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Benjamin Lepesqueur and Lorelei Westbrook

Benjamin Lepesqueur and Lorelei Westbrook

Benjamin Lepesqueur and Lorelei Westbrook used a $222,000 VACC loan to purchase a 138.9-acre Bakersfield property, including forestland that will be managed for timber production, and a sugarbush that will be developed for sap production.

Benjamin will manage the woodlots and sugarbush and Lorelei will continue her work as a junior high school teacher in St. Albans.  The property includes 122 acres of forestland, of which 108.65 acres are in a forest management plan.  Benjamin, who runs a logging business, plans to thin the mature hemlock and pine on the property and use proceeds from the cutting to develop the sugarbush.

The woodlots will be managed for timber production, and maple sap will be sold from the developed sugarbush.

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Benjamin Lepesqueur and Lorelei Westbrook

799 Pudvah Hill Rd. Bakersfield, VT 05441

“We wanted to expand and diversify beyond logging by adding maple sap production and raising food — both for ourselves and to sell. Most lenders would not or could not recognize the equity in the land we wanted to buy, but VACC did. They understood the realities of being self-employed and making a living from natural resources. Simply put: without VACC, this would not have been possible for us.”
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