Northshire Grown: Direct Makes a Difference

By Liz Ruffa, Director of Institutional Advancement

When Covid-19 hit our region, it immediately became clear that agricultural business market channels would be stressed. Restaurants and institutional accounts dried up and all regular channels for accessing local food were shuttered. Farms and food businesses faced very tough realities at the exact time when planning and purchasing for summer production was underway.

An idea was born. What if we leveraged the contacts and context we had gained from the Regional Producer Forums held in early 2020 for good during the crisis? Mara Hearst and Liz Ruffa - quickly joined by Maria Reade - got to work to develop a single point of contact system for both supply and demand sides. A pilot order form was distributed - would people want to support area farms and food businesses, eat healthy local produce procured in a safe way and help build a community-wide effort to provide these products to neighbors in need? This is the theory we set out to test.

It has worked! Thanks to Merck Forest’s willingness to incubate this program, since April 1, Northshire Grown: Direct has:

• Developed a network of 40+ area farms, producers, and food business

• Organized 10 markets (JK Adams April & May; Dorset Playhouse since June)

• Served over 1400 customers, including 200 Neighbors in Need Boxes

• Put over $90,000 into the local food economy through sales; of which

• $7,500 has directly supported Neighbors boxes via customer donations

• Attracted Covid-19 relief funding for the project’s critical food access work

• Highlighted ways to support racial justice and equity in the food system

The secret sauce? Our farmers, our volunteers and our community partners! Northshire and Mettowee Valley farms are full of talent, commitment and tenacity. Their willingness to jump into this new pop-up market channel was been nothing short of remarkable. Equally amazing is the incredible energy and commitment of our growing team of volunteers, local businesses and community connectors. Because of them, Northshire Grown: Direct has been able to grow quickly and nimbly and make a difference. This community action project has supported our local economy, provided fresh, nutritious food to our whole Northshire and Mettowee Valley community, and incubated a new market channel for regional food producers as Vermont’s “new normal” takes root. Merck Forest’s role as a community leader in Covid-19 Response efforts is palpable and scores of people are grateful both for the service and for Merck Forest’s role in it.

Learn more at www.merckforest.org/northshiregrown

MFFC salutes the farms, producers and food businesses that have participated in Northshire Grown: Direct. We appreciate their collective willingness to make a difference for our community in these trying, uncertain times.

Battenkill Wholesome Foods, Arlington

Black Rose Creamery, Rupert

Ceres Greens, Barre

Champlain Valley Mushrooms, Orwell

Dorset Daughters, Dorset

Dorset Union Store, Dorset

Dutchess Farm, Castleton

Dutton’s Farm Stand, Manchester

Earth Sky Time Community Farm, Manchester

Evening Song Farm, Shrewsbury

Food Connects, Brattleboro

Green Mountain Smokehouse, Springfield

Jack’s Crackers, Keene, NH

Jasper Hill Farms, Hardwick

Larson Farm, Wells

Maplebrook Farm, North Bennington

Maple Mama Beverages, Wendell, MA

Maple Meadows Farm, Salisbury

Mettowee Valley Maple, Rupert

Mettawee Brook Farm, Pawlet

Middletown Farm, Londonderry

Mighty Food Farm, Shaftsbury

Mountbrook Farm, Dorset

Naga Bakehouse, Middletown Springs

Nolan Farm, Arlington

North Meadow Farm, Manchester

Peachblow Farm, Charlestown, NH

Pitchfork Preserves, Pawlet

Ploughgate Farm, Waitsfield

Radicle Farm, Utica, NY

Rupert Rising Bakery, Rupert

Someday Farm, East Dorset

Sykes Hollow Land & Livestock, Pawlet

Tall Cat Coffee, Dorset

Tost Beverages, Dorset

Tout de Sweets, Jamaica

True Love Farm, North Bennington

Up Tunket Farm, Pawlet

Vermont Bean Crafters, Waitsfield

Vermont Bread Company, Brattleboro

Vermont Creamery, Barre

Vermont Fresh Pasta, Proctorsville

Vermont Quince Company, Newfane

Vermont Soy, Hardwick

Walnut Hill Farm, Pawlet

Yoder Farm, Danby

Buy local and support these businesses!

No farms, no food!

Why Summer Camp this Year?

by Chris Hubbard, Education Director

Camp is on at Merck Forest! After much deliberation and research, the decision was made to run our summer camps this year, despite seeing organizations near and far cancel their summer programming due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges of our “new normal.”

So why run summer camp? Why go out on a limb to offer something we could so easily let go of? The documented guidelines from the American Camp Association (ACA) alone was enough to give one pause, as I sifted through the multiple pages of recommendations and best practices of managing a camp in the midst of this upheaval.

With the closing of schools for in-person instruction and the dramatic shift to online learning, children have had their routines upended, as they spend more time in front of a screen rather than engaging face-to-face with their peers and teachers, often isolated from their friends. Being outside has a myriad of benefits. Children play harder than they would inside, allowing for improved motor development and reduced obesity rates. Children who spend more time exploring in natural settings have improved learning outcomes, as well as less anger and aggression, and being outside has been shown to reduce stress and depression.

We decided that the benefits outweigh the challenges, so we’re running summer camp. Modifications are being made to address the recommendations from the ACA, and the size of our camps will be much smaller than in previous years. So this summer, we’ll be turning over rocks in search of salamanders and catching frogs in the pond as we explore about our environment and learn what lives in our corner of Vermont, providing some kids with happy summer-time memories in the great outdoors.