When Ben Hewitt and his wife bought a sprawling acreage of field and forest in northern Vermont, the landscape easily allowed them to envision the self-sustaining family farm they were eager to start. But over the years, the land b...

Over the past few years, Hardwick, Vermont, a typical hardscrabble farming community of 3,000residents, has jump-started its economy and redefined its self-image through a local, self-sustainingfood system unlike anything else in Amer...