Peggy Coffeen interviews Jill Houin at Homestead Dairy in Plymouth, Indiana, where the family milks 5,000 cows across three sites, including a 2,200-cow robotic dairy with 36 robots and a semi-automatic feed system. Jill, a former New Jersey teacher and vegetarian who married into the dairy, describes learning farm life, becoming the farm’s tour guide and key messenger, and using truthful, practical explanations to convert skeptics.
She shares how community tours brought 1,000 visitors in three hours, and highlights sustainability stories like generating electricity from manure and Notre Dame food waste to power about 1,000 homes an hour. Jill also discusses taking on farm bookkeeping, mediating family perspectives, working with Spanish-speaking staff and interns from Mexico, and launching The Break Room Meat Market restaurant featuring the farm’s beef and other local products.
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