Food Hub

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Producer Spotlight: Singing Pastures

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By Kristen Thompson

Food Connects is proud to work with farmers and producers who grow and craft food in a way that’s sustainable for our food systems, communities, and the planet. That’s one of the reasons we love working with Singing Pastures! Singing Pastures is a regenerative farm that the Arbuckle family started in response to the unsustainable ways large industrial farms produce meat. We talked to the Founding Farmer, John Arbuckle, about Singing Pasture’s regenerative approach to agriculture and their delicious Roam Sticks made from hickory-smoked pork.

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The Evolution of a Food Hub: Celebrating the Growth of the Food Connects Food Hub, Part I

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By Lissa Harris

As we reflect on ten years of Food Connects, we're inspired by the growth our Food Hub has undergone. But the Food Hub wasn’t always a Food Connects program. So how did the Food Connects Food Hub come to be? Here’s part one of the history of the Food Connects Food Hub.

Meet Our Food Hub Procurement Coordinator—Katie Endicott

Food Connects welcomed Katie Endicott as its Food Hub Procurement Coordinator this year. She provides crucial administrative support for the Food Hub Procurement Team, ensuring smooth and efficient order cycles and purchasing flow. We are thrilled to have her on the team and are excited to share more about her!

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Producer Spotlight: Short Creek Farm

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By Kristen Thompson

Food Connects was thrilled to onboard Short Creek Farm as a new vendor in 2022. Based out of Northwood, NH, Short Creek Farm crafts unique and delicious sausage, salami, and bacon, as well as fresh cuts of meat from their own pasture-raised meats and heritage-breed pork from other family farms in the U.S. We had a chance to ask Co-Founder Jeff Backer more about the farm and its delicious products.

Food Connects Goes to the Vermont Statehouse for Farm to School Awareness Day

By Tom Brewton & Kristen Thompson

On February 8th, our Food Hub Institutional Sales Associate, Tom Brewton, visited the Vermont Statehouse to support Farm to School Awareness Day. He testified before the Senate Agriculture Committee and the House Agriculture, Food Resilience, and Forestry Committee, requesting support for the Farm to School and Early Childhood Program and the Local Foods Incentive Grant.

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Producer Spotlight: Champlain Orchards

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By Kristen Thompson

Food Connects works with producers to bring good local food to retailers and schools in our region. Champlain Orchards has been a vital partner in bringing great-tasting local fruit to both students and stores. Based in Shoreham, VT, Champlain Orchards is one of the oldest continuously operating orchards in Vermont, growing over 175 varieties of apples, peaches, pears, plums, cherries, nectarines, and berries.

We had the opportunity to hear from Bill Suhr, Founder and Orchardist at Champlain Orchards, about their delicious products and the importance of EcoCertified Fruit.

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Bennington Rutland Supervisory Union Partners with Food Connects

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By Tom Brewton & Kristen Thompson

Stephanie Gates became the Food Service Director of the Bennington Rutland Supervisory Union (BRSU) in February 2021. She reached out to us in September 2021 with a strong interest in sourcing local foods for her students. We talked to Stephanie to learn more about her work to promote local food through BRSU meal programs in partnership with Food Connects.

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A Day in the Life at the Food Connects Food Hub Part IV: Sales Trips

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By Kristen Thompson

It’s early March of 2022, and after a long hiatus during the height of COVID-19, the Food Connects Sales Team is finally hitting the road with producers. I meet Beth Lewand, Food Connects Food Hub Sales Associate, and Linda Rubin, the woman behind Frisky Cow Gelato, at Linda’s house in Keene, NH. We’re driving out to meet potential customers in the Bradford and Southeast New Hampshire service area—one of our Thursday delivery routes. 

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Collaboration Brings Local Food Boxes to Killington Grand Resort Hotel Employees: Part II

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By Kristen Thompson & Tom Brewton

Last month, we told you about our collaboration with up-and-coming food hub Vermont Farmers Food Center (VFFC) to bring local food boxes to Killington Grand Resort Hotel (KGRH) employees. We talked to Heidi Lynch, Executive Director of the VFFC, about their work and the value and impact of this collaboration. We also spoke to Greg Lang, Executive Chef at KGRH, about the impetus and impact of this project at the hotel. Check out the conversation.

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Producer Spotlight: Champlain Valley Creamery

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By Kristen Thompson

Carleton Yoder of Champlain Valley Creamery in Middlebury, VT, is one of the impressive local cheesemakers Food Connects has the privilege of working with. We had the opportunity to ask Carleton about his approach to cheesemaking and what makes his cheeses unique.

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Collaboration Brings Local Food Boxes to Killington Grand Resort Hotel Employees: Part I

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By Kristen Thompson & Tom Brewton

This past June, Andrew Graham, Direct Markets Coordinator at the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont, reached out to Food Connects about an exciting opportunity. Killington Grand Resort Hotel (KGRH) was looking to set up a CSA (community-supported agriculture) program offering local food boxes to their employees. This project promised an exciting collaboration with partners across Vermont.

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Food Connects Reflects on the First Vermont Cheese Summit

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By Beth Lewand

The diversity of Vermont cheese and the resiliency of its makers were both on display at the first Vermont Cheese Summit, held this August at Shelburne Farms on the shore of Lake Champlain.

Hosted by the Vermont Cheese Council, the event was a trial run for what could potentially become an annual gathering of cheesemakers, buyers, and distributors. Food Connects was on the scene for a day of behind-the-scenes farm, creamery, and cave tours, followed by a mini-conference and trade show.

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Producer Spotlight: Wellness Croft

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By Kristen Thompson

This year we were thrilled to onboard Plymouth, MA-based Wellness Croft as a mission-aligned food producer, making tasty and nutritious snacks. Like Food Connects, Wellness Croft works to create new sources of income for farmers in the Northeast and to ensure their products are source-identified. They are a veteran-owned freeze-dried producer that works with sustainable, local, and Fair-Trade growers.

We reached out to the owner, Tim O’Neil, to learn more about how Wellness Croft is lifting up regional producers by creating delicious value-added products.

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Producer Spotlight: American Vinegar Works

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By Kristen Thompson

Food Connects onboarded an exceptional group of new producers this past year. Each is doing something different to contribute to our growing regional food system. Rodrigo Vargas, Founder and Owner of American Vinegar Works in Worcester, MA, looked at the American craft alcohol scene and saw an opportunity to use these brews to create truly unique and delicious vinegars in a way that would benefit his community. We had a chance to learn from Rodrigo about American Vinegar Works’ story, values, and the process of making artisanal, small-batch vinegar.

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Vermont Farms Feeding Vermont Students

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By Kristen Thompson

At the end of July, we took a road trip to visit some of the Vermont Farms that we’re partnering with to feed Vermont schools this year. While Clare Barboza snapped some amazing photos for us, our Marketing Coordinator, Kristen Thompson, took the opportunity to ask the farmers (and co-op) about their work and why feeding Vermont kids with Vermont food is so important.

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A Day in the Life at the Food Connects Food Hub Part III: Deliveries

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By Kristen Thompson

About a week after following Emma Bliss and Raymond Johnston through the process of picking up orders and staging deliveries for the Food Connects Food Hub, I wander back down the hall from Food Connects’ administrative offices to the Food Hub. It’s around 8:00 AM when I arrive. Long-time Food Hub Driver Tracy Lake is already loading Van 1 with Raymond and Food Hub Warehouse Coordinator Scott Berzofsky.

Today, I’m joining Tracy for the Food Connects Monadnock Delivery Route in New Hampshire. It’s the very end of March, and with the school year still in full swing, we have a busy route ahead.