Green Mountain Farm-to-School (GMFTS) is a leader in the growing farm-to-school movement in Vermont. Our mission is to strengthen local food systems in Vermont by promoting positive economic relationships, education, and access between schools, farms, and communities.
We create and sustain healthy communities by working across the food system with capacity building, resource development, and technical assistance through our Farm-to-School program, Farm Direct food hub, and Lunchbox food truck.
Our Programs
Thank you to our 2023 premier sponsors, The Abbey Group and Community National Bank!
Our work is made possible because of a network of businesses, institutions, organizations and community members who are in partnership with us.
You can view all our supporters here. Interested in becoming a sponsor? Please contact Catherine at ccusack@gmfts.org
Follow Our Story
For Thanksgiving, GMFTS is proud to contribute wholesome local foods to fill 100 backpacks for Barton families and 100 holiday baskets for NEKCA to distribute to community members in Island Pond and Canaan!
We want to say a big thank you to our generous funders who made these projects possible this Thanksgiving:
-Northeast Kingdom Fund of the Vermont Community Foundation
-Dash Grant from the Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation
-Vermont Electric Coop
For NEKCA’s holiday baskets, we contributed 200 lbs carrots, 200 lbs red potatoes, 240 lbs of apples, 90 cartons of eggs, 100 lbs of sweet Italian sausage, 100 pints of apple cider, and 18 tubs of cheese spread.
For Barton backpacks, we contributed 80 lbs of apples, 108 pints of maple yogurt, 105 cartons of eggs, 112 quarts of whole milk, and 300 packs of beef jerky.
We started the holiday week off on Monday by sharing some tasty seasonal recipes with our community through a winter squash workshop. GMFTS partnered with WIC and the Barton Public Library to demonstrate techniques for using winter squash, alongside other seasonal crops. We made roasted squash soup, squash baby food, and learned how to save squash seeds to plant in the spring. Kids helped press garlic, peel carrots, pick rosemary, and scoop squash. Afterwards, we all enjoyed sharing some soup and ciabatta bread with rosemary-butter. Participants were invited to take soup & squash home with them.
Thank you to the Barton Municipal Building for letting us use your space & facilities!
The Orleans Elementary Kindergarteners enjoyed a “Moo to you Lesson” from Americorps Farm-to-School Coordinator, Grace. They learned what a typical day is like for Vermont dairy cows while wearing some cute cow masks. They also got the chance to make some butter and try it with a cracker! 🐮
This month at Jay/Westfield Joint School, pre-K students helped prepare the November Harvest of the Month taste test. The youngest students carefully chopped up butternut squash, and the whole school was able to try the butternut squash and quinoa salad in the cafeteria!
The holidays can be challenging, especially for folks struggling with food insecurity. But you don’t have to go it alone! With Thanksgiving right around the corner, many places throughout the Northeast Kingdom will be hosting community meals, free of charge. Here are some of the places serving meals near you!
For more information & additional resources, visit:
vermont211.org/seasonal-resources-vermont-211
The snow is coming!! You know what that means? We must put the gardens to bed for the winter! The 3rd grade class at Craftsbury helped tremendously in clearing up the garden beds. From digging up the dirt with their hands to using their gardening tools, they were dedicated to finishing their garden. When they were done, they looked around excitedly at the results of their hard work!
Tomorrow is the final day of the Vermont Emergency Eats program. For the past 10 weeks, we have partnered with Olney’s General Store in Orleans to distribute meals to community members who had their food security impacted by the summer floods.
The crew at Olney’s General Store has been working hard to prepare over 1,000 meals each week and in total distributed 9,054 meals since the program began! “It has definitely helped lots of people. It has also helped to stimulate our small business,” Olney’s staff said of the program.
This Fall, the students at Derby Elementary have been hard at work in the garden! We’ve harvested over 35 lbs. of produce that Mr. Marcoux has used in school lunches as well as his after school cooking program! Students have also been learning the order in which the parts of the plant emerge from its seed while putting the garden to bed for the season!
