5 Awesome Reasons to Eat Local

When we support local food and farming operations, we are contributing to a more resilient and connected community where all neighbors are empowered to access healthy local food, local farmers are supported and the land is nourished, and all people share a common sense of place!

These words are our vision statement here at the Kearsarge Food Hub - it’s the North Star that guides our nonprofit work in the food system.

August is NH Eats Local month here in New Hampshire, we're celebrating the tremendous impact of choosing local food. It doesn't have to be perfect, it doesn't have to be 100% of the time, but a little bit of local love where and when we're able goes a really long way.

Here are 5 awesome reasons to eat local this August and all year long!

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#1: Freshness & Quality

Chef Julio showcasing new menu items in Sweet Beet Cafe.

In other words, because it tastes so darn good! Local food is often fresher than food that has been transported long distances - an average of 1,500 miles in the industrial food system. This means it’s usually harvested at peak ripeness, resulting in better flavor, nutrition, and overall quality. Just taste test a grocery store tomato and farmers market tomato and you’ll taste the difference!

#2: Strong Local Economies

Farmer Jake harvesting tomatoes on Sweet Beet Farm.

Dollars spent on local food often stays in the community, supporting local jobs, businesses, and farmers, which can lead to a more vibrant and resilient local economy. Knowing our farmers and food producers means we know more about whether our dollars go to food businesses that are in line with our values. We can vote with our dollars!

#3: Environmental Sustainability

A child enjoys the harvest of a yellow pepper on Sweet Beet Farm.

Local farming typically involves shorter supply chains, which means reduced transportation emissions and less packaging waste. Additionally, local farmers are often more invested in regenerative practices that protect the environment, promote biodiversity, and help restore our natural systems to a healthy balance! These practices also help ensure food security for future generations!

#4: Connect with Nature

Sweet Beet Farm Manager Pierre holds several bunches of rainbow carrots.

Eating local food encourages us to eat with the seasons. This not only enriches diets with a variety of fresh produce filled with the goodness of our local biology, but also allows us eaters to form a deeper connection with the cycles of nature through the foods that we eat. And it’s a fun challenge to incorporate as many local foods as possible into our meals!

#5: Grow Community

Apprentices and volunteers on Sweet Beet Farm harvest and clean up fresh beet bunches.

Buying from local farms, farmers’ markets, retailers and restaurants grows our community connections! It gives us the chance get to know the people who grow our food and each other as neighbors. We all need to eat, and when we come together to ‘break bread’ - enjoy and share in our local bounty - we’re nurturing the common ground that unites us.

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Micro Mama’s Celebrates Solar! Resources for food & ag businesses to transition to clean energy.

Micro Mama’s owner Stephanie Zydenobos with USDA Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small, State Director for Rural Business Development in Vermont and NH Sarah Waring, and family and farmer partners.

Stephanie Zydenbos, Micro Mama’s fearless leader, is an emblem of heart centered food production as community service. She was called to bring Micro Mama’s to life eight years ago, just as the living ecology of the fermented veggies she creates helps bring us to life when we eat them. Not just from a health perspective, though that’s certainly a big part of it, but also from the perspective of feeling rooted in this place we live and connected to farmers around us.

Stephanie was one of our very first partners here at Sweet Beet when we opened the farm stand back in 2015. Micro Mama’s fermented veggies quickly became an absolute staple for our little farm stand, and continue to be as we’ve grown from a farm stand to a year-round, indoor market. With Sweet Beet Cafe in full swing, we now have another opportunity to showcase these delicious and nutritious fermented veggies on our menu offerings.

In fact, Stephanie and her team have helped make fermented veggies a household staple for so many. From co-ops to markets to restaurants to homes, she’s extremely passionate about getting Micro Mama’s products - kimchi, sauerkraut, silly dilly carrot, and more - on as many plates as possible in New Hampshire and beyond.

To Stephanie, food preservation is human preservation is land preservation (and we’re inclined to agree). From an initial investment of $200 to get the business started, to now processing anywhere from 40,000-80,000 pounds of organic veggies a year, Micro Mama’s fills an absolutely essential role in our local food system. Their facilities transform carrots, cabbage, garlic and more into food that lasts, food that can live in your fridge and continue to nourish you far beyond the shelf life of those ingredients on their own. This business model provides a stable market for the farmers she sources from, and a reliable food source for her customers.

Stephanie of Micro Mama’s and Andy of Granite State Solar.

And now the entire operation runs on solar energy. Stephanie’s tenacity has paid off once again as she pursued this transition to solar. She received $52,846 from the Rural Energy for America program, which “provides guaranteed loan financing and grant funding to agricultural producers and rural small businesses for renewable energy systems or to make energy efficiency improvements.” Working with Granite State Solar, Micro Mama’s operations will now source 93% of their energy needs from the sun, and save an estimated $13,500 on annual energy costs.

To celebrate the transition to solar energy, Stephanie and her team hosted a special event at Micro Mama’s headquarters in Weare, NH on December 19th, 2023. True to Stephanie’s generous spirit, this was a day for celebrating not just this huge accomplishment for Micro Mama’s, but the entire local and regional food web of which Micro Mama’s is an integral part.

There were many food system folks in attendance thanks to Stephanie’s direct invitations, from the farmers who supply Micro Mama’s with their organic produce (of which they process 40,000-80,000 lbs a year in the creation of their fermented products), to representatives of food hubs (ourselves included), and of course the entire Micro Mama’s family.

USDA deputy secretary Xochitl Torres Small and State Director for Rural Business Development in Vermont and NH Sarah Waring were in attendance, along with other state representatives. They were there to honor this moment for Micro Mama’s, to spread awareness about the resources available for agricultural producers and rural small business owners, and to learn from the people in the room.

Good connections at the press conference celebrating Micro Mama’s transition to solar.

This was an inspiring day that reminded all of us in attendance that we are indeed part of a dynamic ecosystem here in the local food web. Farmers growing, producers processing, markets selling, food hubs connecting, press partners communicating, eaters eating, and government services providing resources that really can change lives and improve our communities and businesses. As Stephanie put it that day “we are each powerful, but together, as demonstrated here, right here in this room, we’re unstoppable.”

Micro Mama’s was one of the first ever featured partners featured in Kearsarge Food Hub’s Love Local video series back in 2021.

Thanks to the Rural Energy for America program and the Inflation Reduction act, there’s more money than ever to help agricultural producers and rural small businesses transition to clean energy for greater economic and environmental resilience. Learn more at: https://www.rd.usda.gov/inflation-reduction-act/rural-energy-america-program-reap