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
The state authorized an extension to Nov 4th for the Vermont Emergency Eats (VEE) program, which is distributing meals to flood-impacted Vermonters in areas of the state where the need continues. GMFTS and Olney’s General Store in Orleans are working in partnership to provide free meals through VEE. So far we have distributed 4,296 meals to the Ethan Allen workers and other flood impacted community members.
Has your food security been negatively impacted as a result of the July 2023 flooding event? If so, you qualify for free meals through Vermont Emergency Eats. You can head to vtemergencyeats.org to find a distribution location near you.
Blue Ledge Farm is a first generation, family owned goat dairy and cheese-making operation on 150 acres in Salisbury, VT. For 23 years, Greg Bernhardt and Hannah Sessions have run and developed the farm together. Blue Ledge Farm joined Green Mountain Farm Direct as a partner in 2020.
Reflecting on the value of working with a food hub, Hannah shares, “Farm Direct fills a really important niche, helping smaller accounts access local food. It’s actually quite expensive to distribute products within the state of VT because none of us are easy to get to. It’s cheaper and easier to ship cheese to Boston than it is to my neighbor. So the food hubs create an excellent opportunity to sell products throughout the state.
You have to wear so many hats being a farmstead cheese producer. We have to manage a dairy farm and a cheese facility and it’s really nice to work with Farm Direct and other food hubs because they handle the sales and the billing part for me. So instead of maintaining dozens of smaller accounts (and the sales, invoicing and distribution for all of them) we can just work with Farm Direct, or another Food Hub, get our product to them, and they take it from there. It’s a hugely valuable service.”
To read the full story and learn more about our Green Mountain Farm Direct program, visit our website and blog. Links in bio!
@blueledgefarm
Berry Creek Farm is a 158-acre organic farm located in Westfield, VT. For the past 31 years, Gerard and Rosemary Croizet have run the farm together. They sell their fruits, vegetables, flowers and more, as well as produce from other local farms, through their farm stand. They also run a CSA program with 140 members. 🍓
Berry Creek Farm has been involved with Green Mountain Farm-to-School since the founding of our organization, with Rosemary serving on the original board of directors. The farm has been a partner of Green Mountain Farm Direct since the program launched in 2009. The partnership with Farm Direct has benefited the farm’s business with sales over the years. “I think what is really helpful is that if we have a lot of something, we can just put it right on sale and a lot of people see it and a convenient way to order, and it gets there. It’s not like a separate delivery account for us, it’s just…boom. It connects a lot of different producers to a larger group of people. It’s just how it should be because agriculture in VT is by nature of its geography small, so nobody can do everything,” says Rosemary.
Link in bio to read the full story on our blog!
Last week at Jay Westfield Joint Elementary School, pre-K students made art using apples with AmeriCorps members, Serena and Grace. The students` colorful apple stamp artworks will decorate the cider press station at their open house this week! 🍎
Many of us know radishes as only a spicy and colorful addition to a salad, but there are different types, many ways to use them, and the entire plant can be eaten. Visit our blog to learn more and find two recipes to try out - oven roasted radishes and sautéed radish greens! (Link in bio)
As part of Vermont Emergency Eats, we have partnered with Olney’s General Store in Orleans to distribute free prepared meals to Ethan Allen employees and others impacted by the flooding. So far 1,325 meals have been given out at the store! We want to give a big shout out to the Olney’s team for their hard work and care preparing these meals for our community.
Vermonters whose food security has been negatively impacted as a result of the July 2023 flooding event qualify for free meals through Vermont Emergency Eats. If that applies to you, you can head to vtemergencyeats.org/find-a-meal to find a distribution location near you. Meal distribution will continue statewide through 9/5/23.
The Lunchbox truck is now headed back to the garage until next year! If you visited the program this summer, we hope you and your family enjoyed the meals and activities offered!
We want to say a big thank you to everyone who made this year’s program possible - the awesome crew from The Abbey Group who made the meals, our partners Circus Smirkus, CLiF Readers and our local librarians who ran fun and educational activities, our friends at Salvation Farms for gleaning gifts, our schools/school garden volunteers who helped us provide garden veggie donations, and our sponsors who help provide the program funding!
This year our business sponsors are: The Abbey Group Food Service, Community National Bank, VT, Jasper Hill Farm, Jay Peak Resort, Passumpsic Bank, North Country Hospital, Poulin Grain, Poulin Building Materials, Derby Village Store, Taylor-Moore Agency and Donald Dahlin, DDS.
Until next summer!
August is eat-local month! There are so many great reasons to eat local, but here are just five to consider! Link in bio to read the whole blog post. 🍓🫐 🥦
