The history of Cook Farm in Hadley stretches back over a century, and the Cook family has been experimenting and adapting for just as long. Flayvors of Cook Farm, their on-farm ice cream shop and farm store, is newer — not quite 30 years old — but for several generations of kids, it’s lodged firmly in their happy childhood memories.
“Joseph Cook bought Cook Farm in 1909 and it supported the family during the Depression years because they had milk, eggs, beef, lots of things that were in short supply,” says Debby Cook, who oversees the Flayvors end of the business. “It got passed down through the generations and it’s changed a lot over the years — they grew tobacco for a while, had a big chicken coop for a while — and now the focus is dairy. We raise some cows for beef, have about 20 chickens for eggs, but milk is our main focus.”
Beth Cook and Gordon Cook, Jr. took over the dairy in 1983. Ten years later, their son, Hank (Debby’s husband), wanted to come back to work on the farm. “My husband originally went to college to be a teacher, and he taught for a year and realized that no, he wanted to farm,” says Debby Cook. “At the time there wasn’t going to be enough income from the farm to support two households. That’s when Beth came up with this idea: if we’re going to diversify, let’s go into ice cream! Being able to connect the community to farming was really important for Beth, and for all of us.”
Beth Cook applied for a federal Farm Viability Grant, did the work to prove that a scoop shop and farm store would improve the long-term viability of the farm, and Flayvors of Cook Farm opened its doors in 1998. “The ultimate goal was for the farm to survive and we’re absolutely confident that the farm would not be here without the store,” said Debby Cook. Beth Cook passed away in 2021, and Flayvors is an important part of her legacy.
Today, Debby Cook manages Flayvors of Cook Farm with help from daughter Kirsten. “She’s great at getting people excited about ice cream in the winter. This past year we did a ‘12 days of Christmas’ Advent calendar with flavors we developed especially for that. For Valentine’s Day, we did heart-shaped ice cream cakes for two,” said Debby Cook. “We can make small flavor batches and try things out. Kirsten made a brown sugar cold brew flavor for the Advent calendars, and it was such a hit that we’ve kept making it. Or we can accommodate allergies — we’ve made gluten-free mint cookie ice cream because a gluten-free customer really missed it. That helps us connect with our customers.”
It won’t be long before the most famous ice cream flavor returns to Flayvors: Hadley Grass. “I don’t think we could ever stop making asparagus ice cream,” said Debby Cook. “It’s definitely the flavor we get the most sample requests for. Maybe half of the people who order it are just curious because of the novelty, but then we have people who drive out from Boston to buy like four quarts because they love it and we only have it during asparagus season. We like it because it highlights Hadley — we buy the asparagus from our neighbors at Boisvert Farm.”
The whole Flayvors operation is grounded in agriculture and in Cook Farm’s history — even its unusual name. “Flayvors, spelled with a Y! I always have to stress that when I talk with anyone,” said Debby Cook. “We struggled with how to name a brand new store, and we wanted it to be tied to what we do. We had a cow named Fayvor, and 80% of our herd at the time traced back to her, so when we landed on Flayvors we thought, ‘that’s perfect, because Fayvor has been amazing for us and hopefully “Flayvors” will be amazing for us too.’”
Today, Hank Cook and daughter, Annalise, run the dairy farm, and son, Gordie, helps with the harvest and with machine maintenance. They sell some raw milk at the farm store, but most of their milk is sold wholesale to Dairy Farmers of America, a farmer-owned cooperative. There it’s commingled with milk from other regional dairy farms and then Flayvors buys some of it back in the form of an ice cream base that they use to create their flavors. “We’re way too small to have a pasteurization system of our own,” said Debby, so this arrangement allows them to sell all their milk and to source a high-quality ice cream mix they trust.
Twenty-eight years in for Flayvors, and 117 years in for Cook Farm, the Cook family is in a sweet spot, looking back and looking ahead. “We want our kids to decide for themselves what they want to do. When my husband made that decision, he was all in, and if they decide they want it, we’ll do whatever we can to help them make it their dream and their reality,” said Debby Cook.
“The wildest part is when I see someone who was one of our first employees when they were 16, and now they’re coming back with their own kids. We had a local family here in Hadley that would come in for ice cream on the first and last day of school every year, and it’s just amazing that we get to be part of people’s lives like that. People come in and they tell us how sweet it is to take a minute out of their busy day and get to just come and sit and have an ice cream.”
Flayvors of Cook Farm is open every day year-round. Winter hours are noon-6 p.m., offering ice cream scoops, pints, quarts and cakes, their own beef and raw milk, soups and sandwiches, and a variety of goods from other local farms and vendors. Find them at flayvors.com and on social media.
Claire Morenon is the communications manager at CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture). To learn about more local dairy farms and ice cream, visit CISA’s online guide at buylocalfood.org/find-it-locally.
