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

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. 

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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.

Frisky Cow Gelato Expands with New Local Food Production Facility

Frisky Cow Gelato (FCG) continues to grow, expanding production in a new Keene facility, proving the growth of consumer interest in locally produced food.

Frisky Cow Gelato (FCG), a Keene-based specialty food producer, has expanded its operation to a new 1,500 square foot production/retail facility located at Union Place (80 Krif Rd) in Keene.  The company, which produces a premium small-batch gelato made from local ingredients, is currently outfitting the new space to continue production there beginning in March 2021. The business, which makes homemade gelato for wholesale distribution in NH, VT, and MA, saw its food sales increase by 65% since the pandemic struck, highlighting the rising consumer demand for local food. 

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“We are so excited to be able to continue on this journey of producing a premium artisan gelato made with farm-fresh local milk, cream, and other local ingredients,” says owner, Linda Rubin.

In addition to about 1,100 square feet of production space, the unit has about 400 square feet of retail space. The new space will allow for increased wholesale production and designated space for retail sales. “I never envisioned FCG having a retail gelateria—but since the pandemic, I’ve learned to “never say never,” says Rubin. The retail space will be open for limited hours for customers to stop by and pick up both specialty and signature FCG flavors. Look for hours on the FCG website soon.

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FCG is committed to collaborating with local producers to ensure the highest quality products and to support other local producers. Last year, FCG partnered with Terra Nova Coffee owner, Jeff Murphy, to create a homemade coffee syrup using their organic coffee and espresso varieties. FCG’s Coffeehouse Chip flavor now carries the Terra Nova logo on all of its pint labels. “To build our local economy and our local food system, we need to continue to support each other’s businesses,” says Rubin. “In 2021, we are working with our new neighbor, The Bread Shed, to create a cookie dough gelato using their homemade dough.” 

“Linda and I have been working together on this new flavor since the summer,” says Brittany Migneault, owner of the Bread Shed. “Customers love our soft-baked homemade cookies, and I’m excited to be working with FCG to expand our products to be part of a really great local gelato.” 

The continued growth of FCG helps the struggling New England dairy industry while also contributing to the growth of NH’s local food system and economy. “Growing our local food system has been a driver for me for more than 25 years living and working in NH”, says Rubin. FCG plans to source pasteurized milk and cream from NH farms, including Contoocook Creamery at Bohannon Farm in Contoocook, NH.

According to the Roberston family, owners of Contoocook Creamery at Bohannon Farm, selling value-added products to partners like FCG helps to sustain their 5th generation family farm in NH. The Farm currently sells milk, cheese, beef, and eggs—both wholesale and retail—to more than 100 food businesses. “We’re looking forward to working with Frisky Cow. Their gelato is excellent, and we’re proud to be a part of its growth as a NH-based business,” says Robertson family spokesperson, Jaime Roberston.   

Food Connects, an entrepreneurial non-profit located in Brattleboro, VT, delivers FCG and food from more than 90 local farms and food producers to over 135 wholesale customers in parts of NH, VT, and MA. In the past year, they have helped FCG to get on the shelves of at least 10 new area retailers. The organization makes it easier for food businesses to buy wholesale from small local food producers and farms. “Food Connects is proud to be able to increase the capacity of FCG and so many other small producers, to grow their businesses by supporting them to reach new markets,” says Executive Director and Food Connects Founder, Richard Berkfield. Building shorter, more community-based supply chains that are less reliant on national or global networks and food suppliers ensures the local food system continues to grow, according to Berkfield.

FCG saw its sales increase by 65% since the pandemic hit, and keeping up with higher demand for their local gelato required a larger and more improved infrastructure. “I realize we are very privileged to have the problems of rapid growth while so many businesses are struggling or closing,” says Rubin. “The future may still be uncertain, but we believe that everything “local” will continue to grow in importance in NH and beyond.”

Frisky Cow Gelato is a small batch, premium, artisan gelato made with local ingredients and lots of love in Keene, New Hampshire. It is available for special events (weddings, parties, etc) and for wholesale for restaurants, grocers, coops, and farm stores. It is also sold at its new retail shop at Union Place (80 Krif Rd) in Keene. 

Frisky Cow Gelato is a NH Benefit Corporation and donates $.15 from the sale of every pint to local organizations that are working to build the local food system, fight food insecurity and address environmental issues. 

For more information, visit www.friskycowgelato.org, email at lrubin5010@gmail.com or call 603-757-2522.

Meet Our New Food Hub Local Food Institutional Sales Associate—Tom Brewton

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Food Connects is excited to welcome Tom Brewton to the Food Hub team as Food Connects’ first Local Food Institutional Sales Associate. In this new position, Tom will work to help Food Connects better serve institutions in our area—including K-12 schools, colleges, universities, and healthcare facilities—in their goals to increase purchasing of local and regional foods.

Tom joined the Food Connects team in mid-January and previously worked at the largest grocery wholesaler in the U.S, C&S Wholesale Grocers. Tom is excited to make the shift to focus on New England’s regional food system.

What interested you most about Food Connects and why are you excited to start working here?

What interested me most about Food Connects is its strong and growing presence as a key player in the supply chain of New England’s local food system. I am excited to start working at Food Connects to leverage my corporate sales experience and passion for philanthropy and community service to drive sustained growth and distribution of the Food Hub.

Why is the local food movement important to you?

In my role as the Local Food Institutional Sales Associate, I will have the opportunity to directly impact the health and wellbeing of our youth by increasing the distribution of New England’s local produce into our schools. I grew up in inner-city Pittsburgh, PA, and attended an underfunded public high school. While I was fortunate to come from a stable household, I understood that some of my peers didn’t have the means to access healthy foods. My background is what will fuel me to work hard in contributing to a more just food system.

What do you see for the future of Food Connects and what you will do here?

I am eager to first access the wealth of knowledge from my colleagues in regards to our existing customer relationships and then work with them to sell the mission and services of the Food Hub to new customers. It’s exciting to join Food Connects during a season of significant growth. I’m looking forward to doing my part in enabling Food Connects to achieve its sales targets! As Food Connects continues to expand its customer base, I am looking forward to strategizing with my colleagues on ways to sustain its growth while living with our values as an organization.

How will your other food industry experience impact your work at Food Connects?

Previous to Food Connects, I worked for the largest wholesale grocery company in the United States, C&S Wholesale Grocers, where I managed relationships with more than 100 manufacturers. I look forward to using my technical and interpersonal skills I learned in my previous role to promote the Food Hub.

How do you spend your time outside of work?

I enjoy making pottery and hope to be selling my work in the near future! I also enjoy all things outdoors including cliff jumping, hiking, camping, and skiing. Once a vaccine is publicly distributed, I look forward to participating in local theatre again!

What is your favorite or least favorite food?

It’s hard to pick, but one of my favorite foods is tacos from Three Stones.

If you were stuck on a desert island, what book would you bring with you?

The entire Harry Potter series.

What’s the best single day on the calendar?

The day I got married to my beautiful, talented wife, Carissa, July 21st.

Producer Spotlight: FinAllie Ferments

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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.

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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.

Meet Our New Food Hub Local Food Procurement Coordinator—David Paysnick

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Food Connects is excited to welcome David Paysnick to our team as the Food Hub Local Food Procurement Coordinator. This new position will serve farms and food producers in our region, working to increase community access to their products through our food distribution networks.

David joined the team at Food Connects with 25 years of experience in a variety of food-related occupations. Most recently, David operated Rainbow Harvest Farm in Greenfield, MA, producing organically grown vegetables, herbs, nursery plants, fig-trees, and specialty food products for sale at Western Massachusetts farmers’ markets. David also managed the produce departments at the two Franklin Community Co-op markets in Greenfield and Shelburne Falls, where he then served on the Board of Directors, including 2 years as President.

What interested you most about Food Connects and why are you excited to start working here?

So many reasons!  I’ve been feeding people my whole life, starting with volunteering at a Soup Kitchen in Springfield, MA to working in restaurants, food co-ops, and 20 years of organic farming. Improving food access and creating equity in food systems have been some of the passions that have driven my work over the past many years. When I learned about the goals and programs at Food Connects, it seemed like a perfect fit. I’m thrilled to see the successes of the Farm to School program and excited to be working with so many highly motivated people working to create positive change in the world.

Why is the local food movement important to you?

At the most basic level, the local food movement is important to me because I like to know where my food comes from. I also want it to be fresh and minimally processed. I believe that access to fresh food should be a right and not a privilege. If we outsource our food production, that goal becomes significantly harder to achieve. Local farms are far more likely to donate to our local food banks than those 3000 miles away. 

Beyond that, the local food movement provides economic, environmental, and social benefits for those that embrace it. Supporting the local food movement leads to more local jobs, more food dollars recirculating within the region, increased food security, and fresher, safer, more nutritious food. It also helps to preserve farmland and genetic biodiversity while reducing emissions as compared to transporting food across great distances. Farmers who direct market and sell their food locally are more likely to use more environmentally sound production practices, which benefits our soil, waterways, neighbors, and those who consume their goods. The local food movement supports the many interwoven relationships between our farms, families, institutions, and natural resources and aims to strengthen those relationships for the benefit of all.

What do you see for the future of FC and what you will do here? What are your hopes/dreams for this position?

While what we do is a bit more complex, from a practical standpoint the role of the food hub is to support our regional farmers by providing a sales outlet for their products and support the people of our tri-state region in providing fresh, nutritious local food to local markets and institutions. As the Local Food Procurement Coordinator, my goals are to be able to support any and all producers who wish to get involved with the food hub. Whether they are a small farm or business with no wholesale experience, or a veteran farmer looking to expand their markets, I hope to be able to provide the logistical support needed to make partnering with Food Connects a mutually beneficial relationship. My ultimate goal would be that Food Connects is able to help all of our producers ensure that no food goes to waste and all farm products find a good home!

 How will your farming and other food industry experience impact your work at Food Connects?

My food industry experience provides a background that enables me to have a greater understanding of the needs and perspectives of both our producers and our customers. Understanding their needs enables me to work towards serving our partners with greater efficiency and compassion.

I’ve been growing organic vegetables for farmers’ markets and local wholesale for nearly 20 years, and have also spent 7 years working in retail food co-op produce departments. As the produce manager for Franklin Community Cooperative, I found my farming experience to be invaluable in working with our growers and understanding their needs and how to best serve them. I have also spent time working as a wholesale bread baker and restaurant cook, as well as numerous other production and retail food positions from grocery stocker to ice cream maker to running a community farm. 

How do you spend your time outside of work?

Growing food, cooking, eating, and outdoor activity tend to be my top priorities. I love to take daily walks with my fiancé, Melinda, as well as kayak, hike, and travel to the beach. I love to cook with my teenage daughter, Aliza, and visit our favorite spot, the family lake house on Newfound Lake in New Hampshire. When I’m home, I can often be found under my cat, who is clearly the Alpha of the household.

What is your favorite or least favorite food?

I can’t say I have a favorite food, it’s too hard to choose, can I list 20 or 30? Least favorite? That’s easier, probably carob, anything that pretends to be chocolate is just plain evil. It should probably come with a big red warning to keep people from utter disappointment when they have an expectation for the magical flavor of chocolate.

If you wrote a book, what would you title it and why?

Ha! I’ll spend too much time writing and rewriting every paragraph trying to perfect each sentence that I’ll never get to the final step of titling it.

Do you have a hidden talent? What is it?

Observation. For better or worse, I notice things all around me on a daily basis that the people I’m with never seem to notice.  

Producer Spotlight: Basin Farm

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The winter months in New England can sometimes be a challenge when trying to source produce locally. The harsh, northern climate makes for a shorter growing season. At Food Connects, we are lucky to work with farms like Basin Farm, located in Westminster, VT, that grow storage crops to feed our communities during the long winter months. Learn more about the farm and Farm Manager, David Langmaid’s story.

As I was growing up I was always thrilled to be able to visit the farm, kick off my shoes, and run through the fields. I loved to pick fresh produce and eat it and help care for the animals. When I was an older child and we were able to move onto the farm, I enjoyed caring for the animals and helping with the gardening. I lived in different places after that but we would try to have a few animals and do what "farming" we could. When I was a young adult I was able to move back onto the Basin Farm and I started working on the farm full time. To me, farming is a great way to care for people. It is a great place to raise a family with good values.

We, at the Basin Farm, are a community of people who work together in everything that we do. We came across the Basin Farm in the early 1990s as we were looking for a local place where we could grow good food for our people. The Basin Farm was historically a dairy farm and was being used for growing feed corn. We went through the Organic certification process and began growing produce along with grains such as spelt and heirloom wheat.

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Since our primary goal is in providing good food for our immediate community, it is very important to us to be able to store what we can through the months that we can not be growing it in the fields. This principle is what enables us to have storage crops such as sweet potatoes, potatoes, butternut squash, carrots, and beets all through the winter and into the spring. We save many of our own seeds so that they are locally adapted to our climate and to our specific growing challenges. Nearly all of the varieties that we grow are heirloom (not even organic hybrids) which is a challenging learning curve but is rewarding in the nutrient-dense crops and natural disease resistance that can be achieved.

We like to feed the soil through different forms of re-mineralization such as good compost and leaf compost, several different bio-active products sourced from the sea, along with diligent crop rotation and cover-cropping of various types. We strive to feed the plants what they need which will strengthen their immune system to ward off disease and even harmful pests and in turn, the food will be as good as possible for our own bodies.

Food Connects has helped us to have a place where we could sell some of our "excess" without having to do a lot of marketing. And we appreciate all of the support from the many retail outlets, co-ops, schools, restaurants, buying clubs, and individuals that have enjoyed our products.

by: David Langmaid

So, What is “Local” Food?

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In July of 2020, Governor Scott signed Act 129 (H.656) into law. The biggest takeaway from the new law—the term “local” now means “local to Vermont” or “made in Vermont,” as a better way to define and distinguish Vermont Food. Similar to a New Hampshire law, its intent is to “protect the value and craftsmanship of Vermont’s food and agricultural producers and processors” and “celebrate Vermont’s brand and recognize the value of buying Vermont products.” 

So what does this mean for Food Connects? We deliver food from places like Keene, NH and Greenfield, MA, arguably more “local” in terms of distance than other places in Vermont. Well, we don’t see this law as a challenge but as an opportunity to better define, communicate, and source-identify the products we sell.

You will see us start to use terms like NH-Made or -Grown, or MA-Made or -Grown more frequently. And as we continue to source food from the Northeast Region, we will strive to better articulate the stories of our food producers no matter where they are from—stories of small, family farms, women and BIPOC-owned businesses, and eco-friendly growers.

And we recognize that on a personal level, local means different things to many people. We will continue to ensure that you know where our food comes from, whether it’s local or regional, and to enable you, our customers, to make the best choices for your businesses, consumers, and families.

Growing Markets for Local Dairy

We all know that farming isn’t easy and COVID-19 hasn’t made it any easier—particularly for dairy farmers. 

In January of 2020, the VT Agency of Agriculture announced that the state lost 48 dairy farms in 2019. And those that have survived faced the demand for milk plummeting in the early parts of the shutdown, forcing them to dump milk.

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“Cows produce milk every single day,” says Leigh Harding, National Account Manager at Jasper Hill Farm, a world leader in artisan cheesemaking based in Greensboro, VT. “And many dairy farms only have one option: to sell their fluid milk directly to the low-paying open market, where the fluid milk price fluctuates drastically daily and is out of their control. It is almost impossible to be a small, independent dairy farmer, selling high-quality fluid milk, and to make a profitable living for yourself and family.”

One way for farmers to avoid dumping milk is to create “value-added products”—cheese, pudding, yogurt, ice cream, etc. Cheese stores longer than liquid milk so can be a good alternative way for farmers to earn back some income. But the cheese industry isn’t safe either—the shutdown of restaurants and schools effectively dried up their markets.

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“An integral part of our mission at Jasper Hill Farm is to offer an alternative option,” says Leigh. “We purchase milk from within our local radius at a substantially higher price all year round, taking this milk and turning into superior, award-winning cheese. Every piece of cheese purchased and consumed contributes to that option for family farmers—it is powerful! This commitment to quality incentivizes farmers to participate in sustainable practices that promote herd health and land preservation. The more sustainable livelihood for the farmers means that families can continue to make a living wage, they then spend money locally to boost economic viability, children stay in the area to continue the legacy and raise families who go to school locally and so on and so on.  It is a beautiful (and delicious) circle!”

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Part of the Food Connects mission is to support and fortify Thriving Farms. While we have not yet begun to sell fluid milk, there is one thing we do sell a lot of—cheese. In mid-2020 we released our Food Connects Cheese Catalog as a way to help promote and grow the dairy industry in the state. The catalog features 7 Vermont cheese producers, small and large, and over 50 different types of cheeses.

“Food Connects has been able to bring locally-made cheeses to a variety of customers who weren’t being served by traditional distributors, including small farm stands and our regional food hub partners,” said Food Hub Sales Associate Beth Lewand. “Our customers’ appetite is certainly strong for delicious, hand-crafted cheeses, and we’ve delivered nearly $34k worth of cheese since launching the catalog in August and $72.1k overall in 2020, $30k of which was from Grafton Village Cheese, here in Brattleboro, VT.”

Plan Ahead for Deliveries of Fresh Winter Greens!

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We are excited to announce that Queen’s Greens is planning to keep growing their Winter Gem Salad Mix, Spinach, and Pea Shoots all winter long in their 19 unheated high tunnels!

These greens are all grown in the earth, with no added energy inputs. Queen’s Greens farmer Danya Teitelbaum describes it as feeling like a “winter-long miracle.”

Real-life miracles actually take a lot of hard work and planning, so it’s important to keep in mind that in comparison to the warmer seasons, the greens supply will be limited. We recommend that you place your orders early, preferably by the Friday before delivery, in order to reserve your inventory. Placing a standing weekly order with Food Connects is also a great way to reserve your greens.

If you’d like to place a standing order, please email orders@foodconnects.org. If you have a Queen’s Greens order for next week (12/14-18), please submit it today (12/11). Later orders will certainly be accepted, but can not be guaranteed.

Queen’s Greens will be closed for the holidays from 12/21/20 through 1/3/21, so next week is your last chance to order before January.

We’re looking forward to sharing fresh, delicious greens with you throughout all four seasons of 2021!

Electrifying Our Fleet

Food Connects is in the early stages of electrifying our vehicle fleet. Our hope is to replace the diesel options we have now with a more efficient and environmentally friendly option.

Over the past two months, we have tested electric vehicles to understand how and if they would work into our normal operations. This includes looking at where different charging stations are in relation to our route and how often and how long we would need to recharge.

We worked with the Brattleboro Development Credit Corporation to set up an electric vehicle charging station at the BDCC Business Park and submitted a grant application, in partnership with the Regenerative Food Network, to replace our largest truck with an electric truck.

We will continue to share progress and updates from this exciting project as we move forward! In the meantime… check out some of our photos from the test!

Producer Spotlight: Parish Hill Creamery

When we think of Vermont-made foods, dairy immediately comes to mind. And in what better form than delicious, raw-milk, hand-made cheese. That’s where Parish Hill Creamery comes in. Located in Westminster, Vermont, Parish Hill Creamery is one of our newer cheese producers and we are so excited to have their family be part of the Food Connects family! Peter Dixon and Rachel Fritz Schaal answered some of our questions we had about their creamery and their amazing cheese!

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

Peter made his first batches of cheese in 1983 at the Guilford Cheese Co., his family's cheese business in Guilford, VT. Rachel started making cheese when she and Peter started Parish Hill Creamery in 2013.

What makes your produce/products unique?

At Parish Hill Creamery, we make natural cheese. Raw milk—exclusively from grazing cows, traditional rennet, sea salt from Maine, and our own autochthonous cultures—propagated continuously with milk from Elm Lea Farm. Keeping to natural cheesemaking methods means making choices that inherently limit the scale of our production but also prevent the use of shortcuts and efficiencies that would deny the expression of our terroir.

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We’re getting hungry!

What is your favorite pairing with your cheeses?

Reverie with pickles and rye crackers. Humble with quince paste. Jack's Blue with port or milk stout, or a drizzle of maple syrup. VT Herdsman melted in our fondue.

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

Buying and selling locally means supporting our neighbors, knowing that land and water are being protected from extractive practices, supporting good jobs, and receiving and providing nutritious foods. Our milk comes from Elm Lea Farm, where the cows graze hill farm pastures. The apples that we press into hard cider to wash Humble come from Green Mountain Orchards. We get the beer to wash the Hermit from Hermit Thrush Brewery.

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

It has been exciting to see our wheels and wedges in restaurants and farm shops in our area—and hearing from friends that they have been able to pick up a few wedges at their local farm shops.

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

Because we are seasonal, we won't be back at the vat until next May when (we hope!) the pastures will be lush with spring grass. We'll spend the winter making sales calls (virtually this year), working on the websites, and developing online workshops, and hopefully, Peter will finish up his memoir!

We are happy to hold Zoom meetings with any retailer or restauranteur interested in hearing more about what we do or wanting to do a virtual tasting of the cheeses.

Producer Spotlight: Ground Up

We are excited to introduce one of our newest producers: Ground Up. Andrea and Christian Stanley and Ben Roesch came together in 2010 to create Ground Up and together and continue to play a role in developing and supporting a local grain economy. Andrea took some time to answer our “get to know you” questions. Take a look!

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What makes your products unique?

The most unique aspect of our flour is that 100% of the grains we mill are grown by farmers in the Northeast. We know them all and we have been working with many of them for over 10 years now. Almost all of the flour used today in the US comes from farms thousands of miles away and are supporting an extractive economy, not a local, circular economy, which we believe is the building block of a sustainable food system.

Our New American Stone mill also makes our products unique. Stone mills allow for a slower, cooler breakdown of the grain starches. Additionally, we sift our flours in a way that allows bran and other nutrient-dense parts of the whole grain to be kept in the flour, while still getting white flour.

And finally, we mill fresh to order. All of our flour is made after an order is placed, so you can be sure you are getting the freshest flour possible.

What was the inspiration to start Ground Up Grains?

The Hungry Ghost in Northampton asked us if we would be willing to add a mill to our malting operation in the summer of 2018. They are our favorite local bakery and so we looked into it. We have been running Valley Malt since 2010, turning local grains into malt for breweries and distilleries. We figured milling was a great way to diversify our business and be another way we could provide opportunities for local farmers to grow more grains.

What is your favorite recipe to make with your grains?

We love pizza and made a pizza oven with our kids a few years back. I follow an NYT recipe for the dough. We love the ritual of getting the fire going in the oven and making the dough the day before.

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Why is selling locally and the local food movement is important to you? Are there any partnerships you want to highlight?

There is a lot about our world that we’d like to see change for the next generations. To make a real impact, we need to commit to the change we want to see. For us, this means supporting a revival of grain growing in the Northeast. Grains are such an important part of the human diet and they really add so much value to soil, water, and farmland. The first 10 years of this work have been challenging at times but we are starting to see some amazing progress and are committed to another 20+ years of working to make our food system in Northeast more self-sustaining. In doing this, we support farms who are struggling to find profitable crops to grow and we are providing fresh, healthy food for our neighbors. The Northeast Grainshed is a new organization we helped to start last year, it is the most exciting partnership of all the aspects of this grain economy from the wheat and barley breeders to the bars, bakeries, and restaurants that serve their local neighborhoods. One fun project of the Northeast Grainshed was to create a grain calculator so anyone could determine the impact of their grain consumption. Did you know that one 5 pound bag of flour, supports 97 square feet of local farmland? That is equal to 1/2 of a parking spot, so let’s get baking!

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

Having partners that will market and distribute our flour and help to tell our story and the story of a localized food system is critical for our success. We all have unique and specialized roles to play and if each of us can exceed at our roles, we can make the lasting changes in our food system we are all working toward.

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

The thought of not having a 10 year anniversary in October 2020 for Valley Malt is a difficult one to swallow. So much bold sweat and tears were shed to make it for 10 years and our success is something we badly wanted to celebrate over beers with all our partners from the growers to the brewers and distillers.

We take the COVID-19 pandemic and public health very seriously and so there are no events to look forward to at the moment. When appropriate we will have an in-person 11 or 12-year anniversary party and it will be epic, you can be sure.

We are reworking our retail packaging. Sustainable packaging is really important to us and so we are sticking with our 100% cotton flour bags (Made in the USA) but we are adding other elements to improve how they sit on a shelf. We are partnering with local craft makers to repurpose any cotton bags that customers want to return to make beautiful rugs, bags, and other fiber arts. These will all be for sale on our website. Stay tuned!

And… We just got our second mill and are in the process of moving to Holyoke!

Meet Our New Food Hub Operations Coordinator—Deborah Sadler

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Food Connects is excited to welcome Deborah Sadler to their team as their new Food Hub Operations Coordinator. Deborah is the first in a series of new hires that will help Food Connects operations continue to grow. Deborah splits her time between coordinating pickup and delivery of Food Hub products and driving delivery routes. 

Deborah joined the Food Connects team in August after managing a goat dairy and creamery. In graduate school, she researched the effects of government policies on farmers’ ability to adapt to drought. Her passion for building local food systems and supporting farmworkers is a huge asset to the growing Food Hub team. Take some more time to learn more about Deborah today!

What interested you most about Food Connects and why are you excited to start working here?

I know how difficult it can be as a small producer to reach customers. Food Hubs offer an important connection for producers to access larger markets. I'm excited to be a part of strengthening our local food system!

Why is the local food movement important to you?

Community has always been based around food, our most essential need. Local food systems are the ultimate way to build community, especially in an increasingly disconnected world! With non-local foods, mistreatment of the land, ecosystem, and farmworkers is often out of sight, out of mind. Local farmers and producers are personally invested in the effects their businesses have on their neighbors. Local farmers who live in the communities they feed want to preserve and improve their soil and water resources. Local producers can see and address inequities in the food system that is overlooked by national brands and chains. When individuals, restaurants, and institutions buy local food, they are voting with their dollar to keep their money locally and to support their neighbors. And of course, fresh local food just plain tastes better!

What do you see for the future of Food Connects and what you will do here? What are your hopes/dreams for this position?

The Food Connects Food Hub is in a period of growth and is well-positioned to take on a leadership role in building a network of local food hubs throughout New England. As the new Food Hub General Operations Coordinator, I hope to help alleviate some of those growing pains with new, efficient systems that allow us to do our work more effectively!

How will your farming experience impact your work at Food Connects?

As a farmer, I understand many of the difficulties faced by local producers, and look forward to supporting them! Most recently, I have worked as a small dairy farm manager and cheesemaker, so I am used to wearing lots of hats and jumping in to do whatever is needed. I also believe farmers can serve as educators, to help teach consumers about the foods we provide.

Now for the fun ones!

What are your hobbies?

I enjoy hiking and backpacking, having hiked most of the Appalachian Trail. I am also a long-time runner and yogi. I enjoy the well-being of running, but will never win races. Creatively, I play piano, but not in public, and I write fiction that I hope to one day publish.

If you had to be shipwrecked on a deserted island, but all your human needs—such as food and water—were taken care of, what two items would you want to have with you?

If it's not included in food, I would bring a pair of goats and raise goats for milk, cheese, meat, fiber. And a deserted island that I could populate with goats would be a lot more fun and interesting! Otherwise, could I bring a Kindle and a solar charger?

What is your favorite or least favorite food?

As a former dairy farmer and cheesemaker, I love cheese and ice cream! Brussel sprouts are a hard pass, on the other hand.

When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

When I was maybe five to ten years old, I wanted to be a Paleontologist, and get to dig up dinosaur bones, or else be a Tiger Trainer, like Siegfried and Roy. Of course, this was well before Roy was attacked by a tiger onstage.

Who Grows Our Food: A Conversation with Mr. Henry

11.3% of farmwork in Vermont is accomplished by seasonal H-2A Temporary Visa farmworkers, a majority of whom are Jamaican—an estimated 400 individuals. Established in 1986 as part of the Immigration Reform and Control Act, the H-2A Visa Program allows agricultural businesses in the U.S. to hire temporary foreign workers for seasonal positions that they would have otherwise been unable to fill with domestic workers. 

Fall is just around the corner in Vermont. The COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t stopped folks from visiting their favorite farm stands and orchards to go apple picking and finding the perfect pumpkin to carve. Local food is on everyone’s mind as bountiful harvests fill the shelves of local co-ops. And it wouldn’t be possible without the essential workers who grow our food—some native Vermonters and others traveling from worlds away to help our food system flourish. As part of Food Connects’ series highlighting how our food system connects us, especially in unseen ways, we sat down with Mr. Lionel Henry, Scott Farm Orchard crew leader, to learn more about his experience living and working in Vermont as part of the H-2A Temporary Visa Program during this global pandemic. 

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Mr. Henry, as he goes by, is from Thompson Town, Clarendon in Jamaica. Although Jamaica is his home, Mr. Henry has spent each summer since 1979 in the U.S. as part of the H-2A Visa Program. He’s cut sugar cane in Florida, grown tobacco in Connecticut, and harvested apples first at Alyson’s Orchard in Walpole, NH, and now with Scott Farm Orchard in Dummerston, VT, where he’s been since 2001. Out of respect for Mr. Henry's rich cultural heritage in Jamaica, where Patois is the mother tongue, we have left his words intact as much as possible, even though we are aware that his style of speaking may seem unusual for readers who don't have much experience with Jamaican Patois. 

Farmworkers are essential to our local food systems, and H-2A Visa workers are heavily relied upon to help local farms, like Scott Farm Orchard, successfully operate from year to year. Many of the H-2A Visa workers have been coming to the same farms for many years and their historical knowledge of the farms is invaluable—they know the farm and the apples like the back of their hands. “Our boss need us to help,” says Mr. Henry. “So we have a lot of different varieties (of apples), lots of different varieties, and whenever time we down here and like your boss would like this variety here now to pick, he stay down here and send you up there, you have to know exactly where it is, the perfect row that you are going and get it.” 

And their hard work doesn’t go unnoticed. At the end of the day, Mr. Henry feels like his work is valued and appreciated by the community—instilling a sense of pride and loyalty. “I really observe that a lot of these people care for us… and we also care for dem and love dem too and try to do great work (at the farm). Lots of people came here at the farm stand to buy, they always appreciate what we do, the good work, and lots of dem tell we ‘Thanks!’" 

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Mr. Henry is the leader of the crew and takes pride in the work he does each day. “I try to work very honestly, and work with dem (the crew) honestly, work with the boss honestly, yea, and try to doing a good job… they have a lots of respect for me, yea, because me have a lots of respect for dem."

So, how has COVID-19 impacted their work and travel? And what does it look like back home?

Concerns for his family in Jamaica are still strong. Since he came to Vermont in early July, the number of cases in Jamaica has doubled. Mr. Henry also noted that, like many in the U.S,  people in Jamaica are losing work. Back home he does farming—planting yams, bananas, and other crops so his family can bring them to the market. The pandemic, however, has slowed the process of selling their food. They’ve had to adapt to new ways of delivering food and must go less frequently. But, as Mr. Henry says, “people still have to eat!”

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And eat they must. Despite the challenges surrounding COVD-19, Mr. Henry still made the journey to Vermont this year. The H-2A Visa Program provides a vital income source for those who participate in it. Because of the money Mr. Henry earned through the program his daughter was able to go to university in Kingston, Jamaica. “So, you know, being as we have our family to take care of and we need some help, so we come and risk, try to risk ourself and try to, you know, do the best we can to keep social distance and everyting and safe.” And they come back each year to not only build themselves up back home but also with a sense of dedication to the crops and farm.

The high risk and the challenges surrounding COVID-19 has changed the experience this year. The journey from Jamaica to Vermont was different. Normally he would fly to Florida and take a bus up but this year they took the plane all the way to Manchester for safety reasons. Working day to day, they have to think about their safety and how to protect themselves. Like many of us, they must now social distance while working and frequently use hand-sanitizer—an added stressor to the already demanding nature of their work. And still, they came. "We come and risk...we have is this crop here and our boss need us to help." Farmers are able to turn to and rely on the H-2A workers in meaningful ways and that value and vulnerability creates a long lasting connection between two different cultures.

But it’s a risk Mr. Henry is willing to take. The unemployment rate in Jamaica is projected to reach 12% due to ramifications from COVID-19. Because there are no other options, some may turn to crime. So, does he recommend the program to the younger generations? Enthusiastically, yes. "We all encourage younger people if they can come in the H2 program and fi do this work because you know some of dem down there don't have a job and if they come here they get something to do...I mean you just work and make yourself be comfortable and you contact your people dem, back home, your family back home and make dem know that you alright and they alright. You just try to be comfortable in yourself."

The work he and other H-2A Visa workers do is not easy and requires sacrifices including time away from family and friends. Mr. Henry is grateful for the opportunity it provides, despite these challenges, and is motivated by the care the community shows for him. For now, we celebrate this interdependence between our local farms, much of the local food many us eat, and the Jamacains working hard to support us. "Lots of thanks, lots of thanks, lots of thanks, lots of thanks! Because if never this way (having H2A work), things were going to be worse...you have to put something to use...(so you) make yourself very comfortable with your family."

Photos Courtesy of Scott Farm Orchards.

Locally Rooted: Farms and Food in the Monadnock Region

As part of NH Eats Local Month the Monadnock International Film Festival (MONIFF), Monadnock Food Co-op (MFC), and Monadnock Farm and Community Coalition (MFCC) hosted a virtual screening of Locally Rooted—a locally produced documentary by 710 Main Films. Locally Rooted follows the story of four local farms and the impact that the Farm Fund, a partnership between MFC and the Cheshire County Conservation District (CCCD), has had on their farms.

Formed in 2017, the Farm Fund’s mission is to support local farmers in increasing sustainable food production and wholesale sales to contribute to a thriving local farm economy. The partnership between MFC and CCCD allows for a wide range of promotion and fundraising—through individual donations and the co-op’s Round It Up program. Farmers can apply to this local grant opportunity to help create vital infrastructure on their farms to continue to grow their business. The Farm Fund awarded over $59,000 in grants to 14 different farms, many of whom are Food Connects producers, since it began.

The film highlights the 2019 recipients of the Farm Fund and their infrastructure projects.

  • Archway Farm: Owned by Mark Florenz in Keene, NH, built a new walk-in freezer to store his own pasture-raised pork.

  • Echo Farm Puddings: Owned by sisters Beth and Courtney Hodge in Hinsdale, NH, updated their 20-year-old packaging machine for a more reliable and efficient machine that could add larger food service containers.

  • Tracie's Community Farm, LLC: Owned by Tracie Lock in Fitzwilliam, NH, added a 6-row seeder to increase productivity.

  • Manning Hill Farm: Owned by Sam Canonica and Sarah Costa in Winchester, NH, purchased a large, energy-efficient cooler to increase the storage capacity of their grass-fed milk.

The Locally Rooted event boasted a vibrant panel discussion with Mark Florenz, Beth Hodge, Jack Rixey (manager of Tracie’s Community Farm), and Greg Pregent, 710 Main Films filmmaker. One of the strongest points of discussion was how the process and details of this particular grant are helpful and different from other grant opportunities. The grant is easy to apply to, opening in late fall every year. And it is extremely flexible—there is a “tendency of a project to fit the grant” says Mark, versus.actully fitting the goals and needs of a farm. When Echo Farm was unsure about whether or not to purchase the new packaging machine, the infrastructure they knew they needed, the grant helped them take that plunge and on their terms.

This grant is unique for farmers, Beth noted, because it focuses on infrastructure, while other grants they come across are typically for marketing and development. “This program does an excellent job nudging farm on the cusp,” said Mark, helping scale-up small to medium-sized farms that will drive our local farm economy.

And local food increasingly at the forefront of community members’ minds. It is “very telling that most people turned to local farms (during COVID-19)” says Jack. Tracie’s Community Farm saw many new customers “come into the fold.” While not all may continue to purchase locally as their main source of food it is the foundation for future relationships. At Food Connects, our sales are increasing dramatically throughout the pandemic. Local food sales not only strengthen our local economy but also create more opportunities for community building and collaboration.

And the growth of these farms doesn’t stop here. There is a wide wishlist, from dry storage to alternative energy that will help fortify their positions in the local food market. Beth put it perfectly, that there’s “gotta be ways we can help each other,” through increased community partnerships and support for local businesses. We are excited to collaborate and grow with these farms and look forward to seeing the recipients for 2021!