Connecting people with farms and incredible food since 1999
Past Projects
- Local Food Summit
- In November 2009, Valley Food & Farm helped host a Local Food Summit in White River Junction through the Vermont Farm to Plate Initiative. Our event kicked off a series of eight summits held around the state to gather input for the first 10-year strategic plan for Vermont’s food system.
- Over 100 people attended, lively small group discussions ensued, and folks reported their best ideas for improving Vermont agriculture. Participants recommended improving infrastructure, making systemic changes in local foods processing and distribution, allowing farmers to sell more products directly to consumers, and making local foods accessible to all.
Lively small group discussion ensued, and folks reported their best ideas for improving Vermont agriculture. Participants recommended improving infrastructure, making systemic changes in local foods processing and distribution, allowing farmers to sell more products directly to consumers, and making local foods accessible to all. The Farm to Plate initiative will use input from this event, and others like it throughout Vermont, to help determine the contents of the ten-year strategic plan for Vermont’s food system.
- Farm to Dartmouth
- Valley Food & Farm coordinated a project 3-year to help connect local farmers in Vermont and New Hampshire with Dartmouth College Dining Services and heighten student awareness of locally grown food.
- The project was funded by the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture and Research Program
- In 2006, the College purchased $260,301 worth of food from New Hampshire and Vermont farms, up from $230,739 in 2004. Ten years ago, the amount of food (other than milk) that Dartmouth purchased from area farms was close to zero, according to David Newlove, associate director of dining services. "We’ve come a long way," he says. The number of farms and area distributors that Dartmouth works with has also increased threefold during this project. During the summers of 2006 and 2007, DDS purchased about a dozen varieties of produce directly from local farms and sold them on campus at the Food Court, Home Plate Courtyard Café, and Collis Cafe. Over each winter DDS commits to buying produce again from specific area farmers, and does so all summer long.
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To increase campus interest in local foods we sampled products at special dinners for students, marketed to students with educational and inspirational materials in the dining halls and helped celebrate the Dartmouth Dining Services growing relationship with area farmers with a Farm to Dartmouth Food Expo.
- Romano Circle
- Valley Food & Farm worked on this 18-month pilot project to help low-to-moderate income children access healthy foods to combat childhood obesity. This work was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Click here to see our final project report from 2006.
- The main objective of this project was to improve the food choices made by Romano Circle, Lebanon, NH children and adults to include healthier foods.
Romano Circle residents gained gardening and cooking skills to complement an active, healthy lifestyle. The children learned about healthy eating and active living with their family, their peers, at school and with their neighbors.
- Feast in the Field
- Feast in the Field was an elegant, locally and regionally grown and produced meal served in the fields of one of the Upper Valley’s many beautiful working farms. Nearly 800 people attended the event during 2006 and 2007.
- The first Feast in the Field tents were located in a field with a beautiful view at Cedar Circle Farm in East Thetford, VT. There were horse-drawn wagon rides available to view the river and tour the farm throughout the evening. In the children's tent, young guests enjoyed a smaller, kid-appropriate version of the Feast in the Field dinner along with special farm-focused activities such as games, wagon rides, drawing, and story time.
- In 2007 the Feast in the Field was set in the fields at Edgewater Farm in Plainfield, NH. A delicious local foods dinner was prepared; we dined under the stars while the children played games and created a Quest at the farm. We also used biodegradable place settings to reduce our trash impact.
- VTEL
- The 2007/2008 and 2008/2009 Southern Vermont VTel phone directory featured a 16-page color spread of Farms, Food, & Fun in the VTel Region created by Valley Food & Farm.
- This section contained introductory information, lovely color photos, and farm listings of places where you can see and do fun farm activities including:
- maple sugarhouse visits
- overnight farm stays
- pick your own
- cheese making
- visit farm stands
- CSA (community supported agriculture) farms.
