Eating Local Through the Winter

As the local-food movement sweeps across the nation, Vermonters have embraced the bounty of the Green Mountain State with gusto and gastronomical delight. It is especially easy in the summer, when fresh produce, sweet corn, berries, beef, poultry, eggs, honey, and artisanal cheeses can be found at more than 60 summer farmers markets and over 120 farmstands across the state, or by participating in one of 80 Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs.

Enterprising farmers are finding more ways to bring Vermont's bounty to consumers, even in the coldest months of the year.

Many of Vermont’s agricultural entrepreneurs, visionaries, and tireless farmers are, by no coincidence, owners of conserved farmland. Conserved farms are a vital community source of fresh food. Local food has become a colorful thread in the state’s cultural fabric. It links dinner tables to the success of farms, helps to revive towns, and instills the Green Mountain State with an even stronger sense of self sufficiency.

Of course, eating local year-round in a state with one of the shortest growing seasons is no easy task. As Vermont’s landscape fades from green to brown to white, the doors to many favorite farmstands are shuttered and CSA operations suspended. But increasingly, enterprising farmers and supporting businesses are finding more ways to bring Vermont’s bounty to consumers in even the coldest months of the year. Local food fans can take heart. With their desire to support Vermont farms, and concerns about food safety and carbon footprints, Vermonters are fueling the rapid emergence of winter farmers markets, community supported agriculture (CSA) programs, and farmstands offering non-stop access to local food—and many owners of conserved farmland are at the forefront of this effort.

Year-round farmstands

Bob and Lee Light opened their farmstand at Hollister Hill Farm in Marshfield in 2001 and haven’t closed its doors since. “We’re open 365 days a year—366 days on Leap Year,” Bob said. Formerly a dairy operation, the VLT-conserved Hollister Hill Farm is now a B&B and a source of pork, beefalo, poultry, eggs, raw milk, honey, and maple syrup. The rapport with their customers enables the Lights to use Vermont’s honor system when they can’t man the store. “People like to be trusted,” said Bob. “The more you trust them, the more trustworthy they will be.”

Hollister Hill Farm sells meats, eggs, honey, milk, and maple syrup. "We're open 365 days a year - 366 days  on Leap Year," said Bob Light.

Meat lovers in the southern part of the state gravitate toward Sweet Tree Farm in Dummerston, where they can purchase retail cuts of grass-fed beef at a four-season farmstand run by Deb and Charlie Titus. “Every year I do better than the year before, regardless of the economy,” said Deb. The Tituses purchased their conserved farm five years ago and opened a farmstand the following year to serve area restaurants and local people. “People are really aware of the health benefits of grass-fed beef right now,” said Deb.

Near the shores of Lake Champlain, Bill Suhr’s farm store at Champlain Orchards connects his customers to one of the longest running apple orchards in Vermont. After purchasing the 158-acre farm from the Larrabee family in 1998 with help from VLT, Bill created a highly diversified year-round operation featuring a farmstand, summer and winter CSAs, and broad wholesale distribution. “We attempt to transform the apple and offer it in other forms,” said Bill of his apple sauce, apple slices, apple butter, cider, pies, and his latest product—cider syrup, an old-time Vermont sweetener. Champlain Orchard’s farmstand and bakery located on Route 73 in Shoreham also sells pork, produce, eggs, and winter pantry staples such as dill pickles, sauerkraut, and kimchee.

Bill recently invested in a state-of-the art storage facility that maintains the careful balance of oxygen, carbon dioxide, moisture, and temperature needed to keep his apples fresh well into winter. The recent addition of a greenhouse has extended his produce season as well. Bill is one of several farmers who have tested the Agency of Agriculture’s new mobile freeze unit, resulting in Champlain Orchard’s frozen squash puree. “Year-round production is important to the viability of the business,” Bill said. It keeps the cash flow steady and supports a roster of 12 full-time trained employees, not to mention it maintains a loyal customer base that knows where to find a fresh apple in February.

Winter CSAs

The desire to attract and satisfy loyal customers has led over 20 farms in Vermont to offer winter CSA shares. “The market is huge for winter crops,” said Andy Jones, manager at the Intervale Community Farm (ICF) in Burlington. The farm is one of 12 independent farms leasing land in the Intervale, a 350-acre tract owned by the Intervale Center, 179 acres of which were purchased and conserved with help from VLT in 2007. After 15 years offering summer CSA shares, the ICF debuted its first winter share in 2005, becoming one of several Intervale farms active throughout the winter.

“We grow every root vegetable under the sun and all sorts of other bizarre things,” said Andy. Greens such as spinach can be grown in unheated field tunnels until mid-winter. “People are familiar with baby spinach and happy to eat it. It grows well.”

Even with the offering of greens, the holy grail of local produce, the limitations of Vermont’s growing season remain a factor for ICF and other winter CSAs. The ICF is always upfront with its customers. “If you like October at the farm, you’ll probably be quite happy with the winter,” says Andy. “If in October, you are disappointed it’s not August, you probably aren’t a good candidate for a winter share.” ICF consistently retains its eager winter customers.

While some farms, such as ICF, choose to operate independently, others demonstrate the growing trend towards collaborative marketing either at farmstands or multi-farm CSAs. Pete’s Greens, a Craftsbury farm, has a year-round CSA called “Good Eats,” which offers a diverse range of products from multiple partner farms, including VLT-conserved Butterworks Farm in Westfield, Vermont.

“We’ve been offering local food since before it was a trend,” said Jack Lazor of Butterworks Farm. Beginning with their first crop of wheat in 1977, Jack and Ann have helped to diversify year-round food production in Vermont. They offer hard-to-find goods such as yogurt, flour, cornmeal, dried beans, and sunflower oils, all of which are grown and processed on their northern Vermont farm. Cheddar cheese and cottage cheese from Butterworks farm will soon be distributed through the Good Eats CSA and found on the shelves of local health food stores and national supermarkets.
 

"Year-round production is important to the vitality of the business,' said Bill Suhr of Champlain Orchards

Winter Farmers’ Markets

Burlington. Brattleboro. Dorset. Rutland. Bellows Falls. Montpelier. Chelsea. In villages and cities representing nine of Vermont’s 14 counties, winter farmers’ markets are providing new opportunities for people to come in from the cold to find camaraderie and locally grown food.

“The growth is amazing,” said Jean Hamilton of the Northeast Organic Growers Association of Vermont. “The number of winter farmers’ markets have basically doubled in the past three years. Ten years ago, I could have never imagined we would be where we are now.”

These markets offer a critical opportunity for new farmers. “At a lot of big summer markets, it is competitive to get a vending space. It’s hard for new vendors to get into the market,” said Jean. With fewer growers participating in the winter, new farm businesses see a chance to build their own following of loyal customers.
These markets have also provided the impetus for some experienced growers to take on winter. Greg Cox, owner of the conserved Boardman Hill Farm in West Rutland, operates a farmstand offering produce, chicken, pork, and turkey. Working with the Rutland Area Farm and Food Link to launch the winter market in Rutland’s Old Strand Theater was a turning point for Greg, who can now be found alongside some of the newer farmers at the market. Now in its third season, the Rutland farmers’ market is the only one in the state to operate 52 weeks a year. With 40 vendors, 18 of them agricultural, the market site has already reached its physical capacity.

Greg considers the conservation of his farm with VLT in 2007 a key factor in his ability to tackle a critical hurdle in winter food production: storage. “We wouldn’t be putting in a root cellar if not for the conservation of our land,” Greg said. “It gave us the financial capacity to be more efficient, year-round.”

Greg is hoping the energy and determination of younger growers will help challenge the perceived limitations of Vermont’s growing season. The production of greens is one example of something that is feasible, but requires hard work and ingenuity to carefully balance financial and energy inputs. “Greens really pull people in. If you can give them a fresh salad in February, they’re coming in.”

Finding good solutions to issues winter growers face, such as food storage, energy, distribution, marketing, and growing techniques, will require the fusion of new thinking and traditional knowledge, in Greg’s opinion. “We’re learning things our grandparents knew,” said Greg. “Parts of the past are going to be parts of the future.”

Back to Fall 2009 Newsletter
 

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