaign that provided some much needed funds to help the family. "Everyone was so generous," Kim says with gratitude.
"I'll live with cancer the rest of my life," Kim explains, much like some live with diabetes or another chronic condition. She takes medication to control it and is slowly regaining her strength. Meanwhile, her children, all but two out in the world, and the last two in high school, are well prepared for life. The cheese business has "a huge following," and the other aspects of the farm have been running smoothly. Their blueberries always sell out, the glamping is catching on and helping the farm to pay for itself, the cheese making is about to ramp up with kidding season just around the corner, and her teenage daughter is proving to be the inspiration behind a number of new body care products such as shampoo and conditioner bars and a face masque.
Gardenside Dairy at Hatch Knoll Farm is located a short distance from the Route 1 turn off in Jonesboro. A farm shop uses the honor system for product sales. The farm's website has an online shop, and products can also be found in dishes at Helen's Restaurant, for resale at the French Cellar and the Whole Life Natural Market, all in Machias, and at a selection of farmers' markets during the market season. Glamping at the farm can be found on Airbnb. For more information about the farm, visit gardensidedairy.com or call 434 2674.