Food
Food as Medicine: Recipes to Welcome Summer
by Lisa Masé Food is life. By reconnecting with complete foods, our true sources of nourishment, we can build endurance, optimize performance, and recover more quickly after strenuous exertion. Protein is the building block of muscles. However, all animal proteins, like meat and dairy, are acidic in nature. Over time a diet that does not [...]
Foraging and Eating Wild Edibles
by Annie MacCleary, Wisdom of the Herbs School Dandelion Leaf Pesto Collect lots of dandelion leaves (Taraxacum officinale) in spring, summer or fall. Young and old leaves both make fine pesto. Chop dandelion leaves very finely (by hand with a good knife or in a blender) with almonds or nuts of your choice, garlic and/or [...]
Eat More Local Food: It Matters
by Lisa Masé According to the Farm to Plate Network (vsjf.org), Vermonters currently consume approximately 5 percent of the food our state produces. Hence, 95 percent of Vermont’s crops, from top exports such as dairy, beef and maple syrup to vegetables, grains and other locally raised foods, are leaving the state. Local foods are being [...]
Vermont’s Renaissance of the Past: Understanding Past Agriculture Reinforces the Future
by Roger Allbee It is being called the renaissance of the past, the renewed interest in agriculture and food systems within our state. It manifests itself in many forms to include growth in Community-Supported Agriculture (CSAs), farmers’ markets and food hubs and in the further diversification of agriculture production with an array of products from [...]
How Is the Sap Running? 2013 Has Been a Good Season
by Richard Sheir Maple sap collection is as Vermont as maple syrup is. Maple tapping is something all Vermonters are vaguely aware of but few really know. Vermont silver maple trees produce 65 percent of the maple syrup produced in the entire United States. What few realize is that Vermont maple syrup production is dwarfed [...]
Sharing the CSA Harvest
by Caitlin Gildrien Spring is the time of year when many localvores start searching for a CSA for the summer. Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, works like a food subscription: Customers sign up at the beginning of the season and receive their produce over the course of several weeks or months. This model provides the [...]
Growing Grain in Vermont: Northern Grain Growers Association Meets to Discuss Production
by Bob Nuner Vermont has hosted grain-growing conferences for nearly a decade. Early gatherings of the Northern Grain Growers Association (NGGA) took place in Bridport, where it hosted 15 or 20 farmers. The association then moved to Vermont Technical College in Randolph for several years, and for the last two, the NGGA has welcomed about [...]
Value-Added Food at the Mad River Food Hub
by Joe Bossen The Mad River Food Hub (MRFH) played a big role in my deciding to move up to the Mad River Valley from down in the Rutland area back in late 2010. The Wallace Center defines a food hub as a “business or organization that actively manages the aggregation, distribution, and marketing of [...]
Local Farmers Plant Seeds for Sustainable Food Hub in Central Vermont
by Dan Stein Farm-to-Table (FTT), central Vermont’s mission-driven food hub, provides year-round delivery of fresh locally grown and nutrient-dense foods to over 100 participating sites in Washington County. The mission of the program is to provide universal access of locally grown foods through education, marketing and distribution. FTT is a program of Food Works at [...]
Vermont Fresh Network: Connecting Farmers with Restaurants
by Grace Meyer For 17 years, the Vermont Fresh Network (VFN) has joined together farmers, chefs, food artisans, institutions and distributors in a conversation about local food. While the challenges facing network members have evolved, the goal has not wavered—VFN is committed to growing Vermont’s local food economy by building relationships between agriculture and culinary [...]