Plan Ahead for Deliveries of Fresh Winter Greens!

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!

Producer Spotlight: Grateful Greens

Meet one of our newest producers—Grateful Greens! Based in Brattleboro, VT, Grateful Greens is a new business that approaches farming differently. With an all-indoor facility and highly nutrient-rich soil, their greens are out of this world and will be accessible year-round. They are developing their systems to be as self-sufficient as possible and to have the largest positive environmental impact by using solar, energy-efficient GREE heat pumps for climate control, developing a rainwater catchment system to water the plants they grow, using plant-based PLA for all of their packaging, and looking to improve

Owner James Mayer took some time to share about this new business and what makes them stand out!

What makes your produce unique? Grateful Greens uses creative, low impact, indoor farming technology that utilizes solar, rainwater, eco-friendly systems, and Love. We grow in a nutrient-rich organic soil mix with organic seed from High Mowing Seeds to grow healthy, tasty, and extraordinarily sustainable crops, all year long.

What is your favorite product? Our Sunflower Greens! This is the first crop we're growing. The health benefits of sunflower greens are amazing. They're super nutrient-dense, and their flavor and appearance are so unique and pleasant!

Why is selling locally and the local food movement important to you? Strengthening the localization of our food systems is the main purpose of Grateful Greens! It is clear to us that local and proper food production and distribution are vitally important to the health of our selves, our local economies, and the Earth! Indoor farming is a valuable growing technique that can help us to be totally self-sufficient with our food needs, especially in the winter.

How does working with Food Connects help your business and what are you excited about in this new partnership? Partnering with Food Connects was a great accomplishment for Grateful Greens! The work that Food Connects does is so valuable to us all right now, such as their leadership in the Farm to School movement, their immense support of local food producers, and their curbside ordering program. Their vision for "healthy families, thriving farms, and connected communities" aligns greatly with the purpose of Grateful Greens to empower the food system of the Northeast to become healthier and self-sufficient, year-round. Partnering has given us a great opportunity to offer our Sunflower Greens to many retail and food service organizations in New England. I am especially excited to provide our nourishing greens to our schools in the region! Everyone at Food Connects is so kind and helpful and it's clear that they want to help us succeed.

What inspired you to start Grateful Greens? What are some of your hopes for the future? I have always been entrepreneurial and a lover of nature at heart. Before I founded Grateful Greens, I was working on a project that made me money and was helping others but did not have the immense potential impact that I knew I wanted to make. I got the initial inspiration from a YouTube video about indoor farming. Something instantly clicked inside me and I felt "This is it!" Since then, the vision has expanded greatly: from growing some greens in my bedroom closet, to a project that has the support of a very talented team of Vermont innovators (Delta Vermont) and is on the path of providing immense value to the food system and health of the Northeast. My biggest hope for this project is to greatly increase the self-sufficiency and health of the Northeast food system and its people.

Any events coming up or fun facts about your business/products? We are talking with the arts organization Epsilon Spires to collaborate on offering events at their venue, where leaders in the local food movement can visit to educate and provoke thoughts and discussion around improving our food systems, as well as empowering ourselves and communities. We are also composting all the post-harvest root, stem, and used soil material to be reused in community projects that will hopefully unite, heal, and feed our communities. We have no solid plans yet, but I am hoping to create some type of permaculture farm/garden or similar projects in Brattleboro and surrounding areas. If an organization or individual has any ideas or would like to collaborate, please contact us!

How are you responding to the COVID-19 Crisis? We are participating in the CARES Act's "Everyone Eats" program, donating to the Vermont Foodbank regularly, and hope to supply Sunflower Greens for the Farmers To Families Food Box program.

Anything else you would like to share? We will be expanding soon (creating another location) to grow several other crops to be locally available year-round. Let us know what crops you'd like to be locally available and fresh year-round!

Producer Spotlight: Queen's Greens

Matt & Danya in a field of greens!

If you are looking for high-quality, beautiful local produce that is packed with flavor, look no further than Queen’s Greens. Located in Amherst, MA, Queen’s Green grows certified organic greens and root vegetables that you will definitely want on your plate at the next family gathering. Owners and founders, Danya Teitelbaum and Matt Biskup employ a small team of farmers and sell their products to restaurants, retailers, and universities in the region.

Their main specialty is soil-grown baby greens. In the summer their greens are grown outdoors and are full of flavor and terroir. In the winter they grow spinach in the soil in unheated high tunnels. The spinach freezes every night which makes it exceptionally sweet. Not only are their greens packed with delicious flavors, but their rainbow of root vegetables are sweet, flavorful, and packed with nutrition. 

Packed Gemstone Salad Mix, courtesy of @queensgreensfarm on Instagram.

“This time of year we love a classic spinach, roasted beet and goat cheese salad with our beets and spinach” exclaim Danya and Matt. We recommended adding some maple-sweetened and roasted walnuts to top off this delicious meal. You simply have to try it!

And it should come as no suprise that the local food movement is incredibly important to them.

“When you buy a case of spinach or a case of carrots from us that money stays in your community. Those dollars directly keep a family farm in business, keep a small business running, pay employees who are also all members of this community, pay local truckers, contractors, plumbers, trash collectors, accountants, and mechanics, pay local property taxes, and keeps land in agriculture. In short buying locally grown food keeps money and useful land in your community. Also, local food always tastes better!”

So why don’t you give Queen’s Greens a try next time you a looking for a delicious new local product? ”We love that Food Connects gets Queen's Greens into many meals in Vermont!” And we love their products!