At the end of July, we took a road trip to visit some of the Vermont Farms that we’re partnering with to feed Vermont schools this year. While Clare Barboza snapped some amazing photos for us, our Marketing Coordinator, Kristen Thompson, took the opportunity to ask the farmers (and co-op) about their work and why feeding Vermont kids with Vermont food is so important.
Food Connects has been supplying the Simple Gifts Farm store with regionally-produced products since March of 2021. The partnership expanded this April when Food Connects began distributing fresh produce grown by Simple Gifts to other buyers in the area. We’re thrilled about this new, mutually-beneficial partnership centered around a love for fresh, local food.
We had a chance to talk to Jeremy Barker Plotkin, Founder of Simple Gifts Farm, about the farm’s unique story and inspiring approach to working with their animals, land, and community.
How was Simple Gifts Farm started? What was its inspiration?
Simple Gifts Farm started in 1999 when I moved to Massachusetts from Maine. I had just finished graduate school (in agriculture) and wanted to produce something more tangible. I started farming at the New England Small Farm Institute and bootstrapped the business from a half-acre up to 5 acres of vegetable production. In 2006, I moved the operation to Amherst and was joined by my business partner, Dave Tepfer. We took on the stewardship of the newly preserved North Amherst Community Farm. We met as interns at the Land Institute and have always been motivated by a desire to incorporate ecological principles into an integrated farm system (I run the vegetable cropping, and he raises livestock.). The North Amherst Community Farm property was the perfect site to also add a strong sense of community to our operation, as it is located within a residential area about a mile from UMass and was preserved by a tremendous effort from the community.
What makes your products unique?
My initial main marketing outlet was farmer's markets, so I have always been motivated to produce beautiful and flavorful vegetables that stand out amongst the other vendors. Salad greens and heirloom tomatoes are particular specialties of ours and really represent both a visual and culinary feast.
Can you tell us more about your approach to farming?
Our partnership was founded on the idea of rotating our land into pasture and using livestock to dramatically improve our soil health. Since 2019, we have taken our soil health program to another level as we are transitioning into organic no-till production. We are now at about 70% of our cropland in no-till production and are seeing definite improvements in the tilth of the soil. We are hopeful that this change will help us to adapt to increasing climate disruption by making our soils more resilient to extreme weather.
What is your favorite part of farming?
I love harvesting the produce; it is the moment that all of our hard work leads up to.
What is one of your favorite recipes you make with your produce?
During tomato season, I make a tomato-bread salad whenever I'm invited to a potluck or party. I typically use somewhat stale bread, broken up into pieces and then mixed with chopped heirloom tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, olives, garlic, and basil. The bread soaks up all the juice, and it is delicious.
Why is buying and selling locally and the local food movement important to you?
I love the idea of keeping our food and our economy as localized as possible for sustainability reasons. Over the last couple of years, the value of a shorter supply chain has been made clear as local businesses really stepped up to keep their communities fed during the pandemic. I see this need as likely to increase in the years to come.
How does working with Food Connects help your business/what are you excited about in this partnership?
We mostly produce food for sale through our farm store, but we also enjoy doing a larger quantity of a few crops to round out our business. We have sold some of that extra produce to Whole Foods Market, but their corporate structure has become increasingly hard to deal with, and we increasingly feel that that outlet is at odds with our values. Working with Food Connects gives us the opportunity to provide crops that will strengthen the local food system. We are also using Food Connects to supply our farm store with products that we don't produce ourselves, so it feels like we are completing a circle.
Any events coming up or fun facts about your business/products?
We do a Front Porch Jam every month at our farm store and will be doing a Harvest Festival in September.
Anything else you would like me to feature? Anything that you are doing to respond to the COVID-19 crisis?
Our Farm Store became a real fixture locally during the early days of the pandemic. We brought in a lot of produce from other local farmers, went to online ordering only, and really felt moved by the huge level of support that we had during that time.
At Food Connects, we’re fortunate to work with both small-scale and large-scale producers. This allows us to not only have diversity in our products, but also in the producers we support. One farm we are proud to support is Milkweed Farm.
Jonah Mossberg owns and operates Milkweed Farm, a diversified vegetable and flower farm in Guilford, Vermont. Milkweed Farm is also a queer owned and operated business—which is core to how Jonah farms and how his farm business engages with the community. He is committed to using low and no-till practices on the farm both as a way to support soil biology and health and to reduce the farm's carbon footprint.
Jonah grows over 40 varieties of vegetables on the farm. He produces value-added fermented vegetables for sale at local farmers’ markets such as kimchi and loves growing ingredients for those—“nothing makes me happier than a good patch of Napa Cabbage and Daikon radish.” He is also an aspiring flower farmer and love growing blooms—the queen red lime Zinnia and broom corn are some of his favorites.
For Jonah farming is about more than just growing food. Agriculture is a way to engage with the people in his direct community.
“Food and farming are lenses that we can all put on to look at our world and to see how we might make things a little better. As a farmer, I choose to use my farm as a way to collaborate with other local businesses as a way to keep our local economy strong. Keeping food that I grow in my community also means that I get to feed people that I know, and feed them well. I wouldn't have it any other way.”
The farm also donates to local food shelves regularly, as well as local organizations working across many social justice issues, hosts educational groups, and stands strongly in solidarity with justice based movements across Vermont.
“Selling through the Food Connects Food Hub allows my farm to connect with local businesses that I otherwise wouldn't have access to. As a new farmer, this has been elemental in growing my business. Because Food Connects takes care of the marketing, invoicing, and transportation of my products I get to spend more time doing what I love, growing food, and less time out of the field finding buyers for my food. It is a win-win."
Milkweed Farm has multiple CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) options, including a growing Fermentation CSA where members get value-added fermented goods. You can also purchase Jonah’s products at the Saturday Brattleboro Farmers’ Market or the Sunday Putney Farmer's’ Market.
Want to lend a hand to Milkweed Farm? Currently Jonah farms on leased land and is searching for a permanent land base for his farm operation in Windham County—ideally 3-5 acres (or more!) of flat, farmable ground, with good southerly exposure and water access. Outbuildings and a house are a bonus. If you know of any land or information that could help Jonah, please send him an e-mail!
One of our strongest partnerships is with Harlow Farm located in Westminster, Vermont. Harlow Farm is a family owned operation, owned by the Harlow family since 1917. Paul Harlow owns Harlow Farm while his brother Dan owns Harlow Farmstand. Food Connects work closely with Evan Harlow, Paul’s son, and Cory Walker who manage the day-to-day operations of the farm.
Harlow Farms became certified organic in 1985. Paul recognized the benefits of organic farming early in the movement. They are now the largest organic vegetable operation in Vermont. They grow a wide variety of vegetables including lettuce, kales, collards, cabbage, broccoli, chard, sweet corn, carrots, beets, parsnips, turnips, rutabaga, and winter squash. Evan’s favorite product they grow is kale because the plant continues to grow new leaves throughout the season and they get many harvests from each planting.
They distribute their produce locally through Food Connects along with other distributors but also sell to grocery store chains like Whole Foods and Price Chopper. In the summer it’s too hot to grow greens in places like Kentucky, Georgia, and Florida, so they ship produce to those regions through a broker. But selling locally is most important to them. They see it as an important part of strengthening their community.
“We like to provide quality produce to the people who live near us. Food Connects has been a valuable partner since we started working with them,” said Evan. In fact, Harlow Farm is a founding member of the Food Connects Food Hub. “It is useful for us to sell to many smaller outlets without having to deal with them all directly.”
Want to visit Harlow farm? Join them on July 24 for a pizza social in conjunction with NOFA-VT. They event is from 5:30 to 7:30 pm and all are welcome! You can RSVP to the event here. Harlow Farm is a member of NOFA-VT and planted an apple try this season as part of an orchard to honor former executive director Enid Wonnocott.
Meet Misha and Taylor—the newest producers to join the Food Connects family. They are two artist/farmers with a passion for growing, eating, and sharing delicious and nourishing food and herbs, who created Free Verse Farm in 2012 after traveling the world and studying art. Taylor is a poet and Misha is a photographer, and they love creating farm-related giveaways that combine both of these talents.
Their vision is one that combines their love of farming with their natural impulses to create art and connect with the earth. It is their dream to grow a wide variety of herbs, to grow food for themselves and their neighbors, and to cultivate a meaningful relationship with their community and with the land from which they both derive nourishment, pleasure, and peace.
They are a small herb farm and apothecary in Chelsea, Vermont specializing in naturally-grown tisanes (herbal teas), culinary herbs, medicinals, and herbal remedies. What makes their products unique is that they design their recipes around what they can grow on their farm. This means that all of their products contain a majority of their own, farm-grown ingredients. This makes their products place-based, sustainable, and high-quality, as they have very high standards for they herbal ingredients. You can notice the freshness of the herbs when you open up a tin of their tea, which is bursting with color, scent, body, and flavor!
Taylor continues to be enamored with their culinary blend, Dress It Up, a sweetly herbaceous vinaigrette blend. It's amazing on potato salad, in a slaw, and even as a marinade on fish. Her favorite of their teas is Ode to Vermont, a delicious blend that tastes like nothing else you've had before, made with herbs that love to grow in Vermont: lemon balm, catnip, anise-hyssop, and red clover blossoms. It's bold but floral; it's complex but smooth. You can drink it hot or iced and is perfect served any time of day!
Want to visit them farm? This will be the fifth year Free Verse Farm will participate in Vermont's Open Farm Week. This year, they will be holding their annual "Farm Tour and Tea Party," where they walk guests around the farm and explain their growing practices, methods, ethos, and then end the afternoon with a tasting of a wide variety of their teas, plus delicious snacks.
The will also be hosting two great workshops: one is a natural dye workshop (also during Open Farm Week), and one is a basket weaving workshop. They love having events on their farm and hope to see you there!
AlpineGlo Farm, owned and operated by the Ware Family, is a small, first generation family farm located in Westminster, VT. Their primary focus is inside the farmstead goat dairy where they produce a full line of fresh, soft goat cheeses. Every step along the production line, from farming to the final cheese making process, is completed on the farm—a true labor of love.
What’s unique is that Rachel runs the farm primarily on her own. There are not very many "one woman shows" out there—and she does it all! This includes everything from breeding, birthing, bottle feeding, raising, and retiring the goats on the farm, as well as all the daily aspects of running a farm including cleaning, milking, maintenance, veterinary care—you name it!
The farm is very small, which is also unique in the dairy world. By staying small Rachel is able to focus on the animals with great detail and attention, and it stays intimate this way. Each animal is an integral part of the whole farm—they are considered part of the family. In fact, each year they name the baby goats with a different letter of the alphabet. They also try to follow individual name lines—all of Daisy's babies are named flower names and Clementine's baby this year was named Grapefruit!
Twice a week fresh cheese is made using the goats' milk, produced solely from their own goats. All of the cheese is handcrafted and made in small batches. Small batches and minimal processing allow them to produce a higher quality cheese than mass-produced products.
It is very important to them that food is enjoyed where it is produced. There is no need for food to travel hundreds, or even thousands, of miles when it can be sourced right here. Selling locally supports the local economy and makes you feel part of the community. Rachel wants customers to know her, her animals, and where their food comes from.