Tasty Morsels: Best of 2024 at KFH
There is so much to reflect on as we near the end of another incredible, dynamic, and yes, challenging, year here at the Kearsarge Food Hub.
Challenging because growing, transporting, preparing, storing, and creating equitable access to food is a physically and mentally demanding process.
Challenging because business as usual in the industrial growth society has entrenched us in systems of extraction that prioritize profit over wellbeing for living things, and the consequences - from climate disasters to disease and hunger - are catastrophic.
Challenging because the work of co-creating a new kind of food system, one that is rooted in traditional wisdom and also makes use of modern technology, is messy and difficult.
Yes, there are and will continue to be many challenges.
And yet, there is much to celebrate!!
So while we take this work seriously because the stakes are very high, we also take a beat, draw a breath, and bring attention to our collective successes. Here are a just a few from the past year. Thank you for sticking with us, and sticking with this work, especially through the challenges!
Farmer Apprentice Success!
In 2020, the Kearsarge Food Hub partnered with committed supporters to launch our Farmer Apprentice Program. The program has evolved significantly since then, and this year we had not one but three farmer apprentices successfully complete their season on the farm!
Rah was our first-ever Flower Farmer Apprentice on Baby Beet Farm, growing flower and crafting gorgeous bouquets for market. Through this process we all learned so much about how flowers can contribute both to the joy and beauty of our local community and the economic bottom line of a small farm.
Jake and Molly focused on production up on West Road. Jake has been continuing to deepen his learning since starting as our first farmer apprentice in 2020, gearing up to start his own farm. Molly likewise had significant farming experience already on the Vegetable Ranch in Warner, NH, and she was able to explore a different farm model based in intensive, regenerative practices on Sweet Beet Farm.
This is part of the Career Readiness arm of our farm education programming, providing tools and experiences to young farmers in our region and strengthening the next generation of farmers.
Each apprentice entered this year with different experience on farms and different goals for the year. They have all finished this process successfully!
Donate here to support our farm education programs.
Farmer Apprentice Rah holds a buck of freshly harvested flowers in the high tunnel on Baby Beet Farm
Farmer Apprentice Jake holds up a handful of compost made on Sweet Beet Farm from garden and kitchen waste.
Farmer Apprentice Molly plants seeds in paper pots, later to be transplanted with the incredible time-save, the Paper Pot Transplanter.
2. From Farm to Food Donations: Caring for Neighbors with Fresh Food
Each year, the Kearsarge Food Hub community rallies together to make sure farm fresh foods are accessible to all neighbors in the community because we believe that access to this food is a basic human right and a community responsibility.
In 2024, we’ve channeled over $115K worth of local food (which is also dollars going back to local farmers as we’re largely purchasing locally for this program) to food pantry partners and through our Community FREEdge (Free Fridge).
While this food donations program focuses on hunger relief and ensure all members of the community know where to turn when they need a hand, other efforts at KFH work to address food security upstream, like helping foods to be more affordable through discount programs at Sweet Beet Market and growing more gardeners through FEED Kearsarge Programs.
3. Saving Seeds with Leon In the Garden!
And our most viewed video if 2024 is…saving tomato seeds with Leon in Colby-Sawyer College Permaculture Garden!
Leon is a skilled educator and dedicated gardener, and through learning how to save seeds with him in the garden we’re learning how to preserve cultural, biological, and culinary heritage!
Saving seeds is an integral part of our food sovereignty. Think about it - when we grow our own crops locally and save the seeds from the most robust plants, we’re selecting for the traits that succeed best in our particular soil and climate. This means not only are we saving money by saving our own seeds rather than buying them from a company each year, we’re ensuring that the seeds we plant will grow and produce best. Seed saving is an ancient practice, of course, and it’s also the future of a sustainable, regenerative, and food secure future!
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4. Making Compost on Sweet Beet Farm
A huge step for Sweet Beet Farm in 2024 was making our own compost! We have been striving to integrate this regenerative technique and 2024 was the first year that we did NOT buy compost. We produced all of our own, made from garden debris and market and kitchen waste from Sweet Beet Market + Cage, and amended our beds with it.
This closes the waste loop in our farm + market + cafe connection, reduces the amount of external inputs we bring in from far away places, and also boosts soil health tremendously. We amended our tomato beds heavily with our own compost and produced the most abundant tomatoes we ever have!!
With the compost program functioning alongside things like our Farmer Apprentice Program, this model is reproducible and replicable for aspiring new farmers!
5. CElebrating with You at our community fair!
We just had the best time with you all at our Community Fair in 2024! On a warm, sunny day in September we gathered on the lawn at Sweet Beet Market + Café for a fun-filled day making apple cider, petting cute goats and lambs, making art together, playing in fairyland, listening to local musicians, eating delicious tacos, learning about plants and animals, and so much more!
Great food, great people, and great connections all around. Thank you to everyone who came out, and special thanks to our volunteers, vendors, sponsors, and staff for helping to create such a magical day. See you at next year’s fair, where we’ll be celebrating our 10 year anniversary!!
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Friends chatting on the lawn at Sweet Beet.
Making tacos, a Sweet Beet tradition!
Community Fair kiddo connects with goats from Broken Boat Farm.
Live music from the open mic crew!
Thank you all for an amazing year! We look forward to another great year ahead with you. 2025 we’ll be celebrating 10 years of recentering food at the heart of community with you. Stay tuned!
In the meantime, make sure you’re on our mailing list so we can keep in touch. <3