S P O T L I G H T::..

The snow has come; the green veggies are gone for now; we're eating lots of winter squash and root vegetables (maybe blueberries or corn from the freezer if we planned ahead!) But seed catalogs remind us that spring is not all that far away; your farmers are busy, too, selecting seeds for the coming growing season. And now is also time to think about signing up for a CSA share.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) connects the public directly with a farm. CSA can take many forms, but typically the customer prepays for a portion of a farm's products early in the year and shares in both the bounty and the risks of farming. This helps farmers with the pre-season costs (seeds, fuel, etc) and enables them to better plan how much to grow. In return the member (customer) gets fresh produce and/or or other foods at their peak. Often a newsletter, recipes and on-farm events are part of the package as well.

M A R K E T P L A C E ::.. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

For more details click here or click on a specific farm name.

Abenaki Springs Farm Walpole, NH	Akaogi Farm Putney, VT
Blue Ox Farm Enfield, NH	Boyd Family Farm Wilmington, VT
Brotherly Farm Organic Brookfield, VT	Camp Merrishko East Brookfield, VT
Cedar Circle Farm & Education Center East Thetford, VT	Circle Mountain Farm Guilford, VT
Cloudland Farm Pomfret, VT	Crossroad Farm Post Mills, VT
Currier Brook Farm Wentworth, NH	Deep Meadow Farm Westminster, VT
Dwight Miller and Son Orchards East Dummerston, VT	Edgewater Farm Plainfield, NH
Fable Farm Barnard, VT	Fertile Fields Farm Westmoreland, NH
Four Springs Farm Royalton, VT	Frosts Roadside Garden Monroe, NH
Gypsy Meadows Farm Plainfield, NH	Harvest Moon Homestead Farm Newbury, VT
Hillside Springs Farm Westmoreland, NH	Killdeer Farm Stand and Farm Norwich, VT
Luna Bleu Farm South Royalton, VT	New Leaf CSA Dummerston, VT
Parmelee Farm Randolph Center, VT	Picadilly Farm Winchester, NH
Pitcher Mountain CSA Stoddard, NH	Scott Farm Dummerston, VT
South Valley Farm Westminster West, VT	Stonewall Farm Keene, NH
Sugar Mountain Farm, LLC Orange, VT	Sugarbush Farm Woodstock, VT
Sundora Farm Randolph, VT	Sunrise Farm CSA White River Junction, VT
Sunshine Valley Berry Farm (formerly Blair's Berry Farm) Rochester, VT	Tillinghast Maple Syrup Thetford Center, VT
Tracie's Community Farm Fitzwilliam, NH	Two Mountain Farm Andover, NH
Vegetable Ranch LLC Warner, NH	Vermont Grand View Farm Washington, VT
West River Creamery Londonderry, VT	Your Farm Fairlee, VT

E V E N T S & W O R K S H O P S ::.. highlights

Click on an event for more info or visit the Valley Food & Farm Calendar.
Refer back to our calendar often - new events are added regularly!

02.09.10 | Seasons Dinner (Plainfield, NH)
A celebration of local food and Valley Food & Farm’s annual fundraising dinner, Seasons will be held on Tuesday, February 9th at 6:30pm at the Home Hill Inn in Plainfield. Cost is $150 per person (Of which $100 is a tax-deductible contribution to Vital Communities). The five course dinner (vegetarian or meat) will consist of original menu creations - featuring locally grown farm products - from new Executive Chef Paula Snow. Go to our website to see a sample menu and make your reservation. Please make your reservations by Monday, February 1st.

01.15.10 | Windham County Local Food Summit (Brattleboro, VT)
Building off other important local food gatherings that have taken place this past Fall, the Windham County Local Food Summit will be held on Friday, January 15 from 5:00 - 8:30pm at the The River Garden (Intersection of Main and High ...

01.16.10 | Lebanon Winter Farmers' Market (Lebanon, NH)
Enjoy fresh products all year round, including winter vegetables, meat, cheese, honey, eggs, prepared foods and fine crafts. A free music concert is offered at each market. Come in from the cold and shop for local products ...

01.20.10 | Upper Valley Farm to Cafeteria Working Group (Woodstock, VT)
For School Cafeteria and Farm to School Leaders.The afternoon will be focused on developing strategies to common barriers and challenges that school lunch programs face in working to integrate local food into their lunch offerings... .

01.22.10 | NOFA VT Grazing & Livestock Conference (Fairlee, VT)
Featuring Brian Moyer, Executive Director Rural Vermont. Pre-conference workshops Friday, Jan 22; main Conference Saturday, Jan 23. Coordinated by the UVM Center for Sustainable Agriculture's Pasture Program....

01.23.10 | Sharon Winter Farmer's Market (Sharon, VT)
Will be held by the Sharon Farm-to-School Program on Saturday, January 23 at the Sharon Elementary School from 9am-1pm. Shop local for winter vegetables, meat, eggs, cheese, jams and jellies, baked goodies and ...

01.25.10 | Monadnock Local Foods Matchmaker Event(Keene, NH)
"Speed Dating" Cultivates Local Food Connections: Farmers & Food Buyers Connect at Local Foods Matchmaker Event -- Are you a farmer or food producer looking to sell more of your products locally?...

N E W S ::.. highlights

Click on an article for more details or visit the Valley Food & Farm News.

Flavors of the Valley - Save the Date:

Tuesday, April 20, 2010, 2-7 pm, at Hartford (VT) High School

Now in its 9th year, Flavors of the Valley is the greater Upper Valley's premier tasting, informational, and buying event for locally grown foods. This event is brought to you by the Valley Food & Farm program at Vital Communities. More details will be available soon on our website.

UV Farm to School to Hold Workshops at Flavors of the Valley
Interested in helping to plan the workshops?...

NH Legislature to Consider Ag Bills
Info for citizens available online

Direct Farm Sales in NH, New England
NH and VT rank high nationally

Farm Revenue Insurance Available
Deadiline to apply is February 1st

Chef Emeril Visits VT
Cedar Circle Farm to be featured!

Farmer Microloan Limit Increased
Prequalified VT farms may apply by Feb 26

Sustainable Woodstock to Host Third Thursday Film Series
Food, Inc to be first of series

Yes! Magazine Theme Guide: Food for Everyone
How we can have a food system that delivers fresh, organic food to everybody

Valley Food & Farm is a program of Vital Communites.
For more information, visit www.vitalcommunities.org, call us at 802-291-9100 or email debbie@vitalcommunities.org.

Valley Food & Farm fosters relationships that make local agriculture a vibrant part of daily community life.
Vital Communities engages citizens, organizations, and communities in creating solutions to our regions challenges.

We receive generous funding from Telaka Foundation, The John Merck Fund and Wilcox Family Fund. This tidbits was compiled by Debbie Diegoli.

If you have something you would like us to include in tidbits, click here to submit an event/workshop or click here to submit a news article.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in articles and commentaries are those of the authors, not necessarily those of Valley Food & Farm.

This edition underwritten by:
The Coop Food Stores

Our popular, twice-monthly e-mail newsletter is chock full of information about local agriculture in the Upper Connecticut River Valley. In each issue, we tell you what's in season and where to find it, what food-related events and workshops are coming up, and the latest news about our region's agricultural scene. Classifieds (for livestock, farm equipment, job openings, etc.) are also included.

Not getting tidbits? Sign me up.

Home * About Us * Valley Food & Farm Guide * Contact Info* Vital Communities