Flying Cow was started in 2013 by two friends, Selma Bjarnadottir and Keith Fagernes. Selma is in charge of the Creamery and Keith is in charge of the Dairy. After Selma’s first husband died from cancer, Keith and Selma joined hands in marriage. But to this day run their respective farms separate. It can be to complicated to combine two farms into one. In 2025, Matt O’Connor (Lennon) our long term employee became a part owner of the Creamery.
Selma also runs a small farm three miles from the dairy. Since 2000, she has been raising meat for the local community and sells directly to the consumer. She and Keith have combined their raising of the meat animals. Selma raises the sheep and the summer batch of pigs whereas Keith raises the beef animals and the winter pigs. To learn more about their meat offerings take a look at their website Bone Dry Ridge Farm. Selma and Keith both share the view that happy, healthy animals give a very high quality product.
Keith is a third generation dairy farmer, on the same land his grandmother, Selma, purchased at the turn of the last century. Keith has for many years been improving the conditions for his cows and also has a breeding program envied by many dairy farmers. He has a “closed herd,” which means he raises his own replacement heifers, does artificial insemination and never brings a new cow to his farm. This system prevents diseases from entering his herd. He believes that if cows are happy and healthy they will give good milk. He has won numerous awards for his high quality milk and has won every competition he has entered to date. Keith has been slowly purchasing back the portion of the original farmland that was sold off and now has 110 acres.
Matt came to work for us as a delivery guy in 2019. He so reminded us of John Lennon that we started calling him Lennon and it has stuck to this day. Little by little he started taking on more and more work and responsibilities and is now the main yogurt maker and delivery guy. It felt like a good fit and hopefully will bring the creamery to the future to make him part owner. Something we had talked about for years and finally turned into reality in 2025.
Keith is considered a conventional farmer, although there is nothing very conventional about him. He is a dairy farmer who has never wanted to expand and become big. He has always felt that one person should be in charge of the animals, so any change in an animal’s behavior can be noticed before it becomes a problem. Even though he is stuck with the conventional farming label, his fields could be certified organic but there is too much paperwork to deal with to get that label. He already follows most of the organic standards, but finds the standards harsh when it comes to animal health and medical intervention. He is not against modern medicine, but he has never overused or abused any of the miraculous modern drugs. Naturopathic medicine is his preferred go to, but if he needs to use conventional medicine, he always doubles the withdrawal period. Keith’s animals are very healthy, so medical intervention is not needed very often.