Tuesday, May 5, 2020
"Many people didn't replant a garden the second year, because they failed in the first year," Gordon Clark told Seven Days. Clark is a University of Vermont Extension master gardener, and he's learning from history to ensure that the coronavirus-era gardening boom sticks around.
Clark is spearheading the statewide Vermont Victory Gardens program, which uses the expertise of master gardeners to help Vermonters impacted by food insecurity grow more of their own food.
Tags: gardening , Vermont Victory Gardens , master gardener , victory garden , food insecurity , COVID-19 , Web Only , Image
Friday, April 24, 2020
In a press conference earlier in the day, Scott emphasized that the guidance would "focus on food distribution, not a social gathering."
Tags: Farmers market , VAAFM , COVID-19 , NOFA-VT , food access , farmers , agriculture , food truck , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
McCurdy proved his pastry skills — which some Vermonters are familiar with from Ardelia's stand at the Burlington Farmers Market — by winning a recent episode of "Chopped Sweets."
It's the first season of the Food Network culinary competition's "sweet spinoff," hosted by chef Scott Conant. McCurdy conquered the mystery boxes on an episode titled "Breakfast for Dessert," which aired on Monday, April 13.
"I learned right away that 'Chopped Sweets' is very real," McCurdy told Seven Days in a phone call the week after the show aired. "The secret ingredients are secret, the time constraints are real, and we have no recipes."
Tags: Thomas McCurdy , Ardelia Farm , Kingdom Direct Food Delivery , Chopped Sweets , television , COVID-19 , grocery delivery , pastry , baking , Web Only , Image
Saturday, April 11, 2020
Vermont's cheese industry — valued at $650 million, according to the council — is experiencing significant impacts from the COVID-19 crisis. One of the largest sales channels for the state's cheese serves restaurants and institutions, both within Vermont and in urban markets throughout the Northeast.
"Restaurant closures in the New York City area resulted in a simultaneous 50 percent drop in sales for Vermont's artisan cheesemakers," Marty Mundy, executive director of the Vermont Cheese Council, told Seven Days. Mundy added that the drop in sales has since "grown to be over 50 percent for a lot of cheesemakers."
Tags: Cheese , Vermont Cheese Council , COVID-19 , online shopping , dairy , agriculture , Web Only , Image
Friday, April 10, 2020
In a call with farmers market managers Friday morning, the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets communicated that farmers markets — which are not deemed essential under Gov. Phil Scott's "Stay Home, Stay Safe" executive order — cannot operate.
As the winter market season wraps up, market managers and their advisory boards have anxiously awaited guidelines from the state for how they can adapt their operations for the summer season. While the state has closed farmers markets for now, it is expected to allow them to operate in a modified fashion at some point soon, according to a VAAFM document released Friday evening.
Tags: farmers market , COVID-19 , NOFA-VT , Burlington Farmers Market , Capital City Farmers Market , agriculture , Web Only , Image
Early April is prime time for starting gardens, and with a directive to stay home, planting vegetables is both a means of exercise and a way to ensure a steady supply of fresh produce this summer (if all goes well). Delays in shipments and new systems at local garden centers, as well as low or nonexistent stock online, has gardeners planting seeds of doubt.
Gardeners looking to stay at home and purchase seeds online are faced with limited selection. Vermont's own High Mowing Organic Seeds is navigating "unprecedented challenges" and "significant increases in orders and web activity," according to a note posted on the company's blog. They still have seeds for sale, but many varieties are out of stock, and the shipping turnaround time was extended to 20 days as of March 30.
Nurseries and locally owned garden centers around the state are adapting to pre-ordering and curbside service; many have seeds for sale, but they're learning how to communicate new ordering and pickup systems to their customers. Online order forms, lines to pick up bulk soil, virtual nursery tours and plant delivery are all part of the new normal.
Tags: COVID-19 , seeds , garden , agriculture , Vermont Senate , Vermont Agency of Agriculture , Food and Markets , Web Only , Image
Friday, November 1, 2019
"We had three and a half inches of rain in the rain gauge this morning, just from overnight," said Andy Jones, farm manager of Intervale Community Farm. "That's more than we've ever had on the farm in that short a period of time," he continued, "except for Tropical Storm Irene and one other hurricane in the ’90s."
Intervale Community Farm, and the other farms working the 135-acre Intervale Center, are farming directly within the lower Winooski floodplain.
Tags: farming , Intervale , Intervale Community Farm , Diggers' Mirth Collective Farm , flood , harvest , Andy Jones , Hilary Martin , Web Only , Image
Saturday, June 22, 2019
But there are fewer options for plant-based foodies hankering for snacks to have and to hold as they browse the market’s many stalls. Most of the ready-to-eat offerings contain some kind of meat, dairy or egg, from the carnivorous sandwiches at Pigasus to all the tantalizing baked goods. Even some of the spirit samples are off limits to those who don’t eat or drink honey.
Last month, Seven Days sent a reporter to the market to get the 411 on all things ready to eat. But one commenter wasn’t completely satisfied. “Aside from Green Mountain's Wing Chun potstickers,” the comment read, “did any of the Ready-to-Eat vendors offer vegan options?”
So I embarked on a market run to scope out the vegan scene. Here were some of the highlights.
Tags: Burlington Farmers Market , vegan , plant-based , Green Mountain Potstickers , Sherpa Foods , Gracie's Tamales and Burritos , Karen's Artisan Popcorn , Adam's Berry Farm , Live Forever Foods , Web Only , Image
Tuesday, June 18, 2019
This year, I decided to go on record with my food- and drink-related summer bucket list, both here on Bite Club and in audio via our partnership with Vermont Public Radio on VPR Café. I figure this will make me accountable for maximizing the food fun I can squeeze into this summer.
Hope to see you up a mountain before you head to lakeside pizza or the creemee stand, quaffing a cold one after a bike ride, or strolling the grounds of a national historic landmark fueled by an excellent breakfast.
Tags: food , summer , farmers market , Shelburne Farms , Canteen Creemee , Fire Tower Pizza , Dosa Kitchen , NOFA-VT , Retreat Farm , goat yoga , Grafton Village Cheese , Lost Nation Brewing , Vermont , Web Only , Image
Friday, May 3, 2019
On Monday, May 6, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Shiva will speak in front of the Vermont Statehouse in Montpelier to kick off a series of regional events in support of an international pledge for “Poison-Free Food & Farming by 2030.”
Shiva, 66, has received many awards and accolades over decades of advocacy work spanning organic agriculture, biodiversity, climate change and social justice. Among other honors, she has earned the Right Livelihood Award, dubbed the "alternative Nobel Prize," and the Sydney Peace Prize; and has been named an Environmental Hero by Time magazine. Her uncompromising zeal has also prompted criticism, as detailed in a 2014 profile in the New Yorker.
Reached in India before her trip to the U.S., Shiva talked with Seven Days about bio-imperialism, the power of women, and bad curry.
Tags: Vandana Shiva , Navdanya , ecofeminism , seed-saving , farmers rights , organic food , Vermont , Web Only , Image