PLOUGHGATE CREAMERY: Butter Up
BY MARIA BUTEUX READE
Marisa Mauro has been making things from milk since she was 15. She milked cows as a teenager and worked at dairy farms in Vermont and out West. At 23, she started Ploughgate Creamery in the Northeast Kingdom, taking over an abandoned facility in 2008 and making Willoughby cheese. Yes, that Willoughby, now made famous by Jasper Hill Farm. Life for the young cheesemaker was going well. Until a fire devastated the creamery in 2011. “I was still learning about life and business and didn’t have the proper insurance,” she explains. The blaze wiped her out financially and emotionally, so she turned away from the dairy world to regroup.
A series of friends reached out to help. One offered Marisa a job managing a wine bar in Waterbury. Mateo and Andy Kehler of Jasper Hill Farm, who had helped start Marisa on her creamery journey, bought the recipes for two of her cheeses, Willoughby and Hartwell. “I was really honored that they wanted to keep making them,” she says. In 2012, Leigh Williams, owner of Laughing Moon Chocolates in Stowe, pointed her to a farm in Waitsfield available through the Vermont Land Trust. Marisa reluctantly agreed to take a look.
But when she saw the 50-acre hilltop farm, with sweeping views of the Mad River Valley and mountains, she knew she was destined to steward this land. She made her business plan, secured the property through the Vermont Land Trust, borrowed money, and settled into the historic farm on Bragg Hill in December 2013. She spent the next year designing and overseeing construction of a creamery.
From the outset, Marisa dreamed of having her own milking herd, but creamery construction exceeded the budget and left no funds for cows. Instead of making cheese, she pivoted to producing high-quality cultured butters. “I wanted to do something different, to take on a healthy challenge.” At that point, small-scale butter-making equipment, large volumes of cream, and training were hard to find. Undeterred, Marisa discovered a book published in 1900 on butter making and started reading. She produced her first batch in 2014. “My plan was to make 5,000 pounds of butter a year. In 2020, I made 35,000 pounds! People bought so much butter during the pandemic! It must have been all that sourdough,” she says, burbling into a giggle.
Ploughgate is one of a handful of small-scale artisanal butter makers in the United States. Marisa’s exquisite butters start with rich cream from Monument Farms Dairy, a fourth-generation operation based in Weybridge. “Their butterfat is off the charts!” she enthuses. One gallon of cream produces three to four pounds of cultured butter, and Marisa makes 600 to 800 pounds a week, spread across four production days. Each hand-formed bar comes wrapped in brown paper, a golden treasure.
For the salted butter, flaky sea salt adds crunch and breaks up the fat. Unsalted is slightly tangy and creamy. Marisa also creates flavored butters. Espelette is infused with smoky sweetness and mild spice from the renowned Basque pepper. Seaweed butter has flecks of hand-harvested dried dulse (coarse red seaweed found especially in northern latitudes) from her friends at VitaminSea Seaweed on the Maine coast. Fig and balsamic provides a sophisticated, subtle flavor that can lean sweet or savory. And then there’s maple butter, because it’s Vermont! These are truly melt-in-your-mouth—or on your toast, or in your piecrust—butters.
“I didn’t realize this when I got here, but the Braggs had made butter in the early 20th century and sold it in Boston and New York. I knew this had been a dairy and assumed butter was part of it, but I had no idea of the extent. I just love that we’ve come full circle.”
And while Marisa still dreams of having her own herd to milk, she commits to her vision of cows grazing the lush pastures. For the past four years, 15 fortunate heifers from Von Trapp Farm just over the mountain spend their spring and summer happily munching the verdant grasses.
“To be an entrepreneur, you have to be adaptable,” Marisa offers. “As much as it hurt to shift from the original goal of milking my own herd, I had to be realistic. I’m still making butter and supporting other farms, and there are cows on the land.”
Marisa admits that 2020 fried her. “During the pandemic, all I did was work and didn’t feel connected to anyone or anything. So I decided to make only a certain amount of butter, know where it’s going, and be happy with that scale.” Marisa started a mail order business in November and collaborated with other entrepreneurs she admires. The Ploughgate piecrust kit includes unsalted butter, stoneground flour milled at Elmore Mountain Bread, a custom rolling pin, and a pastry blender from JK Adams. Another collaboration promotes a stoneware butter crock made by her potter friend, Jeremy Ayers. “I just launched a Butter Lover subscription box that features three special flavors each month, so that gives me a chance to create. I know 80 percent of my mail order customers, which is pretty rad. I love this model because it’s all about creativity, collaboration, and connection.”
Marisa reflects on her evolution. “This place broke me, but in all the best ways. Especially the first four years when I was solo and seriously dating the farm,” she laughs. “But when something pushes you to the edge, that’s when you have the biggest breakthrough and can see things more clearly.”
“I’ve wanted to live this life since I was 14,” Marisa concludes. “The land is absolutely magical, and this place has given me confidence and taught me so much. Running this business is a huge feat for a single woman, and I’m learning to slow down again and to enjoy the simple moments, like being in my garden with a glass of wine, cooking, and getting back to spending time with friends. I feel my purpose is to keep creating and building. I’m really lucky to be here.”
COLLABORATIVE PIE CRUST KIT
Marisa believes that simple is best. Her Ploughgate Pie Crust Kit includes the four essential elements, sourced here in Vermont. Just add a luscious filling of your choice. Included is this card with handwritten instructions to ensure buttery, flaky success.
