Reclaiming the Right to Farm

Our Story

"Rehabilitating abandoned land and bringing it back into agricultural production."

MacIsaac Highland is a pre-industrial hill farm in the uplands of Corinth, Vermont. Since 1981, our family has bred registered Scottish Highland cattle while rehabilitating abandoned land and bringing it back into agricultural production.

Vermont once had far more farmland. We work to demonstrate practical ways to convert unmanaged land into new productive working landscapes, supporting local food security and the state's agricultural potential.

Our approach stays close to traditional methods: structures built by hand from local stone and rough-sawn timber, intermittent electricity, wood heat, and gravity-fed water. Our Highland cattle thrive on remote pastures, producing hardy breeding stock suited to Vermont's terrain.

Read the Full Story