Our Story

In 1999 Dennis Kulesza owner and founder of Green Mountain Grown purchased the fifty-acre site in the heart of the Vermont Green Mountain National Forest which is now the home of Green Mountain Grown. The property, formerly a dairy farm since the mid eighteen - hundreds was abandoned in the nineteen sixties because the owners at that time could not compete with the large dairy farms of modern times. From the time the property was abandoned to the time Dennis took it over the old farmhouse had collapsed and was destroyed and the dairy barn was well on its way to sharing the same fate. Having worked as a building restoration contractor for over thirty years the new owner took on the challenge of restoring the barn and breathing new life into it.

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Once the restoration of the barn was complete it was now time to focus on the best use of the land. To that end many experts from state foresters, land conservationists, state agriculture universities to herbalist were consulted. At first conventional farming seemed to be the most obvious route to take. Soil sampling showed the fields were rich in nutrients. The land had not been farmed for over forty years. It was free of pesticides and any type of heavy metals or harmful fertilizers. There is a large spring fed pond on the property perfectly situated for irrigation. That’s when the University of Vermont was called in to explore the various types of conventional agriculture that might be viable. The focus at the time was to develop an apple orchard. After over a year of due diligence unfortunately it became apparent that it would be financially impossible to support the investment needed to build an apple orchard and likely the endeavor would ultimately follow the same fate as the previous owners who were forced to abandon the property for financial reasons. 

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However, through this process it was discovered this site was special. The herbalist who was consulted found dozens of medicinal plants had been growing naturally in the wild on the property for perhaps hundreds of years if not longer. It was now becoming clearer that somehow this land was meant to be used for healing purposes. Then in December of 2018 when a new farm bill was passed which legalized hemp the bells went off. Growing hemp to produce medicinal cannabinoids such as CBD, CBG and CBN would be the answer. Thus, the birth of Green Mountain Grown!