Three River Farmers Alliance Partnership
Vermont Way Foods Hires Matt Landi
Producer Spotlight: Smith’s Country Cheese
Introducing Raymond!
Job Opportunity: Driver
Promos: Red’s Best Seafood, Atlantic Sea Farms, Rhapsody Natural Foods
Producer Spotlight: Smith's Country Cheese
At Food Connects, we are so fortunate to work with so many cheese producers throughout the region. We’re excited to feature Smith’s Country Cheese based out of Winchendon, MA. Passed from one family to the next, Smith’s Country Cheese is a shining example of how new and young farmers can learn from previous generations and how they can work together to conserve farmland for future generations. Plus, they make some darn good cheese! We interviewed Leah Catlin, one of the four owners, to find out more about the farm and its awesome story!
Can you share a little about the history of the farm? What inspired you and your family to start farming?
Smith’s Country Cheese has been a family-owned-and-operated, working dairy farm and creamery in the heart of North Central Massachusetts for over thirty years. Mr. David Smith and his family built the business and the brand from the barn up, growing the starting Holstein herd from 20 to 220 head, and working to become Massachusetts’ original farmstead producer of award-winning Gouda, Cheddar, and Havarti cheeses—all while becoming an industry leader in renewable energy, generating power through solar technology.
In 2013, as David and his wife began approaching retirement age, they began looking for a new owner who would continue Smith’s Country Cheese as a family-operated farm and creamery. It wasn’t until two years later when in the summer of 2015 Jake and Allie Catlin—a week away from welcoming their first daughter—learned that the Smith family was looking to sell their dairy and creamery. Although happy and successful with their jobs outside of Boston (in law enforcement and fitness respectively), they were looking for a more meaningful way of life for themselves and their new family. They made a series of exciting phone calls that put everything into motion: first, a brave phone call to Dave expressing interest in buying the farm without having any formal farming experience; and second, a phone call to Jake’s brother, Mike, and his wife Leah in Atlanta, Georgia, asking them and their two children to move back to Massachusetts and join them on this farm adventure.
…and the rest is history! The Smiths taught the Catlins how to make cheese and care for the cows on weekends for over a year before the sale was official. Nearly five years later, the Catlins are putting their own mark on the brand, adding new cheeses to their repertoire, and growing the business with innovative ideas.
What makes your farm unique? Could you tell us more about your sustainability efforts?
We are proud to be true farmstead cheese producers. This means that all the milk we use to make our delicious, award-winning cheeses comes from our own herd of Holstein cows. Our cows are milked twice a day, every day and we make cheese about 3-4 days a week at our farm. On cheese-making days, we are using fresh milk from that morning’s milking—it doesn’t get any fresher than that!
We are also proud to continue Dave’s sustainability commitment to reduce our carbon footprint. Our grid-tied photovoltaic solar system offsets over 70% of our hot water and 30% of our electrical usage costs by using the energy of the sun. We make our own compost from cow manure, famously known as “Otter River Black Gold” to manage our farm waste in a green way. In 2020 our compost was certified for Organic producers.
What is one of your favorite cheeses?
I asked everyone to rank their favorite cheeses and got four different answers! But, one of the cheeses we all agree is delicious is the Chive Cheddar—our creamy, mild cheddar serves as the backdrop for a bright and robust chive flavor. We love to snack on it, or add it to eggs, sandwiches, macaroni and cheese, and burgers!
Why is selling locally and the local food movement important to you?
We love helping people in our community discover and appreciate locally made goods—it really is like finding treasure in your own backyard. Being part of the local food movement is important to us because it helps start the conversation within families about where their food comes from, the environment, and the economy. Shopping locally makes a big impact. I love the saying that when you support a small business an actual, real-life person does a happy dance because it’s 100% true! If you don’t believe us, follow us on Facebook and Instagram!
How does working with Food Connects help your business?
Working with Food Connects allows us to reach a new customer base and to be part of the important conversations they are having regarding the local food movement, agriculture, sustainability, and nutrition. We are confident that we are becoming a household name with the families and communities Food Connects and their programs serve.
Any events coming up or fun facts about your farm?
We will soon be adding some completely new products to our line: farm fresh milk, butter, and yogurt! Stay tuned, Food Connects!
Meet Our New Food Hub Warehouse Specialist—Raymond Johnston
Food Connects is excited to welcome Raymond Johnston to the Food Hub team as Food Connects’ Warehouse Specialist. Though not on the road often, Raymond will play a key role in distribution for our Food Hub. In this new position, Raymond will work to increase efficiencies in our Food Hub’s warehouse, maintain and oversee systems and regulatory compliance, and take on the daunting tasks of inventory management.
Raymond joined the Food Connects team in late July and has spent years in the food industry, primarily in warehouse distribution.
Meet Raymond today!
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.
What sparked your interest in Food Connects and why are you excited to be here?
My partner let me know there was an opening and I was eager to apply. I had been aware of Food Connects having utilized the Food Hub myself in the past and was excited to be part of an organization making a positive change.
Why is the local food movement important to you?
I think it's important for people, in general, to know where their food comes from, and to at least think about how it gets to them. The less stuff in general, but perhaps food especially, we ship long distances across the country or around the planet the better we'll all be.
What do you see for the future of Food Connects and what you will do here? What are your hopes and dreams for this position?
I would love for organizations like Food Connects to become more and more about how food gets distributed, instead of long-distance distribution across the continent. My hope is to make the Food Hub as efficient and streamlined as possible so we can serve larger orders and customers seamlessly in order to make that a reality in our local market
How will your previous food systems work impact your work at Food Connects?
I'm hoping my knowledge of how larger operations work will help me realize the steps we need to take to scale up the Food Hub without impacting the great service we provide. I'll also be keeping in mind the frustrations and inefficiencies of the larger distributors I've worked for in order to make sure we don't fall into those same pitfalls.
How do you spend your time outside of work?
I like to spend my time outdoors, usually relaxing but oftentimes doing some of the never-ending upkeep on our small chicken coop. I always enjoy hiking in whatever woods I can find which previous positions I've held didn't really allow the time or energy for so that's something else positive which may come from this position! Most of my free time is definitely spent around the home though with my family.
What is your favorite or least favorite food?
My favorite food is lasagna, and I'll eat almost anything, so it's kind of hard to think of a least favorite.
If you could trade places with anyone for a day, who would you choose?
Joe Biden—but only to try and executive order some decent policies into place given the chance, not really a position I'd get gratification from experiencing. For that I'd probably pick someone from a different culture entirely, as different from me as possible, but probably no-one famous or known. Guess I'd spin a wheel!
What is an experience you've always wanted to try?
Spinning that "trade places" wheel sounds pretty appealing right now
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/.
Food Connects Fresh Bites: August 2021
Eat Local Months Are Here
Milkweed Farm
Recipe: Chocolate Marbled Zucchini Bread
Producer Spotlight: Pete’s Stand
Lift Delivery
Welcome Raymond
Back to School with Food Connects Campaign
Promos: Old Friends Farm
Producer Spotlight: Pete's Stand
What do delicious food and conserved farmland have in common? Pete’s Stand of course! We got to chat with farmer Teresa Janiszyn about the farm and her family’s story.
Pete's Stand was started by John's (Teresa’s husband) grandfather, Peter Janiszyn, in the early 70s after decades of farming in the Connecticut River Valley. Pete grew up in Hadley, Massachusetts, and farmed with his brother "Jake" who had a farm stand called "Poor Papa's" in Westminster, Vermont in the 1950s. John's inspiration to farm came in the early 2000s when, after the death of his grandfather in 1997, the farm was at a crossroads—his father, Michael, already had a full-time career, and John could see how important it was that the farm continue—for his family, for the community, and for the land itself.
“Since that time John, along with his father and I, have grown and improved the farm to provide a livelihood for their family, while providing affordable locally grown produce to the community,” says Teresa. “We now farm around 45 acres in Walpole, NH, and Westminster, VT.”
Pete's is best known for roadside market standbys like sweet corn (especially our sweet corn!), tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers—and in the fall for our pumpkins, gourds, and bushel baskets of winter squash.
One of the things that has cemented their commitment to farming in the Connecticut River valley is their commitment to preserving prime farmland for future generations. “We do this by keeping the land productive (preserving soil health and fertility) and through partnerships with landowners and conservation organizations.”
“It is also very important to us that fresh, locally grown produce be available to all members of our community—we do this through donations to many local food pantries/organizations, accepting SNAP and participating in the Granite State Market Match program, selling to local school districts, and of course by selling directly to consumers at our roadside stand.”
“Food Connects has helped our business by allowing us to take small steps into the wholesale market, and to extend the reach of our produce to new markets. It has also helped us by giving us access to other producers and vendors- we can now stock a truly wide variety of high-quality, locally made products.”
Food Connects Fresh Bites: July 2021
On the Road Again—Deliveries to NH and Burlington
The Recipe Box: Watermelon Gazpacho
Producer Spotlight: Curly Girl Pops
Eat Local Months
New Markets for New England Cheese
Promos: Vermont Bean Crafters, Mi Tierra Tortillas
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.
Food Connects Fresh Bites: June 2021
Traveling Cheese
Producer Spotlight - Miller Farm
Pallet Racking
We’re Hiring!
Promos: Ground Up, Vermont Salumi, Grafton Village Cheese
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.
Food Connects Fresh Bites: May 2021
Growing Up, Up, and Up
Producer Spotlight: Red Fir Farm
Online Ordering
Recipe Search
Summer Calendar
Promos: Frisky Cow Gelato, Grateful Greens, Vermont Bean Crafters, Mapla Mama Beverages
2021 Summer Schedule
To accommodate for holidays and a Food Hub summer break, we have created a special Summer Order and Delivery Schedule. This includes an added route to Burlington and Montpelier and special cheese orders! Download the schedule below!
MAY & JUNE:
Monday, 5/17: Orders due early for Friday, May 21 delivery
Monday, 5/31 - Fri. 6/4: CLOSED all week, no deliveries
JULY:
Thursday, 7/1: Bread orders due a day early for delivery on Wednesday, 7/7 & Thursday, 7/8
Friday, 7/2: CLOSED, no deliveries
But how does this change the special cheese orders?
Orders due Monday, 5/17 for delivery Wednesday, 5/26 & Thursday, 5/27
Orders due Monday, 6/7 for delivery Wednesday, 6/16 & Thursday, 6/17
Orders due Monday, 6/21 for delivery Wednesday, 6/30 & Thursday, 7/1
When will I get my Montpelier/Burlington deliveries?
NO delivery Memorial Day
Order by Wednesday, 5/26 for special delivery on Friday, 5/28
Monday, 6/14: Deliveries start every Monday!
Questions?
Contact Sales@FoodConnects.org or Orders@FoodConnects.org
Producer Spotlight: Red Fire Farm
It isn’t often that you meet a young person who has the determination and drive to become a farmer. And in swoops Ryan Voiland, who started his farming career when he was still in middle school! We’re excited to share the story of how Ryan started Red Fire Farm, in Granby, MA.
How was Red Fire Farm started? What was your inspiration?
Ryan Voiland started Red Fire Farm when he took over his parents’ yard as a teenager and turned it into a market garden in the early 1990s. The business was originally named Old Depot Gardens but was renamed Red Fire Farm in 2001 when Ryan purchased his first parcel of farmland in Granby, MA. The name Red Fire refers to both the large chestnut beam barn that is the centerpiece of the Granby Farm—the barn was rebuilt in 1921 on the foundation of the original 1800s barn that burned in a lightning strike—and to the popular staple red leaf lettuce variety called New Red Fire.
What makes your produce and farm unique?
Red Fire Farm is based around the idea of growing really tasty and delicious organic produce using sustainable practices. We like to eat a wide range of crops and varieties, and this shows in the wide diversity of crops and varieties that we grow in our fields. Keeping track of so many crops can be challenging, but we do it because we love to eat the wide breadth of produce that is possible to grow in New England! We use greenhouses and high tunnels to extend the season with winter greens, early tomatoes, late peppers, and store roots in our geothermal cooled root cellars and coolers to provide crunchy carrots, savory onions and a wide range of other storage produce all winter long. This keeps people eating local all year long, and it keeps our core staff of farmers employed all year long!
What is one of your favorite veggies you grow? Do you have any recipes you love to use them in?
All vegetables are favorites, and I hate to say I like one more than another. One crop we love at Red Fire Farm is garlic. May is a good time of year for green garlic, one of the first outdoor green and zesty crops to ripen each year. Here is a recipe for green garlic pesto. Many other seasonal produce recipes can be found on the Red Fire Farm website.
Green Garlic Pesto
10 stalks green garlic roughly chopped, including as much of the greens as desired
½ cup olive oil
½ cup walnuts or pine nuts (or other nuts)
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp salt
1 Tbs. Lemon juice.
1 Tbs. water
Place all ingredients in the food processor and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust as desired. Use on pasta, pizza, or sandwiches.
Makes about 2-3 cups.
Why is buying and selling locally, and the local food movement is important to you?
Local farming can do a lot to help positively address so many challenges that society faces. Farming with environmental integrity can make our environment healthier, help counteract climate change, and make our landscape more beautiful. Healthy produce can help address food insecurity and bring better nutrition and health to people. Eating local produce from carefully selected heirloom and hybrid varieties also brings gastronomical joy to eaters, enhancing the quality of life. Local farming can also be an important driver in the local economy by providing employment in rural areas. Red Fire Farm employs over 50 people each year! Nothing is more fundamental than good food!
How does working with Food Connects help your business?
Food Connects is an important partner because it helps get produce from our farm packing barn to people who want to eat it. Distribution can be one of the most challenging logistical nightmares for small farms. Although we run several trucks to make produce deliveries, we still can't reasonably or economically deliver everywhere. In many cases, Food Hubs such as Food Connects can really help make the logistics and delivery of local foods work better for both the consumers and farmers.
Any events coming up or fun facts about your business/products?
We have organic pick-your-own strawberries at our Granby farm location. Berries start to ripen most years in the first week of June, and peas will also be ripe for pick your own at that time. We encourage everyone to come out during the strawberry season to pick and to enjoy some time on the farm. Later in the summer, visit for other pick-your-own crops (cherry tomatoes, beans, flowers, etc.), our pollinator-friendly sunflower spiral, or popcorn maze filled with Halloween scarecrows in October.
Anything else you would like me to feature? Anything that you are doing to respond to the COVID-19 crisis?
We are doing all the recommended COVID-19 safety practices (masking, social distancing, extra handwashing, and cleaning, etc.).
Growing Up, Up, and Up
Between a 1,000 square foot cooler and freezer and a smaller 300 square foot cooler, it would be safe to assume we have enough space for all the delicious food we can get. Nope! We’re excited to share that our storage space for cold and frozen regionally-produced foods is expanding. But this time, we’re growing up—vertically, we mean!
This May, after months of planning, Food Connects is installing pallet racking in our cooler to increase its storage capacity.
In December of 2019, we unveiled a community-funded 1,000 square foot cooler and freezer. We knew this space would allow us to provide our wholesale customers with a wider variety of locally-produced foods and increase our capacity to build market channels for more producers in our region. Little did we know that this space was preparing us for tremendous growth in response to a global pandemic.
In 2020, we saw our revenue double during the pandemic, hitting over $1 million in sales of regionally produced foods. As more community members turned to local co-ops and farm stores to get their food, those wholesale customers turned to us. Our coolers allowed us to bring on more producers and increase the quantity of each product.
Even in this ample space, our cooler can get cramped. In advance of our busiest season—late spring to early fall—we're expanding up with pallet racking in our cooler and freezer. We will have 19 new pallet spaces after the project is complete, meaning a lot more regionally produced foods! The pallet racking will allow us to utilize the unused vertical space in the cooler, expand our storage capacity, and prepare our Food Hub for continued growth.
This pallet racking and improvements to our Food Hub was made possible, in part, by a generous grant from the You Have Our Trust Fund of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. In addition to our pallet racking, Harley Sterling and the Farm to School Cafe generously donated shelving for our dry storage space to increase organization and capacity.
We are thrilled that more and more community members are turning towards local food. As we do our best to prepare for the future and our continued growth, we look forward to the challenges that lie ahead, watching our local food economy grow, and, of course, all that delicious food!
Food Connects Fresh Bites: April 2021
20 New Producers from 2020
Producer Spotlight: Barrett’s Garden
On the Road
Parish Hill Promo
Recipes
Eat Local VT App
Hosta Hill Promo
On the Road: 2021
Who says deliveries in winter can’t be fun and beautiful! Check out some great photos of our crew on the road in the past couple of months.
Producer Spotlight: Barrett's Garden
We’re excited to introduce our Food Connects family to one of our newest producers—Barrett’s Garden! Barrett’s Garden, located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, was born out of owner and “Commander In Cheese,” Liz Barrett’s passion for vegan cooking. Liz, a sign language interpreter, grew this business from the ground up and we are excited to help her business expand into our region of New England. So get to know Liz and her delicious products today!
How was Barrett’s Garden started? What was your inspiration?
As a long-time vegetarian, when I became vegan, about 10 years ago, I was frustrated because I couldn’t find really good, wholesome vegan cheeses.
What makes your products unique?
I don’t put anything extra in my food, just ingredients that you would use in your own kitchen!
What is one of your favorite products you make? Do you have a recipe you love to use them in?
I have to say that Farmesan is my favorite! It’s so versatile! I put it on just about everything for extra flavor-popcorn, sauteed veggies, soup, salad, pizza. I also use it to make alfredo and pesto. One cup of veggie broth to ¾ cup Farmesan! Blend in a blender until smooth, pour into saucepan, and cook slow and low stirring frequently. For the pesto, I just put a bunch of fresh, rinsed basil in a blender with ¾ to one cup Farmesan and 2 tbs lemon juice. Blend until smooth and voila! Pesto!
Why is buying and selling locally and the local food movement is important to you?
Oh my goodness! All of us local producers are bringing customers the most wholesome, handmade, or hand-grown food that a consumer can purchase. We love doing what we do and it’s that circle that makes it happen. I’m participating in one of the oldest, crucial movements and I’m super proud to be here!
How does working with Food Connects help your business/what are you excited about in this partnership?
I love this question! As a food producer in Rhode Island and only 4 years old, I am not in very many stores in New England stores. My customers have met me at VegFests and events and I ship to them. Community members know of me through the vegan social media sites and I am SO EXCITED that my product can now be in a market near them! This is a game-changer and I can’t thank Food Connects enough for inviting me to be a part of this experience!
Any events coming up or fun facts about your business/products?
When I was first starting my company I didn’t have names for my products and it was getting time for me to get my business license and start selling. I was almost in a panic about it. I knew my first 2 items by heart, their recipes, and flavor, etc. Finally one night I had a dream and they came to me. Farmesan and Fauxcotta! Just in the nick of time!
Anything else? Anything that you are doing to respond to the COVID-19 crisis?
I don’t really want to talk about COVID-19-I just want it to go away! But I would like customers to know that I am always available to talk, email or text. If it’s about the food, recipes, events, advice on cooking, or starting a food business, I am always available. I also donate to certain causes.
20 New Producers Added in 2020
2020 was a crazy year for many of us. As demand for regional food increased, Food Connects had the opportunity to expand our network of high-quality New England producers. Check out 20 that became part of the Food Connects family in 2020.
Atlantic Sea Farms - Saco, ME
Atlantic Sea Farms, created in 2009, is the first commercially viable seaweed farm in the United States. Their goal is to diversify how coastal waters are used, providing communities with a domestic and fresh alternative to imported seaweed products.
Featured Products: Fermented Seaweed Salad; Sea-Beet Kraut; Sea-Chi; Kelp Cubes; Ready Cut Kelp Slaw
Blue Ledge Farm - Salisbury, VT
Blue Ledge Farm is a first-generation, family-owned and -operated goat dairy and cheese-making farm just outside of Middlebury, VT. Owners Greg and Hannah now milk over 100 different goats and produce 11 different types of cheeses on their Animal Welfare Approved farm.
Featured Products: Camembrie; Crottina; Fresh Chevre; Lake’s Edge Mini; Marinated Chevre; Middlebury Blue; Richville; Riley’s 2x4
Champlain Valley Creamery - Middlebury, VT
Champlain Valley Creamery produces handcrafted, Certified Organic, award-winning cheeses. They make all their cheeses by hand, from the 100% grass-fed organic Jersey milk of Severy Farm in Cornwall, Vermont. They are handmade using traditional techniques and small-batch pasteurization in a net-zero solar-powered building.
Featured Products: Organic Champlain Triple; Organic Champlain Truffle Triple; Cream Cheese; Queso Fresco; Pyramid Scheme
Grateful Greens - Brattleboro, VT
Grateful Greens, located in downtown Brattleboro, VT, uses creative, low-impact, indoor farming technology that utilizes solar, rainwater, and eco-friendly systems. They grow nutrient-dense sunflower greens and strive to strengthen local food systems and relieve our dependence on resource-intensive farming or shipping produce from distant lands.
Featured Products: Sunflower Greens; Sunflower Greens, Maple Dijon Vinaigrette Grab and Go; Sunflower, w/Buttermilk Ranch Grab and Go; Sunflower, w/Mixed Dressings Grab and Go; Sunflower, w/Sesame Ginger Grab and Go
Ground Up - Hadley, MA
Ground Up is a family-owned operation that offers a range of whole and bolted (or sifted) flours proudly milled to order from Northeast farms. Ground Up’s goal is to look back in another ten years and see more acres of grain, more thriving farms, more fresh and nutritious flour—all-important signs of a more sustainable and resilient food system.
Featured Products: All Purpose Flour; Bolted Bread Flour; Malted Barley Flour; Organic Rye Berries; Pastry Flour; Pizza Dough Flour; Wheat Berries; Wheat Bran; Wheat Middlings; Whole Rye Flour
Hall Apiaries: Plainfield, NH
Hall Apiaries is an apiary producing chemical- and treatment-free honey with hives in both Vermont and New Hampshire. Owner Troy Hall considers his queen breeding program to be the heart and backbone of his apiary. All potential breeders are hardy stock who are at least two years old and have persevered through two New England winters without any chemical treatments.
Featured Products: Raw Honey, chemical- and treatment-free
Heiwa Tofu: Rockport, ME
Founded in 2008, Heiwa Tofu is a small family business committed to creating pure and wholesome foods that they feel good sharing with their community. Their tofu is handcrafted in small batches using organic, non-GMO soybeans grown on Maine and New England farms.
Featured Products: Organic Tofu
Maine Grains - Skowhegan, ME
Maine Grains is a grain mill located in a repurposed jailhouse that serves bakers, brewers, chefs, and families freshly-milled, Organic, and heritage grains sourced from the Northeast. Their traditional stone milling process ensures nutrient-packed products full of flavor and perfect for natural fermentation, baking, and cooking.
Featured Products: Organic Cornmeal; Organic Farro; Organic Heritage Red Fife Wheat Flour; Organic Polenta; Organic Rolled Oats; Organic Rye Flour; Organic Sifted Wheat All-Purpose Flour; Organic Whole Wheat Flour
Maine Sea Salt - Marshfield, ME
Maine Sea Salt is a family-owned operation that sells sea salt in health and specialty food stores and restaurants throughout the U.S. They’ve been creating sea salt that is solar evaporated and non-processed, with no additives, for over 20 years.
Featured Products: Atlantic Sea Salt, Coarse or Full Crystals
Maple Meadow Farm
Maple Meadow Farm, owned and operated by the Devoid family since 1946, produces fresh shell, cage-free eggs. By Vermont standards of egg production, Maple Meadow is a large farm. By national measures, they’re tiny. Staying small allows them to remain family-owned and operated, and to focus on the needs of their birds, their product and their customers.
Featured Products: Large Chicken Eggs
Mi Tierra Tortillas
Mi Tierra Tortillas is the first authentic tortilla bakery in New England that creates tortilla chips from 100% Organic non-GMO local New England corn, ground limestone, and water. Owners Jorge Sosa and Michael Doctor came together in 2014 to create a delicious product for the community, featuring corn grown in Western Massachusetts.
Featured Products: Fresh Corn Tortillas (Organic or Conventional); Fresh Corn Tortillas, Thin Chip Style (Organic or Conventional)
Old Friends Farm - Amherst, MA
Old Friends Farm is a Certified Organic farm that grows food and flowers with integrity. They are widely known for pioneering Northeast-grown ginger and turmeric and their award-winning specialty products made with these powerful roots. Old Friends Farm manages its business with integrity, balance, and harmony, prioritizing their employees in their business decisions, including paying their employees a living wage and creating schedules for employees to thrive at work and in their off-farm life.
Featured Products: Ginger; Turmeric; Ginger Honey; Turmeric Honey; Organic Ginger Syrup
Parish Hill Creamery - Putney, VT
Parish Hill Creamery is a family endeavor focused on preserving traditional cheesemaking culture, collaborative farming, and contributing to their community’s overall health. These use raw milk from Elm Lea Farm at The Putney School, and they process all their cheese by hand.
Featured Products: Cornerstone; Hermit; Humble; Idyll; Jack’s Blue; Kashar; Reverie; Suffolk Punch; VT Herdsman
Rhapsody Natural Foods - Cabot, VT
Rhapsody Natural Foods is a family-owned business that produces high-quality Organic and natural artisan foods and supports local and regional sustainable food systems in the process. They purchase their ingredients from farmers close to their facility and other small, family-owned farms.
Featured Products: Organic Miso; Non-GMO Natto; Organic Tempeh; Tempeh, Ready to Eat (BBQ and Teriyaki)
Schoolhouse Farm - East Calais, VT
Schoolhouse Farm thoughtfully raises their livestock in a pasture-based system, providing the community with pastured eggs from hens raised on Organic feed. Their chickens live out on pasture in mobile hen houses. Moved daily, they eat a wide variety of grasses and legumes and forage for insects in the soil.
Featured Products: Pastured Eggs
Smith’s Country Cheese - Winchendon, MA
Smith’s Country Cheese is a family-owned and operated working dairy farm and creamery. Their 200 Holstein cows live a happy life on 43 rural acres in Winchendon, MA, to produce their award-winning farmstead Gouda, cheddar, and Havarti cheeses. They use traditional recipes and fresh, raw milk from their farm to make delicious, artisanal cheeses.
Featured Products: Baby Swiss; Cheddar Cheese Sticks; Cheddar; Farmers’ Cheese; Gouda Spread; Gouda; Havarti
Starbird Fish
Captain Tony and his crew at Starbird Fish trek to Alaska every season to harvest wild salmon and white fish from “the most sustainable fishery in the world” using modern, low-impact techniques. They transport their fresh catches from the boat directly to an on-shore processor, where the fish is frozen and then shipped to Burlington, Vermont. Starbird produces all its smoked fish in Burlington, VT.
Featured Products: Alaskan Coho Salmon; Alaskan King Salmon; Alaskan Rockfish; Alaskan Sockeye Salmon; Smoke Alaskan Coho, Smoked Alaskan Sockeye
Sunnyfield Farm - Wilmington, VT
Sunnyfield Farm is a family-owned and operated farm located in Western, VT. From chickens to goats, their love and care for their animals produce high-quality products. And to top it off, they run a sugar-house, Sprague & Son Sugar House, making delicious Vermont-made maple syrup, candies, and more!
Featured Products: Pasture Raised Chicken Eggs
Vermont Cranberry Company - Fletcher, VT
Vermont Cranberry Company is Vermont's first and only commercial cranberry grower. They grow cranberries for wholesale buyers, and their products are available at markets, coops, and farm stores throughout the state.
Featured Products: Frozen Cranberries
Vermont Shepherd - Westminster West, VT
Vermont Shepherd is a 250-acre farm with 300-700 sheep (depending on the time of year), 2 Border Collies (who herd the sheep), and 8 Maremma (who protect the sheep from predators), and shepherds of all ages. At the farm’s northern edge is a cave, home to over 20,000 lbs a year of our artisanal farmhouse cheeses. This human-made cave is over 4 feet underground and is naturally damp and cool, the perfect conditions for cheese ripening!
Featured Products: 2-Year Aged Invierno; Fromage Blanc; Invierno; Smoked Invierno; Verano
Food Connects Fresh Bites: March 2021
Milkweed Farm Looking for Forever Home
Producer Spotlight: Vermont Bean Crafters
Frisky Cow Gelato Expands
The Monadnock Restaurant Project
Snow Tires for Sale