Forrest Foster, independent dairyman

by Maria Amador

HARDWICK — In 2023, Forrest Foster, a lifelong dairy farmer, lost his partner of four decades.  Last year, with his barn no longer up to code, he lost his product liability insurance and soon after sold his cows.  His stubborn pragmatism and donations from hundreds around the world might help him get his herd back.

The second of 12 children, Mr. Foster was born in November 1948 to a farming family.  They lived in Cabot until he was four, when they relocated to a property in Walden along Route 15; one of his younger brothers lives there still.

In 1979 Mr. Foster bought the land in Hardwick, on which he’s lived since, but it was on the “home farm,” as he calls it, that he learned how to work.  Farming livestock and logging were his primary trades, and in the absence of the tractors the family couldn’t afford, he relied on horses.

Early on, Mr. Foster found himself wanting to stick close to home.  Before he left school at age twelve, he convinced his teacher, Mrs. Goodenough, to let him arrive at nine o’clock each day, leaving more time for morning chores. …