Saratoga News

Preservation group says it will exercise its option to buy dairy

Committee still must raise about $1.8 million

By Clarence Cromwell

The Claravale Dairy Preservation Committee will exercise its option to purchase the dairy, it announced last week, but that's not the end of the story.

"The farm hasn't been saved completely," fundraiser Keith Emmons said.

The dairy committee must still come up with about $1.8 million to pay Kenneth Peake for the two-acre portion of the farm it's buying and to make some improvements to the farm. The committee isn't earning any income from the dairy business, except for a "very small annual fee" dairy operator Ron Garthwaite pays. Garthwaite operates the dairy and its vintage equipment just the way Peake had since the 1930s. Claravale is one of only two dairies in the state licensed to sell unpasteurized milk.

The dairy committee already has $207,000 in cash and $193,000 more in pledges that it raised over the past eight months. The cash will go toward the first year of loan payments and insurance for the dairy.

The committee will still owe about $775,000 on the dairy, if the purchase is sealed. Peake agreed to apply to the sale half of the $45,000 that the committee paid to preserve buying rights.

The committee will sell memberships and take contributions to raise more money, member Barbara Holden said. If it can't come up with enough to buy the farm, it will have to sell the land and give the money to the open space district.

But Emmons appears confident the task can be done: "A great many donors haven't been tapped yet. The money's there."

The committee will be making payments straight to Peake for the dairy because he's the lender as well as the seller of the property. The committee expects that escrow on the dairy will close Feb. 14 and plans a celebration for Saturday, Feb. 15.

Peake gets to keep his house and an acre of the land until he moves or dies, and then the committee can buy the remainder of the property and the house for $450,000.

The dairy will continue to offer tours for schoolchildren and anyone else who wants to see it.

And, of course, people who like milk that really tastes like milk can still get it by the quart--whole or nonfat--seven days a week. The Claravale Dairy, at 18170 Bicknell Road in Monte Sereno, is open from 5:30 to 9:30 a.m. and 3 to 6 p.m.