Producer Spotlight: Sherpa Foods

Food Connects is delighted to introduce one of our newest producers, Sherpa Foods. Founded in 2015 with the mission of bringing traditional Nepalese delicacies to its customers, Sherpa Foods provides delicious flavors you won’t want to miss. Sherpa Foods uses local, fresh, and natural ingredients in their prepared foods, showing their commitment to quality. We were able to chat with Nurbu Sherpa about the company and their outstanding products.

Can you share a little about Sherpa Foods and how you started?

My wife and I were living in NYC. I was working at Macy's as a business manager and my wife worked at JFK airport cargo division. Our parents were already living in Vermont and we used to visit them at least once a year. We always thought Vermont was a great place to live due to its environment, people, and laid-back nature compared to NYC. Once we had our son, our parents wanted their grandson near them. So we were asking them to move to NYC and they were trying to get us to move to Vermont. After many back-and-forths, we decided that Vermont would be a great place to raise a family. So, before we moved to VT, we came up to see what we could do here once we moved here.

I had always wanted to start my own business even when I was going to college at the University of Texas. So, I felt like this was a blessing in disguise. When we came here to look around we saw an opportunity in the food supply industry. There were not a lot of ethnic food options in stores like in big cities in NYC, Dallas, etc. There was just 1 Nepalese restaurant but nothing in retail stores. Most people usually think about opening a restaurant but I wanted to try something different. So, I thought maybe we can combine my family's delicious cooking and my business background and start a Nepalese food supply startup. There were no businesses that supplied Nepalese food to retail stores so we became the first company to do so in the U.S.

Some of our readers might not know a lot about Nepalese foods, could you share some information about it, its highlights, and its flavors?

Nepal has a very diverse culture, tradition, food, etc. Nepal's national foods are rice and lentils but the unofficial and the most popular food is momo. If you ask any Nepalese what their favorite food is, the majority will say “momo.” There is this joke that there are more momo restaurants in Kathmandu (capital of Nepal) than McDonald's and Starbucks combined in NYC. Nepalese food has a lot of flavor as most of the Nepalese food consists of turmeric, coriander, ginger, garlic, curry powder, and other spices.

What makes your products unique?

Momos are fairly new products in the US. It is the Nepalese version of dumplings. Our ingredients make it and give a unique taste than other dumplings from other cultures.

What is one of your favorite products (we know it's hard to choose)?

Vegan momo and beef momo.

Why is selling locally and the local food movement important to you?

The local food movement is very important to us as it helps our local farmers, producers, and local economy.

How does working with Food Connects help your business?

Food Connects has been a tremendous help in expanding our market and introducing our products to stores which would have been impossible for us to do on our own.

I know that right now you don't sell in bulk, but we would love to know your experience with working with institutional buyers (like schools and hospitals).

We actually used to sell our products in bulk by the pound to City Market, Healthy Living, and other stores for their hot bars. But after the pandemic, stores closed their hot bars and stopped supplying bulk products for the time being. We are hoping to restart selling bulk again soon.

Any events coming up or fun facts about your business?

We are hoping to start our own brick and mortar cafe that is right next to our production facility. It has been ready since last July but due to shortage of labor we have not been able to open the cafe yet.

Anything else you would like me to feature? Anything that you are doing to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic?

We are not allowing anyone to come into our production facility except for USDA inspectors with masks. All the delivery drop offs and pickups are done curbside only at the time being.

Producer Spotlight: Blue Ledge Farm

Food Connects is incredibly lucky to work with some amazing cheese producers in New England. One such dairy is Blue Ledge Farm in Salisbury, VT. Blue Ledge Farm specializes in goat’s milk cheeses that are creamy and a cheese lover’s dream come true. Owner Hannah Sessions took some time out of her busy schedule to share with us a little more about the farm.

Can you share a little about Blue Ledge Farm and how you started?

Greg is from the Philadelphia area of Pennsylvania while Hannah grew up in Cornwall, Vermont, just a few miles from their farm. We met while studying at Bates College, but mostly while abroad in Florence, Italy our junior year. It is there that our dream of an artistic and food-based life and business blossomed! The Italian culture had a wonderful influence on us. After graduation we spent a year in Brattleboro where we were working members of the Coop, Greg was a teacher and Hannah worked at Lilac Ridge Farm in West Brattleboro, where her love of dairy farming really took root. We began looking for our farm and happened upon this piece of land, a retired cow dairy farm, in 2000. When we saw the ribbon of rock ledge (hence the name “Blue Ledge”) we knew this little parcel was perfect for goats. We preserved our farm with the Vermont Land Trust and used these proceeds to build our first cheese plant-the smallest in the state at that time—in 2002, also the year our first child was born! Those were some busy times! We now employ ten people, milk a herd of 150 goats, and purchase milk from a local family cow dairy. Blue Ledge Farm now produces about 60,000 lbs of cheese annually. We have sized up but some things remain the same: our animals all have names, our curds are poured by hand, and we love what we do.

What is your favorite thing about farming?

We love knowing that what we do is important. As farmers, we feed people and support life. In addition, we are learning more and more that various farming practices can have a major impact on mitigating climate change, so it’s nice knowing that we are on the front lines of some exciting developments there. We also love watching things grow. To raise an animal from birth and see her develop into a part of the herd is pretty amazing. We have some “lines” of goats that extend back generations, and we can point to certain traits and remember that doe’s great-great-great grandmother, Marcy, for example.

What makes your products unique?

The gentle handling of curds make for a lighter texture, and the quality and freshness of our milk (we process every one to three days) make for our signature clean flavor. Blue Ledge is also an Animal Welfare Approved farm and I feel contentment in the animals come through in great milk and therefore delicious cheese. Our cow’s milk comes from the grass-fed Ayrshire cows at MoSe Farm, a breed known for their exceptional creamy milk due to smaller particles of components (protein and butterfat). We are lucky to be able to source milk from this relatively rare and beautiful breed of cow.

What is one of your favorite cheeses (we know it's hard to choose)? Or a recipe you like to make with them?

It's hard to choose a favorite cheese when you make 14 types! We love all of our cheeses, and there is a season for each. If we had to cheese a “desert island cheese”- as in one that we would choose were we stuck on a desert island—it has always been the Crottina. It’s a classic, simple and lovely cheese.

Why is selling locally and the local food movement important to you?

It is in our mission statement to always sell half or more of our cheese in Vermont, the state that we love and that was there for us at the onset. Loyalty is bred locally. Also, we enjoy direct feedback from customers. As a food producer, we also feel a connection to creating a sense of place, and that comes from emphasizing local. We have a farmstand on our farm that serves both locals as well as tourists and seasonal folks. As food producers, we feed our communities but also create an experience and sense of place that can make an impression on visitors as to what Vermont embodies. In this way, food producers are able to provide a double boost to our economy: via food and tourism.

How does working with Food Connects help your business?

Food Connects provides an important service as perhaps the greatest challenge for business in a rural state like Vermont is getting your product from “point A to point B”, especially when the product is perishable! We collaborate with a local farm to get our product to Food Connects and they consolidate orders and deliver from their warehouse. Recently we have gone from being a special order item on the Food Connects docket to a regularly stocked item, so that has been exciting! 

Anything else you would like me to feature? Anything that you are doing to respond to the COVID-19 crisis?

The pandemic has highlighted more than ever the value of local food feeding your community. When store shelves are bare whether due to a nationwide pandemic or labor shortage, it’s the local farms and processors that you can rely on that keep you fed! If you support them, they will in turn support you!

Producer Spotlight: Joe's Kitchen

It’s soup season and we are ready to celebrate one of our newer producers—Joe’s Kitchen at Screamin’ Ridge Farm. Joe makes delicious soups that will certainly warm you up on these cold fall days. Read more to learn about Joe and his soups!

Can you share a little about Joe's Kitchen and the farm? 

Joe's Kitchen was founded 15 years ago. At the time, our family farm—Screamin’ Ridge Farm—had grown from a small truck farm to a 250 member CSA, delivering produce to many of the major employers in the Montpelier and surrounding area. We had an idea to create a healthy, value-added product from our surplus produce—soup! We began including soup within the CSA shares (as well as our passive solar spinach). It was a huge winter market hit! Soon after, Red Hen Bakery asked us to make soups for their cafe, becoming the first big wholesale customer for Joe’s Kitchen. 

What inspired you to start making soups?

Soup is healthy and nutritious, and it aligns perfectly with the cycle of farming. In the middle of winter, even far outside the growing season, storage vegetables can be used to make delicious and hearty soups. Soup also stirs a bit of nostalgia. I have many childhood memories of my grandmother's soups—she was a great cook. I imagine most of us have comforting memories attached to bowls of soup. 

What makes your products unique?

The taste really separates our products from other soups. Our lists of ingredients are simple and clean. We take the time to develop the flavors in the key ingredients, ao we can use a minimal amount of salt and still pack a ton of flavor. We even make our own stocks. For example, our Ginger Chicken soup actually tastes like ginger and chicken, nothing artificial. We also believe it is important to purchase ingredients locally—not just vegetables, but our meats, tortillas, tofu, tempeh, butter, cream, and (of course) cheddar cheese. Purchasing locally not only supports our local farmers and businesses, which is a mission of ours, but it ensures that fresh ingredients are used in our soups. We know that fresh translates to a better quality, better tasting, healthier soup. 

What is one of your favorite soups (we know it's hard to choose)? Or one you highly recommend our customers to try?

It’s nostalgic, but for me it’s the Split Pea soup. it reminds me of my mom’s, with the big smokey ham hock she used to add to it. I love it with oyster crackers and some extra black pepper. It’s perfect in the middle of winter.

Why is selling locally and the local food movement important to you?
It's really about community and supporting the local economy that we’re a part of. We sell locally and employ locally. A large percentage of our activity is spent locally. We also contribute quite often to help the food insecure in our local community. Community is really integral to how we operate Joe’s Kitchen. 

How does working with Food Connects help your business?

As a like-minded organization, working with Food Connects has provided an awesome opportunity to access the southern part of the state, connecting us with like-minded customers. In particular, it has connected us with the public schools. I used to be a local school board member, and I am very aware of the challenges faced by local school nutrition programs.  

Any events coming up or fun facts about your business?

Soup season is here! Between October and March, our sales usually increase by 500%. We are so excited to be working with Boyden Farm this winter for our beef supply. We make over 35 different soups, as well as some really great Macaroni and Cheese (including a Gluten-Free variety). We have started doing research with smoked meats, as well. 

Anything else you would like me to feature? Anything that you are doing to respond to the COVID-19 crisis?

COVID-19 has posed an extreme operational challenge, not only for us, but for many businesses across the state. At Joe’s Kitchen, we require vaccination of our employees, and we follow very strict sanitation protocols in our kitchens. I would like to take this opportunity to urge people to get vaccinated. 

Matt Landi Named Director of Brand and Business Development for Vermont Way Foods™

The Vermont Food Hub Collaborative L3C, dba Vermont Way Foods™ (VWF) has hired Matt Landi as Director of Brand and Business Development. Landi will launch the VWF brand and build demand through strategic market development. Landi will pursue opportunities to drive market growth that supports the brand’s mission of growing and distributing food the Vermont way in order to create a more sustainable and equitable food system for all Vermont farmers and food makers.

Landi brings with him more than 20 years of management experience in the food sector, a time spent wholly focused on working with purpose and mission-driven companies, and with a drive for supporting equitable and natural resource-conscious supply chains. Committed to the organic and natural foods trade, Landi has worked for a number of organic produce distributors and retailers alike, providing valuable strategic leadership and influence. Landi also has roots in Vermont, holding a B.A. in Political Science/Environmental Studies from the University of Vermont.

Prior to joining VWF, Landi’s time on the west coast included, most recently, as Vice President and General Manager of Awe Sum Organics in Santa Cruz, CA, and Director of Sales at Organically Grown Company in Portland, OR. Early in his career he also held a role locally with Onion River Cooperative in Burlington, VT. Other leadership endeavors that Landi focuses on are serving as chair of the Board of Directors for the Organic Materials Review Institute in Eugene, Oregon, and Co-Chair of the Sustainable Food Trade Action Council of the Organic Trade Association (OTA). 

Landi said “I feel incredibly fortunate to have had the opportunity to serve the food and agriculture sector over the last two decades from such a diversity of vantage points, from highly localized organic supply chains to organic trade on a global scale. I’m incredibly honored to be able to come back home to New England, which is where it all started for me, to go to work for farmers and producers across Vermont, joining forces with so many great folks that are already engaged in this work and have really led the way. The Vermont Way Foods™ tagline of “Food with a Compass” is one that speaks volumes to me and I hope translates well to eaters across the region!”

Get in touch with Matt Landi at (831) 818-0179 or matt@vermontwayfoods.com

The Vermont Food Hub Collaborative (VFHC) L3C was founded by a group of four VT-based nonprofit farm and food organizations (Intervale Center, Food Connects, The Center for an Agricultural Economy, and Green Mountain Farm-to-School) with the goal of operating a transactional network for effective and efficient food aggregation, logistics, and distribution. The VFHC has developed the Vermont Way Foods™ brand to create new market opportunities for Vermont producers in support of a robust and vibrant farm and food economy. Learn more at https://www.vermontwayfoods.com/.

Producer Spotlight: Curly Girl Pops

It’s summertime and what better way to celebrate than with a treat to chill you down? Enter Curly Girl Pops—a new woman- and Latina-owned business based in Montpelier, Vermont. Owner, Arealles Ortiz, melds her passion for nutrition and food together to bring something quite joyful to our community. Get to know Arealles and Curly Girl Pops!

What inspired you to start Curly Girl Pops?

When I earned my B.S. in Nutrition & Food Sciences at UVM I had an AHA! moment. Why not combine my passion to promote healthy eating habits and part-time popsicle hobby into a real business?

What makes your pops unique?

We are redefining what it means to eat a popsicle. Most of our memories that involve popsicles include rocket pops and those tube pops with food coloring, sugar, and water. Contrastingly, Curly Girl Pops aims to promote healthy eating habits. We keep it 100% real with Certified Organic fruit & veg (locally sourced when available), filtered water, and Vermont maple syrup. We also incorporate herbs, superfoods, and seeds to elevate our products’ nutritional value. Curly Girl Pops are packed with antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, & protein our bodies depend on. To complete the process, all pops are made and wrapped by hand. Keeping the planet in mind (compostable packaging); with love infectious enough to spread.

We know it's hard to pick favorites... but if you had to spend one day just eating one of your flavors—which would it be?

Definitely our Radical Razz. A balanced blend of intensely ripe organic raspberries, hibiscus tea, creamy coconut milk, and a touch of nature’s sweetness (VT maple syrup).

Why is selling locally and the local food movement is important to you?

As a small and seasonal business, I have learned to have a solid foundation for sustainable growth means tapping into the community and creating connections. Curly Girl Pops aims to nourish the Vermont community while on a mission to source more local ingredients to incorporate into our popsicle creations. We want to be a role model for other small businesses that want to contribute to their local economy as well as keeping their environmental impacts at the forefront.

How does working with Food Connects help your business/what are you excited about in this partnership?

As a sole owner and operator, time management is very important. Food Connects has helped bring my product to local farm stands around the state that I otherwise wouldn't be able to reach. My hope is that my partnership with Food Connects will further my connections with Vermont farmers who might be able to guide my business' aspiration for incorporating local fruit into our popsicle creations.

Any fun facts about your business/products?

Curly Girl Pops is Vermont’s only Latina-Owned Business. Representation matters. By supporting this business, you help cultivate the seeds for other BIPOC in the community who are in the midst of starting their own business' from the ground. Lastly, when Vermonters support BIPOC businesses, we are actively bringing equality to our country's disproportionate racial wealth gap. Keep up your support!

Anything else?

Catch me every Saturday at Burlington Farmers Market!!

Anything that you are doing to respond to the COVID-19 crisis?

I have been fully vaccinated!! Currently operating out of my home kitchen but a mobile commercial kitchen space is in the works! Stay tuned!

New Markets for New England Cheese

New England cheese! Cheesemakers in Vermont and around New England are renowned worldwide and for good reason. Tucked away in remote corners and valleys, our little region’s specialty creameries put out some of the most innovative and complex cheeses you’ll find anywhere. No, New Englanders may not generally be the most adventurous in the face of a habanero chili, but when it comes to cheese, “milk’s leap toward immortality,” the inhabitants of this region appear to be positively daring. 

Unfortunately, 2020 squeezed New England cheesemakers. Restaurants and institutional food service—both major income sources for specialty cheesemakers—suffered huge losses in the face of pandemic fears, as did the classic cheese counter model (such as the cheese department at your local Co-op or Hannaford) with its focus on custom cut-and-wrap sales. Consumers shifted their purchasing toward pre-packaged cheeses and away from big-box grocery stores, towards smaller, local outlets and home delivery services. As a result, many cheesemakers lost their main markets. Those who could do so responded by retooling for pre-cut and pre-wrapped sales.

Networking for a Better Food System

In February 2020, a month before that unpleasant turn of events, Richard Berkfield and Alex McCullough from Food Connects had traveled to Upperville, Virginia. They joined nine other East Coast food hubs in a gathering that was the brainchild of Tom McDougall, owner of 4P Foods, a food hub based in Warrenton, VA, and serving the Washington, D.C. area. Food hub representatives from as far north as Maine and as far south as South Carolina converged to tackle one big question: How can we work together to serve our producers and customers better?

All of us dreamed, independently, of taking part in creating a resilient, decentralized food system, one based in sourcing from family-run farms and food businesses, in promoting food produced with social and ecological integrity, and in celebrating our regions’ foods in a spirit of collaboration and sharing.

Out of this convening, the Eastern Food Hub Collaborative (EFC) was born. Local Food Hub, 11-year-old Charlottesville, Virginia-based nonprofit with a long history running programming for food distribution and food access, is now organizing this collaboration. The EFC connects a still-growing roster of 14 East Coast food hubs, 600+ producers, and tens of millions of dollars of aggregate annual sales in a shared mission to scale a new paradigm of food for the East Coast.

As a group, we intuited that we’d always source first from our own local and regional producers within our respective hubs. And we could do that while also providing customers access to unique products from other places up and down the East Coast. And, conversely, at Food Connects, we could do so while introducing other regions to the special foods that only New England can offer.

What better way to show off New England than with cheese?

Connecting Cheese to Networks, and People to Cheese

Tom from 4P Foods declared on the first day of our convening in Virginia that 4P wanted to sell New England cheese. Richard and Alex drove home with a mission and a lot of work to do. That summer, with the guiding hand of Beth Lewand, former cheesemonger extraordinaire and Food Connects’ then-new Sales Associate, we launched our Specialty Cheese Catalog. At that time, the catalog acted as a testing ground to build supply relationships, learn about products, solve inbound logistics, and start figuring out new ways to supply customers with great cheese.

It turned out that the pre-cut cheeses that cheesemakers had emphasized since the COVID-19 crisis suddenly worked very well for much of Food Connects’ customer base: for farm stands, CSAs, small independent stores—and for home-delivery food hubs like 4P.  

In coordination with buyers Justin White and Devon Byrne from 4P, Food Connects shipped its first pallet of cheese to Virginia on May 12, 2021, as a pilot run. Would the cheese make it through the 500+ mile trip? Would customers buy it? Would they come back to buy more? 

We’re proud to announce a resounding “Yes” to all of the above! June 24–just last week!–marked our second and even larger cheese pallet shipment to 4P Foods. Stacked high with boxes from Grafton Village Cheese, Jasper Hill Farm, Smith’s Country Cheese, Narragansett Creamery, Parish Hill Creamery, Champlain Valley Creamery, Blue Ledge Farm, and Vermont Shepherd, this pallet represents Food Connects’ commitment to leveraging our unique location in the heart of New England to build a meaningful, brand new market outlet for our region’s cheesemakers. 

In all, since the Specialty Cheese Catalog’s launch in August, Food Connects has sold more than $136,000 of specialty cheese. We’ve delivered cheeses to retail outlets, restaurants, and institutional food service programs in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. We’ve sent countless boxes of cheese to other Food Hub partners around New England, including the Three Rivers Farmers Alliance, of Exeter, NH, and Farm Fresh Rhode Island, of Providence. Both of them source cheese through Food Connects to add to their home delivery programs. Even if in a small way, we’re proud to have contributed to supporting our cheesemakers through a uniquely difficult time.

We hope that this is just the beginning. We started with a small selection of producers to avoid overcomplicating logistics and over-diluting sales to our emerging market. As demand for cheese grows within our networks, we will continue expanding our product selection. We aim to build a strong, diverse catalog that brings together the best that our region offers, opening new doors for eaters up and down the coast looking for a gustatory experience they will never forget. And, of course, one that builds real, long-term markets for cheesemakers across New England who work to keep this ancient craft alive, thriving, and profitable now and into the future.

Producer Spotlight: Miller Farm

Dairy farms are the backbone of New England agriculture. And Food Connects is thrilled to announce that among the dairy, yogurt, and gelato we sell, we are now adding milk to our list of products! So we would formally like to introduce our first milk producer—Miller Farm, located in Vernon, VT. Owner, Peter Miller, took some time to share more about the family farm.

How was Miller Farm started? And why did you decide to continue the family business?

My great-grandfather Arthur Miller was farming in Brattleboro on Bonnyvale road at what’s known as the Francis Miller Orchard until he needed to “expand”, and then moved to Vernon in 1916 to our current farm. 

Although I was trained as an engineer, once we had kids, we realized that the farm is the best place to raise them. My daughter Abigail and her husband Brandon represent the next generation farming here are significantly financially invested in the milk processing enterprise.  We are intending to invest in this farm into the future.

What makes your products and farm unique?

Within the Organic market, we are producing a creamline milk product family. We believe it’s healthier and tastier than much other milk, we’re a bit artisanal, using batch processing, rather than the high temperature continuous process, giving a different flavor profile than typical “store” milk. 

Still, the vast majority of our milk (about 97% currently) is sold to Stonyfield as part of their “direct supply”.  Apparently, our farm produces about 10% of this direct supply.  We are still big Stonyfield fans, and see them as a fairly “local” business that has gone big.  We produce nearly 2000 gallons of milk per day here, so unless something significant changes, we will continue to have a great relationship with them. 

We're excited that you're Food Connects first milk producer! So a fun question, what's your favorite way to have your milk? Any fun recipes? Or just right out of the bottle?

No favorite recipes, except a whole lot of people tell us they like putting the Maple Milk in their coffee.

Why is selling locally and the local food movement is important to you?

We have always wished for our “own” product, probably a bit from an ego standpoint, however, when the pandemic unfolded, there were a lot of interruptions in the national food system, and exposed the vulnerabilities of a global economy. That catalyzed our efforts to make a local product. Just recently, reports of ransomware in the meat industry has again exposed the national food system.   

Another aspect of producing a finished product is that we can control our sale price. For generations of milk producers, the price has been set by external factors, which invariably lag the cost of production, therefore, most farmers just “work harder, longer.” It reminds me of a plaque that my wife got from her grandmother: “There are 2 choices for dinner: take it or leave it.” We are pleased to be in control such that we can set a reasonable price based on our cost.

How does working with Food Connects help your business and what are you excited about in this partnership?

One thing that excites me about working with Food Connects is that some of the orders that have come through seem to be for farmstands—I just love the idea of re-training our shoppers to get more and more of their food from small outlets than just the (necessary still) grocery chains.

Any events coming up or fun facts about your business/products?

We are trying to develop a couple more flavors! Strawberry has been requested numerous times. Also, a friend brought us blueberry milk from Maine and asked that we consider producing it. 

Keith Franklin, a partner in the farm has maintained a top-flight Social Media presence on Facebook, Instagram, and now even some YouTube. He’s had up to 35,000 views of certain items. His authentic farm-centric view of agriculture has been very well received.

Anything else you would like to feature? Anything that you are doing to respond to the COVID-19 crisis

Wishing it would go away. . .  I got my shots as soon as I could! Covid is so central to everything, and most everyone I know in most every sector is soooo ready for it to be a memory, especially my Nurse Practitioner wife. Neither the medical workers or the farm sector had the privilege of a “Covid Renaissance.”

Check out their Brattleboro Food Co-op feature and Bennington Banner article.

Producer Spotlight: Vermont Bean Crafters

One of Food Connects’ newest producers is Vermont Bean Crafters. Operating out of Waitsfield, VT, they were “founded on the belief that what we eat and how it is prepared has a direct and powerful effect on our communities and the environment. That we can do good by eating well.” This ethos rings true with the entire team at Food Connects. So, let us introduce Joe Bossen, Founder and President of Vermont Bean Crafters.

How did Vermont Bean Crafters come to be?

I was drawn to beans in particular for too many reasons to enumerate. These include their role in crop rotations, the fact that they are shelf-stable, the versatility they offer in a culinary context, the fact that they are an affordable protein source, the role they play in healthy diets, and so much more. 

Bean Crafters was started at Boardman Hill Farm in West Rutland back in 2009. I was working for Greg at the time and looking to find ways to get more local organic produce into our community. We really wanted to help lock in the farm’s harvests into frozen-value added products to create markets for any surplus or seconds that might otherwise have markets. We started out selling at a few farmers’ markets in Rutland County and even spent a couple of years going to the New Amsterdam Market in NYC as we got our feet on the ground and figured out how to work with distributors and build the business.

What makes your products unique?

We make a point to make food that as many people as possible can eat. This means avoiding all common allergens. Beans in and of themselves are a healthy choice for pretty much everyone (unless one has favism). We don’t use soy in any of our products, so they are free of soy, are vegan, naturally gluten-free, nut-free, and, being certified organic, our value-added products are implicitly GMO-free.

Black Bean Burger photo by Ember Photography

What is one of your favorite products you make?

Honestly, after 10 years I’m still not sick of our Black Bean Burgers. I think that says a lot.

Could you tell our readers a little bit about where you source your products from and any special relationships you have with local farmers?

We have a pretty tight lot tracking and inventory management system. We audit ourselves each year to assess how well we did in sourcing as many ingredients directly from local farms each year. We share that information on our website. We fill our freezer with enough kale and parsley before the hard frosts come in to get us through to the following summer. This past year we got nearly all of the thousands of pounds of our greens from three farms within an hour of us: Kingsbury Market Garden (where our kitchen is located), Alpenglow Farm in Warren, and Bear Roots Farm in Williamstown. 

Why is buying and selling locally and the local food movement is important to you?

There is a lot of joy in being in a relationship with the people we work with on the grower and the eater side of our work and there is nothing I enjoy more than cooking food and feeding people. 

 I value how the versatility and affordability of beans have enabled us to get local and organic food into venues where such foods were less common years ago, from institutional foodservice to pubs and diners. I dig that people can count on having a better burger when visiting a loved one at Dartmouth Hitchcock, or that K-12 students don’t have to grow up with the salted cardboard veggie burgers I did. The fact that those burgers have nutrient-dense vegetables from farms we know and trust makes it all the more a joyful and meaningful proposition. 

How does working with Food Connects help your business/what are you excited about in this partnership?

We have seen a lot of consolidation in food distribution over the last ten years. It’s exciting for us to have a locally-based distributor that is accessible and intentional in their work. Our customer service can only be as good as the pipeline that connects us with our customers. We are more interested in continuing our growth through a patchwork quilt of independent smaller distributors functioning on a human scale than we are hitting it big with a national distributor. 

Any events coming up or fun facts about your business/products?
We have a lot rolling out this year. We have launched a retail dry bean program for the first time, are redoing all of our retail packaging for our bean burgers, are adding two new value-added products, and have launched our bean subscription service: Bean Box.

Anything else you would like me to feature? Anything that you are doing to respond to the COVID-19 crisis?

About half of our sales were to institutional foodservice pre-COVID-19. We sold most of our foods to colleges, universities, hospitals, and K-12 schools. All of that went away overnight, which is partly why we have so many new things rolling out this year. It’s been a hell of a year but we are doing okay and it is looking like we’ll be on a stronger footing than ever.

Producer Spotlight: FinAllie Ferments

Jars bubbling and fresh produce taking on new life means one thing—ferments! This month we are highlighting FinAllie Ferments, based out of Rockingham, VT. Allie Dercoli is the founder and operator of FinAllie Ferments and we were able to catch up with her and learn more about the business.

How did FinAllie Ferments come to be?

Long before a single jar bubbled its way into the hearts and bellies of Vermonters I was traveling the country with my dog Fin. I worked on over 50 farms stretching across the country, learning from farmers how to grow and ferment food along the way. Several years and many miles later, it would be Vermont where Fin and I would take this budding love for fermentation and truly blossom. Knowing the amazing health benefits of the probiotic alchemy that is fermentation, I decided to sell my Vermont-style sauerkraut and kimchi at local farmers’ markets. With my loyal dog Fin by my side, handmade signs, and birch wood labels, FinAllie Ferments soon became a local favorite at the markets, restaurants, and grocery stores in Southern Vermont. Today, FinAllie Ferments is a passionate family of food alchemists working directly with farmers and vendors to deliver the highest quality ferment that is definitely what your belly needs. We craft our small batches with fresh produce that is rooted here in Vermont soil, and slowly aged in oak barrels.

How long have you been making ferments? And what originally inspired you to do so?

I made my first batch of kimchi in Bastrop Texas in 2011. Farmers often have ugly veggies, not of market value. Farmers also often need a way to preserve the harvest. We honor traditional fermentation processes while maintaining our own unique flavor. Each recipe begins as an experiment, inspired by a rich history of ferments from all around the world while honoring the ingredients available in our bioregion. Everything is fermented in oak barrels and ceramic crocks, never in plastic, ensuring complex flavors. Our products are always raw and free of vinegar so that every jar can deliver the beneficial bacteria and micro-nutrients that your gut needs.

Could you tell our readers a little bit about how you partner with other farms in our region?

FinAllie Ferments is 100% Vermont grown. We not only make our products in Vermont, but all veggies are grown in Vermont soil. We pay all of our farmers through our custom CSA program that gives farmers a check in the winter when they need cash to fix equipment or buy seed. Our flavors are unique because Vermont grown food is delicious and eclectic. Our goal is not profit growth, but rather the growth and accessibility of culture in our bodies and community. Our motto, “Cultivating Culture” means bending down, reaching deep into the soil of our collective existence. It’s about honoring the inherited traditions and wisdom of our elders and passing it on. We believe in a future where generations can flourish. We need to rise above the profit-over-people model that is destroying and exploiting the land and its inhabitants. We must strive to promote economic resilience by keeping the flow of money and job opportunities in our local communities. Our farmers are why we're able to do what we do. We work with All Winds Farm, Wild Sheppard, Harlow Farm, Old Athens Farm. Full Place Farm, West River Seeds, Clearbrook Farm, Walker Farm, and Sugar Bob’s Finest Kind.

What is one of your favorite products you make?

I love to make Black Garlic Kimchi. The flavors are complex and spicy! It’s a two part fermentation, first, the black garlic must be fermented for 10 days then added to our spice paste that includes Vermont sriracha and Sugar Bob's smoked maple syrup.

How does working with Food Connects help your business?

FOOD CONNECTS IS AMAZING! we are excited you have a meaningful presence in our community and that you are connective and small like us. We hope to grow our friendship/partnership with you!

Any events coming up or fun facts about your business/products?

We will be teaching some classes and starting a book club out of the Brattleboro Co-op. We are also running a sale in February to help enrich our farmers’ CSA program.

Anything else you would like me to feature? Anything that you are doing to respond to the COVID-19 crisis?

This year we partnered with the Farmacy program providing people with existing health issues CSA boxes, We donated buckets to Grace Cottage hospital as well as started a fundraiser for the Vermont Food Bank. Buying food directly from farmers is a great way to support your local economy, these times are hard for everyone.