CHARLOTTE -- Matt Burke's and Tanya Srolovitz's is a love forged by sweet peas and straw bales. Specifically, straw bales used to make energy efficient housing.

The pair, who run Bloomfield Farm at the 125-acre Champlain Valley Cohousing development in Charlotte, met years ago at a farm in Ontario where Srolovitz had an apprenticeship. Burke traveled from Ohio to Ontario by bicycle to attend a seminar about straw-bale building and the two met picking sweet peas.

From that time, the couple's lives have been enmeshed with the land. They said they always wanted to farm, but it took a while for them to figure out where. Before moving to Vermont, they had started three market gardens in three states over three years. In 2006, the agricultural nomads came to rest in Charlotte.

Burke, 34, found the cohousing development on the Internet and thought that a clustered, sustainable community like that would be perfect for their farm. As it turned out, the development had been looking for a way to maintain the rural character of the place, and farming seemed just the way to do it.

"The people here were supportive of it," Srolovitz, 33, said of the farm. "It took a long time investigating before we decided to make the commitment."

The Champlain Valley Cohousing development is made up of privately owned, energy-efficient dwellings and commonly owned structures and farmland. Every decision about the development, which comprises 22 families, is made by committee, and the housing units are built in clusters to maximize green space. Twenty-five acres of farmland are included in the development property, some of which is tended by Burke and Srolovitz.Unlike other places they had farmed, the development's property had never been cultivated. The fields were largely fallow, and the pair had to build everything, including a shed and a hoop house, from scratch. The learning curve was steep, but after two years, the couple have settled into their farm comfortably.

Bloomfield Farm offers farm shares, but it also sells at the Shelburne Farmer's Market and to wholesale markets. Plus, they have a you-pick garden with herbs, flowers and tomatoes. This year they're growing 40 types of vegetables and raising pigs, chickens and sheep. In the future, they plan on planting fruit trees and rearing more livestock.

Because the couple live in the development, they collectively own the farmland with the other families, though they run the business themselves. Theirs was the first land use request for common land, though the various committees at the development are looking into allowing space for projects like a family owned cow and community gardens.

The farm is a community enterprise with cohousing residents popping by to help. Last week, one of the residents dropped by to give the couple an air compressor that she jury-rigged to run from a car cigarette lighter. Often, children who live at the development will come to play with the animals.

While farming can often be a solitary pursuit, Burke and Srolovitz never want for company. That shared farming life and meaningful relationship with the land was something that attracted Larilee Suiter to the development.

She was eager to live in a rural community where active farming was going on and where she might have the opportunity to participate in it.

Being so close to farming and food production enhances the quality of life at the development, Suiter said. The farm has succeeded as a part of the larger community because Burke and Srolovitz are so committed to making it work.

"They have joy in their work," Suiter said. "They are helping us all learn."