Tasty Morsels: 2023 Highlights from the KFH Community

2023 was a rich, dynamic, and delightful year here at the Kearsarge Food Hub - thanks to you!

As we move into a new year, grateful as ever to be in service and collaboration with you, we would love to take a moment and celebrate ten highlights from 2023.

Of course, this is not an exhaustive list of all the bright moments from the past year, but it does capture the essence of our growth and impact from across the organization and in the community. We’re celebrating a great year behind us and looking forward to wonderful year ahead!

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1. Reopening Sweet Beet Café

In the wake of having to unexpectedly close Sweet Beet Cafe in February of 2023, there was a necessary pause before we knew how to proceed. It quickly became clear that we needed to learn more from our community about what you all value in the cafe and take it from there.

We conducted surveys, hosted a focus group, listened, soul searched, and mapped out options. Ultimately, with all your generous feedback and with the help of caring volunteers and dedicated staff, the café reopened on July 1st, 2023!

Many, many helping hands, lots of smiles (and challenges, too!), test batches and floor plans, painting and rearranging, excitement and troubleshooting, boxes and boxes of veggies, sign making and hanging, menu crafting and tasting, and so much more made this reopening possible. Sweet Beet Café is going strong!

2. Launching Farm + Forest Club

In 2023, we were so excited to launch a Farm + Forest Club for local homeschoolers, giving these Junior Beets an opportunity to experience all the elements of farm and forest life.

From planting seeds and exploring pond life, to cooking veggies on an open fire and running a mini-farm stand, it’s safe to say that the Farm + Forest Club is a big hit with the kids (and parents, too!)

These programs are offered on a sliding scale so no family is turned away do to inability to pay.

We’re looking forward to MORE connections through Farm + Forest in 2024. Get your name on our mailing list to be the first to hear about Farm + Forest Club opportunities!

3. Community PartnershiPs & Shared Initiatives

This year (like every year) we are so very grateful for community partners who inspire us with their heart, hard work, and leadership. So many incredible people, businesses, and organizations we admire in the local and regional food system and community service we share that we get to work with! It’s this web of community connections and relations that builds true resiliency. We feel its power each and every day!

Some of the highlights that come to mind from the year include hosting Stay Work Play for their Rising Stars Leadership meeting, getting to know some of the board of NH Hunger Solutions, and starting to work with Walden Mutual Bank - who is now our Sweet Beet Market sponsor!

4. A New farm education structure

With many helping hands and funding from a generous anonymous donor, we were able to build a structure on Sweet Beet Farm for all things farm-education.

Whether it’s ducking away from the rain, enjoying a shady lunch, or writing and drawing about farm life, this structure has already taken farm-ed to the next level. 

It will allow us to have even more visitors (kids & adults alike) in 2024 and beyond!

5. 1st Annual Food Drive at Sweet Beet Market

Together during our first ever food drive at Sweet Beet Market last February, we collected almost 600 items (over $3,300 value) that helped stock the Community FREEdge as well as 7+ food pantry partners with grocery items. 

What's more is that everything purchased through Sweet Beet Market has triple the impact: Not only are we able to feed more local families, but the dollars spent go to local farmers and producers, with the rest going to our nonprofit mission here at KFH.

 6. Making compost on Sweet Beet Farm

This year, we finally started making compost on Sweet Beet Farm (something we’ve wanted to do since day 1!) using food waste from Sweet Beet Market + Cafe and other local inputs. This compost increases resilience by limiting reliance on outside inputs, all while providing a new level of fertility and aliveness to the soil - which of course translates to the aliveness of the foods it produces!

This is one tremendously important step in closing loops in our hyper local food shed, right here KFH operations.

What’s more, students on the farm through our farmer apprentice program and extended learning opportunities for high schoolers helped in the development of our composting systems. As always, we’re learning as we grow!

7. 3rd Annual Abenaki Seeds Project

This year three of the Abenaki Seeds Project, a collaborative effort here in the Kearsarge area to grow Abenaki heritage seeds in home and community gardens. This provides an opportunity to learn together about Native Foodways and support food security for Native American neighbors, with the harvests going to the Abenaki Helping Abenaki food pantry.

This year we had over 50 local sites growing Abenaki Seeds, including our own Baby Beet Farm. The three sisters mounds at Baby Beet were planted and harvested by the Bradford 3rd Garden, producing 50lbs of Abenaki Crookneck Squash, 8lbs of Abenaki Cranberry Beans, and 7lbs of Rose Flint Corn kernels.

The Colby-Sawyer College Main Street garden also grew Abenaki Seeds, with the college students ultimately delivering 410+ lb of crookneck squash for the pantry!

8. A wonderful community fair on the Fall Equinox

Looking back on 2023, our hearts are still from our Community Fair on the autumn equinox.

Together we learned how to save seeds, made nature journals, created a community “quilt”, enjoyed live music, crafted fairy gardens, played with goats, explored how to conserve energy in our homes, learned about community resources, and ate delicious breakfast sandwiches, tacos, and chili!

A huge thanks to the partners who joined us, volunteers and staff who helped bring it to life, and the farmer and producers partners who supply our market and kitchen with fresh, local ingredients. Our community events are possible thanks to you!

9. Love Local: Meet your farmers + makers

It’s a tradition for us here at the Kearsarge Food Hub to feature local farm partners each year in our Love Local event. These are folks we source from for Sweet Beet Market + Café, who are out in the field and the food system doing the work growing and making food each and every day. These farmers have invaluable perspectives to share, especially in 2023 with the challenging growing season we had.

Featured farms from 2023 were: NOK Vino, Deep Meadow Farm, Spring Ledge Farm, and our own Sweet Beet Farm. It made a big impact for all of us who were in attendance at the event to hear from these farmers at such a critical moment for food and farming.

Tune into the insights from this year’s Love Local through a blog from our friends at Food Solutions New England: Community and Resilience In New Hampshire with all the videos and more context on the state of our local food system.

10. 2022 Business of the Year
Lake Sunapee REgion Chamber of commerce

“A business with such selfless dedication to its community.

Working tirelessly to grow a hyper locally supplied market and cafe with multi acre farm during an incredibly difficult time to run a profitable restaurant, solely in an attempt take all profits and return them directly to the community through food donation, most importantly in the form of healthy meals, accessible 24/7, free of charge, for anyone suffering from food insecurity.

Nominated in almost every category this evening, the work of the team at the Kearsarge Food Hub is unlike any other. From seeing a need for change and education to creating an absolutely incredible space in Bradford and becoming a resource for so many. 

What Kearsarge Food Hub offers is more than the fruits and veggies at Sweet Beet Market or a tea and scone at their new Sweet Beet Cafe...it's a NEW way of life - a NEW way to connect with your neighbors - a NEW way to look at local food - a NEW way to change the world around you. There is nothing more powerful than that.”

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Thank you for an amazing year in 2023! We look forward to another great year ahead. Stay connected with all the happenings here at KFH by joining our mailing list.

3rd Annual Community Fair Reflections

Dearest community - thank you for a delightful and invigorating Community Fair  on the Autumn Equinox!

We had a positively wonderful time on the lawn of Sweet Beet celebrating local food, farms, and community with you. 

Together we learned how to save seeds, made nature journals, created a community “quilt”, enjoyed live music, crafted fairy gardens, played with goats, explored how to conserve energy in our homes, learned about community resources, and ate delicious breakfast sandwiches, tacos, and chili!

Special thanks to our sponsor Nathan Wechsler and the partners who joined us in bringing the fair to life: Kearsarge Neighborhood partners, the Bradford Energy Committee, Evergreen Healing Arts, Venue at 11 West Main, Broken Boat Farm, and Decatur Creek. 

Of course, a huge thanks to the volunteers who shared their time with us, all our amazing staff, and the farmer and producers partners who supply our market and kitchen with fresh, local ingredients.

And thanks to YOU for joining us and tuning in! See you next year at the fair!

NH Eats Local Part 3: How we live free + eat local.

Here we are at the end of August and the end of NH Eats Local month. This month we’ve explored KFH origins, community, how we create access to local foods, economic impact, farm-based education programs, and the team that makes it all possible. Read more in Part 1 and Part 2 of this blog series.

To close out this month, we’re reflecting on how we live free and eat local - and the why behind the work. There are so many layers to the impact of growing, sharing, eating, and choosing local foods when we can, from social nourishment to greater food sovereignty for our community.

Of course, the importance and impact of a vibrant local food system and the work that makes it possible continues all year, day by day.

That's why it's vital to keep the why behind choosing local food front and center, to inspire us all to support our local food system when we can and to remind us of the deep nourishment that this work provides to ourselves and the community.

We think this is beautifully articulated in a video the KFH team did last year with Visit NH for their How I Live Free series. We hope you enjoy it and feel inspired to choose local not just this NH Eats Local Month, but all year long!

NH Eats Local Part 2: Economy, Farm Education, & Team

We’re back for Part 2 of the NH Eats Local blog series. Head here for Part 1 where we explore our origins, community, and ways we create access to local food for all neighbors here at the Kearsarge Food Hub (KFH).

August is NH Eats Local Month and we’re taking a moment to celebrate our local food system and the people that make it possible. It’s also an important opportunity to note some of the challenges we’re experiencing this year in particular like extreme weather patterns, which is all the more reason to learn about our food system and support the folks growing, making, and distributing food in the community. It is, after all, an essential service!

In this edition, we’ll dig into how work at KFH contributes to the local economy, supports educational programs, and relies on a team of dedicated staff to carry out operations day in and day out.

Economy.

Shopping locally when we can boosts the local economy in significant ways. In 2022, shoppers at Sweet Beet Market + Café helped send $350k directly back to nearly 150 local farmers and producers.

This year, it is more important than ever to invest in our local farms through purchasing their goods when we can. The extreme weather has caused significant damage and loss for many local and regional farmers, affecting their bottom line and, inevitably, morale in an already challenging profession.

Farm Manager Pierre and Food Access Manager Cassie here at the Kearsarge Food Hub and Sweet Beet explain more about what’s been going on for farmers and what we can expect as shoppers in this 2.5 minute video.

Programming: Farm Education for all!

Abenaki seeds passed off to a 3rd grader at Baby Beet Farm, where they were planted into three sisters gardens. These gardens will be harvested by the kiddos as 4th graders in the fall, and then the project is passed on to the incoming 3rd graders!

For us here at KFH, and we know for many other organizations working in local and regional food systems, it’s critically important to sew seeds in the youth to grow the next generation of farmers and responsible stewards of our lands and waters.

One way this comes to life is through farm-based educational programs that reach kids in first grade through college age, providing hands-on learning experience on the farm. This not only supports our local kids and students with connection to food, farming, nature, and community, but it is also fulfilling a longer term vision of climate resiliency and food security for our community.

These programs take place on our own Sweet Beet Farm, a space that thrives on organic, regenerative practices that nurture the land. In 2022, we had over 200 unique learners join us on Sweet Beet Farm. Learn more about the wide array of farm-based education offerings here at KFH here.

Team.

The KFH team on Sweet Beet Farm at a staff gathering in late July, 2023 (missing some folks!)

This NH Eats Local Month, we would be remiss not to take a moment to shine a light on all the dedicated teammates on the ground level here at KFH doing the work day in and day out.

The food system, like many sectors, is struggling to find enough folks to carry out the work, causing a lot of strain on food system workers from the farm to the kitchen. We’re very grateful for this team (and are always looking for new teammates to join us!)

What better way to show our gratitude than through poetry?!

The KFH Poem
If you don’t know, you should know ‘em

The peeps who bring you Sweet Beet 
The ones running food donations
The folks up on the farm
Or in admin or communications
On the board and volunteering
Making moves and engineering

Chatting up a customer
Or packing up carrots
Crafting a meal 
Or building out budgets

It’s a labor of love
This thing that we do

Sometimes asking too much
Of me and of you
So we learn to take breaths
To prioritize, subdue

But the heart is there
And the mission is true.

Do you remember why
We do what we do?

To care for each other
To center this land
To heal our aching planet 
And the loneliness at hand

To feed not just bodies
But minds, hearts and souls
To give it our best
And pursue deeper goals

Beyond just this moment,
For generations to come
That joy be restored
And resilience reborn
In a new kind of way
That’s also old and well-worn

We share a vision
That’s coming to be
Making change happen
For self and community
Bringing us closer
Grounding our feet
Trellising tomatoes
Dropping a beet

We get the job done
From start to finish
Here at KFH
It’s just something in us
We care, we learn, we build, we grow
And yes we have a long way to go
But look where we’re at 
Look what we can do
When we’re in it together
Me plus you

These things take time
But one thing we know
We’re riding the waves
And learning as we grow!

NH Eats Local Part 1: Origins, Community, Access.

August is NH Eats Local Month, a fantastic time to savor the bounty of our local food system and celebrate the people who make it all possible.

Here at KFH, August reminds us that at the root of our mission to reinvigorate our community within a restorative local food system is the food we grow, eat and share here on our local lands.

 This time of abundance speaks to our vision of resilient and connected community where everyone is empowered to access healthy food, where local farmers are supported and the land is nourished, and where all people share a common sense of place.

 We're bringing this vision to life by the grace of nature, the power of community, and all the creative and heartfelt efforts throughout local food system. 

In reflection and celebration this August, let’s explore the origins, community, ways we create access to local food here at KFH.

Origins.

Sweet Beet Farm Stand, 2015.

In 2015, five eager young folks and one retired school teacher decided they wanted to help heal their community through food. Starting as Sweet Beet Farm Stand, Kearsarge Food Hub grew from a seed of an idea to a nonprofit now run by a team of over 20 employees and 11 board members.

Through our work over the past 8 years, we've realized that to get to the heart of systemic problems like a disconnected and dysfunctional industrialized food system, we must honor all the layered interconnections.

Each unique KFH program - from Sweet Beet Farm + Market + Café to education programs, food donations, and community building efforts -  feeds the next to create not just systemic change in the local food system, but cultural change grounded in how neighbors trust and support each other, reclaiming and sharing the knowledge of how to grow and eat local, seasonal foods, and how we relate to our natural environment.

The interconnection of Kearsarge Food Hub’s programming in support of local food, farms, and community.

Community.

We believe that everybody has a place in the local food system and a right to access locally grown, caught, and produced foods. It’s this sense of belonging - and connection to place - that we strive to support with our services from Sweet Beet to community events to volunteerism.

Whether you grow food, use the FREEdge, shop in the market, volunteer, donate, learn with us on Sweet Beet Farm, attend community events, partner in shared initiatives, or otherwise - the growing community around the KFH mission is a source of deep appreciation…and empowerment.

It’s what we call the heart beet, fueling all the programs and operations that grow, move and share food throughout the community.

We’ve met some incredible people, forged deep connections, and have learned so much through every step of the journey.

Of course, this community is an ecosystem that includes not only all of us, but the lands, waterways, and non-human life all around us. Without the soil, forests, critters, sunshine, fresh water, and clean air of the New Hampshire landscape, none of the amazing food we enjoy in August (or any time of year) would be possible.

August crops growing on Sweet Beet Farm.

Access.

Here at KFH, creating access to local food for all neighbors is at the core of our work. We love when neighbors shop at Sweet Beet, but we also know this is not an option for many. That’s where a few key food security efforts come into play and are absolutely critical.

SNAP/EBT is accepted at Sweet Beet Market, with 50% off fresh fruits and veggies thanks to the granite state market match. We also have a standing 25% off  Veterans Discount on all products all the time, and a 25% discount in the market + café for all employees.

Additionally, the KFH community supports a robust food donations program that donates over $62k annually through food pantry partners and an on-site Community FREEdge.

Kearsarge Food Hub’s food donations from 2018-2022.

This food donations program is unique in three ways:

1. The vast majority of what is donated is high quality, fresh produce, in high demand by food security partners

2. All the products we donate are purchased from our local community. This means there is direct and significant financial support going to our local farmers and producers.

3. Our food pantries partners are clients, not just recipients of leftovers and surplus. We only donate what they order from us week to week. This allows people more choice in the food products they consume, and minimizes waste. We work with six food pantries on a regular basis, including Abenaki Helping Abenaki Food Pantry, Bradford Food Pantry, Henniker Food Pantry, Hungry Owl at Keene State College, Kearsarge Lake Sunapee Food Pantry, and Warner Food Pantry

Shared initiatives like the Abenaki Seeds Project and FEED Kearsarge harness the power of collaboration in the community to strengthen food security through things like growing more home gardeners, supporting culturally appropriate food access for Native Americans, and rescuing produce from local farms through gleaning projects. 

This is all made possible by our generous donors, shoppers at Sweet Beet, grant funding, and our food security Corporate Sponsors: Naughton & Son Recycling, Secondwind Water Inc., Spring Ledge Farm, and Bar Harbor Bank and Trust.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of our savoring and celebrations this NH Eats Local Month!

Summer Gardening Video Series: Garden Maintenance

Welcome to the second edition of Kearsarge Food Hub’s Summer Gardening Video Series. In the first installment, we explored how to start our gardens. Now let’s take a look at garden maintenance.

We’re back in the garden at Colby-Sawyer College with Professor Leon Malan to explore a few key areas of garden maintenance:

• Caring for our tomato plants;

• Slug control;

• Fertilizing our gardens.

What’s the main way we can prevent disease in our tomato plants? What’s one beverage that slugs can’t get enough of? What’s one little known consequence of too much rain in the garden?

Leon fills us in on this and more in the two videos below.

Whether you’re a first time gardener or you’ve been growing gardens for a while, you’re bound to learn something (just like we did!) from Leon in the garden. He provides a wealth of knowledge from his vast experience growing gardens with sustainable methods focused on celebrating the land, caring for soil, and producing high quality (and delicious) veggies!

Let’s dig in…

Video #1: Caring for our tomatoes.

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Video #2: Slug control and fertilizing the garden.

We hope you’ve learned something here to apply in your garden today!

The summer gardening video series is in partnership with FEED Kearsarge - a collaborative on a mission the Kearsarge Area of New Hampshire to grow more gardeners. Why?! Because gardening supports not only food security for more neighbors but also connection to nature and JOY for the spirit!

Please like and share with anyone you think might benefit from periodic check-ins with Leon in the garden through these short how-to gardening videos! And also:

Summer Gardening Video Series: In the Garden with Leon!

Professor Leon Malan at Colby-Sawyer College's Permaculture Garden.

Here at the Kearsarge Food Hub (KFH), we’re grateful to be a part of two local networks geared toward growing more gardeners in the Kearsarge Area - FEED Kearsarge and the Abenaki Seeds Project.

FEED (Food Education, Expansion, and Distribution) Kearsarge supports neighbors with greater access to local foods through the power of collaboration. Part of FEED Kearsarge efforts, the Tray it Forward Program specifically distributes seedlings to homes that might not otherwise have the resources to start gardening. Once folks receive their seedlings, the next step is to successfully produce some veggies!

Similarly, the Abenaki Seeds Project distributes heritage Abenaki seeds to home growers to start three sisters gardens - a combination of corns, beans, and squash - in the raised bed system representative of Native American agriculture. This is a way to share knowledge of Indigenous farming practices that can have many practical applications and positive impacts for us all today, while supporting food security for the Native community in our area. The harvest from these efforts is donated to the Abenaki Helping Abenaki food pantry.

This summer, KFH is crafting a series of educational, how-to videos to support those participating in both these programs, or anyone trying their hand at home gardening. In these short videos, we’ll visit Colby-Sawyer College’s Permaculture and Main Street Gardens where Professor Malan will take us through the growing season from planting to harvest, offering helpful tips and tricks for how to make the most of your home garden!

This video series is geared toward beginner gardeners, but we’re sure gardeners of all levels could benefit from a visit with Leon in his garden.

Let’s get started with the first two videos in the series:

Video #1: Planting your Garden

For Tray it Forward recipients or anyone growing common veggies in a home garden!

Video #2: Starting a Three Sister’s Garden

For anyone participating in the Abenaki Seeds Project or otherwise growing three sisters gardens.

Please like and share with anyone you think might benefit from periodic check-ins with Leon in the garden through these short how-to gardening videos! And also:

4th Annual Tray it Forward: 8000 seedlings make their way to homes & community sites.

The Tray it Forward Program began in 2020 as a collaborative way to build community, share gardening education, and grow more food. This was really in response to the COVID pandemic and the struggles we were facing as a community, like difficulty accessing food and strained supply chains.

We’ve learned since then that this program is impactful for more than just getting through a crisis - it is foundational for building connections in community centered on reclaiming the knowledge and joy of growing our own food!

In its fourth year now, Tray it Forward distributed 400 seedling trays totaling 8000 plants to individuals, organizations like local health centers and food pantries, and community garden sites like the Main Street Garden at Colby-Sawyer College.

Community members supported the program through donations to Spring Ledge Farm, where the seedlings were grown and each donation was matched plant for plant by Spring Ledge. Local businesses donated supplies that folks could use to get their gardens going. Dozens of volunteers coordinated by Kearsarge Neighborhood Partners joined together to bring this program to life, from outreach to participants to delivering the trays directly to homes.

In response to community feedback, the 4th Annual Tray it Forward program is focusing more energy on container gardens for homes that don’t have access to land, which is a common barrier to gardening. Generous donations of potting soil and containers were gifted to program participants alongside their seedling trays to provide a solid foundation for growing food in containers.

While one main goal of Tray it Forward is to reach more first time gardeners, many folks receiving trays are in their third or fourth year gardening thanks to this program. We’re really starting to pick up speed in growing are collective knowledge of producing nutritious, delicious vegetables from home gardens. More than that, folks are feeling the shared joy and wellbeing of getting outside, putting our hands in the soil, and feeling supported and cared for by one another.

“The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul.”

— Alfred Austin, poet

To help folks on their journey, we created the Victory Garden Toolkit, which is a wide-ranging collection of gardening resources, from how to start the garden to weekly newsletters that dig into common issues and processes you might find in the garden throughout the season - from planting to harvest!

We’re looking forward to providing educational videos straight from the garden this year to help folks have a successful growing season. We’re also excited to check in with our gardeners to see how things are growing. Stay tuned!

Check out the video recap from the 4th Annual Tray Delivery Day!

Brought to you by FEED Kearsarge

Sweet Beet Café Survey Results & Next Steps

Co-Executive Director France about to taste test some nourishing kitchen goodies.

As promised, since Sweet Beet Café temporarily closed, we’ve been hard at work figuring out how to reopen with a model that serves the needs of our community, is sustainable for our team, and works on a responsible financial model that our patrons and supporters can feel good about.

Part of this process was launching our first-ever significant survey experiment exploring what you, our dear community, thinks the next iteration of the café should look like.

We were blown away by the 280 responses we received from this two-part survey, and so very grateful to those of you who responded with such thoughtfulness and care.

The results and comments were overwhelmingly positive, serving as a much-needed reminder of our place in our shared community, for which we are so very grateful. We’re also taking to heart the constructive feedback generated by this process, knowing that we can and will improve what we have to offer. 

We’d love to share with you an overview of the survey results, and where we are in terms of next steps for the café.

Summary

In reviewing the data and the commentary from both surveys there are three main overarching themes that arose in terms of what the community wants to see from Sweet Beet Café and the Community Room. 

Overall, the respondents to the survey:

• value the café and community room for the gathering space it provides;

• prefer quality of food and beverage over quantity / variety of items;

• and want to see more food-based education.

Let’s dig in and explore each focus area that our community named as central to the experience and impact of the cafe, kitchen, and community room. 

Focus Area #1: Community Gathering Space

A gathering to generate feedback from community memebers.

Through the data and in large part through the comments offered in the first and second surveys, it is very clear that having a comfortable and welcoming place to sit and enjoy a meal with friends and family is extremely important to the community.

We received many specific suggestions and comments relating to gatherings at the café or in the community room. Here is a sampling of quotes from survey respondents that capture the intent and spirit.

I like the idea that community members could “rent” the community room for gatherings. Like a monthly group for young moms or something where all people who come pitch in $5 to cover the cost.

The environment and running into people. It really is more than a Food Hub. It's a hub of the community.

Knowing that by supporting the cafe, I was supporting more than just a business but truly supporting the community.

Focus Area #2: Quality Over Quantity

Background: A new cook in the kitchen, Julio, making tasty things. Foreground: pasta salad (which has become quite beloved!)

One of the assumptions we had going into this discovery phase of the next evolution of the café was that the majority of people wanted a wide variety of both food and beverage items. 

This assumption turns out to be incorrect. 

What we heard loud and clear, in the choices/data and in the community comments, is that a simpler, locally sourced quality menu is more important than variety. We were also shown that the customer experience of community, gathering with friends, the friendliness of staff and feeling a part of something are all also more important than an extensive menu.

Simpler and less variety does not mean that this would be at the expense of gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan options. In fact, there were many requests for these types of menu items.

We received many specific suggestions and comments relating to a simpler and quality menu at the café. Here is a sampling that reflects more than one or two people commenting toward this end.

I prefer a basic simple menu, less expensive but fresh and clean.

Maybe less on the menu. Just a simple breakfast sandwich or egg plate, and a soup and sandwich of the day for lunch.

Having the Café in existence is most important. The menu is not as critical. Sometimes less is more. Basic offerings are better than none. The menu and food don’t need to be the holy grail of inspirational vegan cuisine.

Focus Area #3: Food Based Education

Co-Executive Director Lauren chopping peppers!

Through these surveys, we learned that people are looking for educational classes and workshops around food. Folks expressed that it’s important to make connections between the foods we offer in the market and how to prepare, preserve, or otherwise enjoy those foods through some type of hands-on, educational experience.

Here are a few comments directly from the surveys that demonstrate people’s interest in food-based education here in the café and kitchen.

Basic cooking, canning, pantry stocking, how to store, baking workshops would be so helpful. I don't always know what to do with items in the market, and I hate when things go to waste. That might be a fun workshop: how to use up food before it goes bad or how to preserve it. Not things like how to make eclairs, which is way over most of our heads and not very practical. Keep it simple.

More education about food. Make sure people in the market know what they are talking about and the difference between a rutabaga and a turnip, or the different kinds of apples, for example.

Monthly workshops would be great! Preserving food series.

Overall Areas For Improvement

When we asked about things that could be changed and areas of improvement, we received some expected, as well as some surprising feedback that we are taking to heart. 

We are grateful that the community is sharing these concerns with us so that we may embody our organizational motto: ‘Learning as we grow!’  Through this survey process, we asked for constructive criticism and receive it willingly. It is also very important for us all to remember that 95% of all comments were positive. 

In terms of the customer experience, we received feedback to address three main areas:

• Comfort, cleanliness and coziness of the café and community room.

• Speed of service.

• More accessibility in terms of cost.
  
  We are integrating this important feedback into the plans and long-term functioning of the café - and all our services - moving forward.

Takeaways and Next Steps

The biggest takeaway for us is in a shift of our framework from a ‘local café that has a gathering space’ to a ‘welcoming community gathering place that offers simple, accessible, quality, locally sourced and prepared foods.’

This is a significant change in the way we have approached Sweet Beet Café and kitchen and will inform how we move forward. Some of these steps will take time and we will be sure to keep you apprised of our progress along the way.

Volunteers Susan and Mariah creating a beautiful, unique display from our Sweet Beet/KFH apparel over the years.

1. The community room will become a focal point of Sweet Beet Cafe and Market, open to the wider community (as it is now!) and will be inviting, clean, and run efficiently. A community room refresh is in process - come check it out! And thank you to volunteer Susan Moss who has been leading the way on this!

2. The cafe will offer a slimmed down menu of nourishing, healthy, local food with from-scratch sweets as an option for those who want it. The service model is still being worked out.

3. There’s a lot to explore when it comes to offering hands-on educational classes and workshops. Once the café is open and running smoothly we will look into incorporating our ELO students, workshops, and the like. 

4. We will engage in more staff training from the top to the bottom of the organization to enhance customer experience and company culture.

5. We will continue to seek and implement community feedback.

Conclusion

Given all of this tremendously insightful feedback, a reopening plan for the cafe is coming along and you can expect to hear from us soon with an update! In the meantime, we are indeed cooking in the kitchen and stocking the grab ‘n’ go fridge with all sorts of fresh, delicious, seasonally inspired meals and snacks.

We are excited not only about the next evolution of the cafe, but of Sweet Beet Market and Cafe together at 11 West Main Street. They are, along with Sweet Beet Farm, inextricably connected and provide the foundation for all of our community service work here at the Kearsarge Food Hub. We are committed to co-creating the future of Sweet Beet and Kearsarge Food Hub with you, our community. You make it all possible, and we are happy to be here to serve you. Please know that our doors are always open.

In gratitude and service,
The KFH Team

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Top 5 Soil Building Practices on Sweet Beet Farm

This Earth Day, we want to talk about one of our favorite topics here at the Kearsarge Food Hub  - SOIL!

We spend a lot of time, energy, care, and love nurturing our soil on Sweet Beet Farm - a foundational program of ours here at KFH - because it is the most essential building block for growing nutritious, delicious foods that feed our community. When it comes to soil, we always want to give back more than we take.

This is time and effort well spent and much needed, now more than ever.

Why?

Because across the globe, and particularly in developed countries like the US, we’re suffering from a major crisis of soil loss. In fact, we’ve lost over a third of the world’s topsoil in the past 150 years due, in large part, to the irresponsible and harmful practices of industrial agricultural - like monocultures, using heavy machinery, and leaving the soil bare - that cause soil erosion and nutrient depletion at alarming rates.

Soil loss not only compromises our ability to grow food, but it also compromises natural systems that would otherwise be in balance, like the carbon and water systems. Soil that’s bare and eroded releases carbon into the atmosphere (while rich, healthy soils and flora ecosystems have the ability to store huge amounts of carbon). Soil erosion and compaction leads to increased runoff, reduced infiltration, water pollution, and more, affecting the availability, quality, and distribution of water resources.

There is also an enormous economic cost to soil loss. According to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, in the United States soil erosion has caused an estimated $44 billion in economic losses since the 1980s due to crop loss and other economic byproducts of soil loss.

Of course, where there’s challenge there is also opportunity. Improving soil health can increase crop yields by 20-50% while reducing the need for fertilizer and pesticide use. 

So how can we improve soil health?

This is a main question we’ve been exploring on Sweet Beet Farm for the past 8 years, and we’ve come up with a short list of 5 essential (and not at all unique to us!) soil-building practices for any sustainable farm. 

Let’s dig in!

1.Keep the soil covered.

Tarps in action covering beds on on the farm.

Keeping the soil covered is a primary tenet on Sweet Beet Farm, and indeed for any farm that practices sustainability. Covering the soil prevents soil erosion from wind and water, helps retain moisture, and prevents weeds. All of this makes life on the farm much, much easier.

We have a running joke on Sweet Beet Farm that tarp is the employee of the month, every month (of course, the people working on the farm are the actual heroes of the month, every month!). Without complaint, tarp covers the soil for us when and where we need it. We use a black plastic tarp (there’s actually a lot of plastic used on modern farms, an area where there’s room for growth and finding alternatives when possible), which gets heating by the sun, kills weeds, and keeps the soil warm and moist.

Other than tarp, cover crops keep the soil covered, with the added benefit of contributing nutrients back to the soil. Some common cover crops, like peas,  “fix” nitrogen which they mean converting atmospheric nitrogen into usable “food” for plants (aka they make fertilizer!)

2. Minimize soil disturbance.

The broad fork in actual for its second most important use - playing music.

On the farm we try to disturb the soil as little as possible because we want it to thrive with its own complex ecosystem of worms, microbes, and other living things! 

To do this, we practice minimal tilling and minimal soil compaction. We don’t use big tractors or till deep into the soil. When we need to, we use a hand-held tractor called a BSC, to till up the soil just enough for planting, or other use a broad fork to losen soil in the beds for planting (which happens to double as an instrument).

Permanent raised beds on Sweet Beet Farm.

We also utilize a permanent raised bed system. This means we have permanent planting space, which is mounded soil 30 inches wide and 100 feet long (which are the dimensions that allow us to easily work in the beds and make the best use of our tools), and designated walking rows to prevent compaction of the soil where we grow.

3. Adding / maintaining lots of organic matter. 

Adding organic amendments for soil fertility.

The plants we grow need lots of food to be as healthy and packed with flavor and nutrients as possible. Adding organic compost to the soil boosts fertility and maintains a good texture. Compost can come from animal manure, garden clippings, leaving plants to decompose in the fields, wood ash, and more. 

We’re on a journey to generate our own compost here on Sweet Beet Farm. This way we can bring in fewer inputs from external sources, like organic fertilizers and manure, and build a closed loop system where we take farm waste to create our own soil fertility.

4. Crop Rotation.

Tomatoes planed alongside lettuce.

One extremely harmful practice of the industrial food system that’s responsible for high levels of soil loss and nutrient depletion is monoculture. 

Monoculture means planting just one crop in the same space, over and over again. Driving through the midwest United States, for instance, you’ll see corn planted as far as the eye can see. This is incredibly damaging to the soil in the long term.

On regenerative farms like Sweet Beet, we grow a diverse set of crops and practice crop rotation, making sure that crops are planted in different spaces throughout the farm from season to season, planting to planting. This means we aren't pulling the same nutrients out of the soil by keeping the same things planted in the same space.

Different crops not only pull nutrients from different soil layers but they also provide different benefits to the soil. Radish roots can help to aerate, for example, which makes it more able to hold moisture and easier to plant in (among other benefits).

5. Mimicking nature as much as possible.

Essentially, all of these practices in particular and the foundational ethos in general for a sustainable, regenerative farm is to mimic nature whenever and however possible. Natural systems inherently possess the wisdom of how to maintain balance or restore balance when it has been thrown off. We learn from nature that soil is a central key to maintaining balanced, healthy ecosystems on the land. 

Soil works best when undisturbed and teeming with life. Interestingly, when you employ sustainable soil building practices on the farm, largely by promoting and protecting its natural vitality, you automatically reduce risks like pest and weed pressure. The system becomes more balanced and resilient, meaning there’s less chance for one thing to wipe out an entire crop.

And when it comes to the food we eat, it’s only as nutrient dense as our soil is. Not every carrot is created equally! Healthy, thriving soils yield highly nutritious - and flavorful - foods for generations to come.

Sweet Beet Farm in mid-summer, surrounded by forest.

What’s the takeaway? Soil is powerful and it needs our attention and protection!

At this point, on Sweet Beet Farm we’re beyond the pursuit of sustainability and into the realm of regenerative soil building practices. That’s because we’re not just trying to sustain - we’re trying to regenerate, rebuild, and renew soil to the most vibrant possible state. We hope you’ll join us however you can, because the future of life (and delicious, farm fresh foods) truly depends on it.

Abenaki Seeds Project: Nurturing a Community of Growers

It’s the end of March in New Hampshire and we’re looking forward to seedlings sprouting in gardens throughout our region, at homes and community sites and local farms (but first, we have a few feet of snow that needs to melt…)

Here at the Kearsarge Food Hub (KFH), we’re gearing up to support year three of the Abenaki Seeds Project in partnership with Abenaki Trails, Hopkinton Historical Society, Warner Public Market, and Colby-Sawyer College.

The Abenaki Seeds Project (ASP) is all about building a community of learners and growers grounded in Native American Foodways. The project consists of distributing Abenaki heritage seeds throughout the community to encourage neighbors to learn about Native American crops, and donating the harvest back to the Abenaki Helping Abenkai food pantry in an effort to support food security for tribal neighbors.

Looking back on how the project went last year, there are several notable highlights:

• We had a tremendous amount of participation - over 50 different folks signed up to receive heritage Abenaki seeds in 2022.

• We created a comprehensive Grower’s Guide that we distributed to all of our growers (see below).

• Seed Distribution Day went off without a hitch at three different locations in the Kearsarge Region.

• KFH, in partnership with Warner Public Market and the Abenaki Helping Abenaki Food Pantry, created and streamlined an aggregation system to get the fruits of our growers’ harvests back to the food pantry. 

• We hosted two webinars to bring our community together and discuss how things were going in our gardens. 

In October of last year, the Abenaki Seeds project dovetailed beautifully with events held on Indigenous People’s Day in Hopkinton, NH. The event began in ceremony at Riverway Park, speeches were made, and a bas relief sculpture by Carol Lake was unveiled. The day ended with the Abenaki Harvest Food Tasting Event, where Darryl Peasley and Liz Charlebois cooked up some great Abenaki dishes to share with the community. 

The Abenaki Seeds Project is all about education and community building. While there was not a remarkably high volume of food produced for the food pantry in years one and two, education of and support for the local Abenaki community has grown and blossomed over the past two years. 

We’re so excited to continue supporting this community of growers this year for the 3rd annual Abenaki Seeds Project.

This year we’re looking forward to incorporating more in-person educational and community building events, like visits to community garden sites working with the Three Sisters’.

In addition to distributing seedlings to gardeners, we’re recruiting a couple local farms to help produce a bit more food for the Abenaki Helping Abenaki food pantry.

We welcome Kearsarge Area growers to join this project and give growing Abenaki seeds a try. This year, we’re offering the three core crops that make up the Three Sisters' Garden: True Cranberry Beans, Rose Flint Corn, and Crookneck Squash. These crops not only compliment each other in the garden but also on the plate, providing a complete, balanced meal.

There’s talk of a recipe book being crafted in connection with this project to support utilizing the fruits of our gardens. Stay tuned!

Finally, it’s heartening to note a lovely connection between our farm-based education here at KFH and the Abenaki Seeds Project that includes our young people in this project. Last fall, Bradford Elementary 3rd graders prepped mounds for three sisters gardens that will be planted this spring. In the fall of next year, the then 4th graders will help with harvest and pass the gardens on to the incoming 3rd graders. 

We’re excited for another year of learning and growing with the Abenaki Seeds Project here in the Kearsarge Region! Sign up for seeds by April 5th, 2023.

Food Sovereignty begins with farmer support.

Food sovereignty is one of three guiding nonprofit initiatives that make up our mission here at the Kearsarge Food Hub. It is the ability for a community to have control over its own food supply, and for all neighbors to have both access to that food and a say in how it's grown and distributed based on that community’s values. Food sovereignty is empowerment to care for and connect all the elements that come together to feed and nourish us.

We believe food sovereignty begins with our local farmers.

Farmers are on the front lines of land stewardship and food security. They tend to our resources, their farms and practices have the power to preserve and care for our local lands, they produce the foods we all need to survive - and thrive.

Right now, our farmers are struggling and they need our support.

Last week at our Love Local: Meet your farmers and makers event, we heard from Aaron Lichtenberg of Winni Woods Farm. Winni Woods is based in the Lakes Region here in New Hampshire. They used to grow a lot of vegetables for farmers markets and CSA’s. Due to an abrupt shift in land use, they now focus on cut flowers and jarred goods that they create from vegetables sourced from partnering farms at a shared processing facility called Genuine Local. 

Winni Woods has struggled in ways that many small farms do these days. For Aaron, the challenges they face all comes down to access:

“If I were to boil it down to one word, it would be access. It’s access to land and access to markets. We’re still currently on a land lease, so access to land is a big issue for us in wanting to find a farm of our own. The access to markets you know, trying to find enough time and enough space to run a busy flower farm and get all of our jarred goods out into the marketplace.”

​​The 2017 National Young Farmer Survey found land access to be the number one challenge that young farmers and ranchers face. This is especially true for BIPOC farmers. “Across the country, climbing land prices and competition with the development market have made it increasingly difficult for farmers to find land they can afford—over the last decade the average cost of farm real estate has more than doubled.”

Aaron makes another good point that it’s not just access to land that’s a challenge for farmers, but access to markets as well. This has been cited time and again by our partners as a top challenge in our local food system. That is why we created Sweet Beet Market as a key service of our nonprofit work here at the Kearsarge Food Hub. It’s a way to offer a consistent, reliable, year round marketplace for our producers, while creating food access for the community. 

At Sweet Beet Market, we bring in products from 100+ partnering New Hampshire-based producers of all kinds. We take extra care to protect and convey the story of the products through things like source identifying signs and robust communications highlighting products and farmers. But the truth is no one can market their product like the farmer or maker can. That’s why we invested the time into creating the Love Local: Meet your farmers and makers event, and why we aim to do more work like that in the future.

We think it’s so important to use our platform to shine a light on our local producers and give them an opportunity to tell their own stories.


The impact that our recent Love Local event had on our featured farmers and makers is greater than we hoped it could be. Creating this opportunity to share stories helps tap into our collective potential to overcome challenges and become more connected.

 Aaron reflects on the event:

“My personal experience of the event was one of wonder and amazement. That's not hyperbole! Most days I generally keep to my endless "work silo" and consequently lose touch with all the great things happening around our state. Kearsarge Food Hub's commitment to highlighting, and supporting, local producers of all types around the State of NH reinvigorated my participation in the local goods network. It reminded me that I am not alone. That we're all out there struggling together to make our communities more connected, and we're all stronger for it.” 

Supporting farmers. Connecting our community. Strengthening the local food system in service to food sovereignty. These are central functions to our nonprofit work here at the Kearsarge Food Hub.

KFH's Farm Based Education: An Important Update

Part 2: Pathways in Agriculture

“If we want children to flourish, to become truly empowered, then let us allow them to love the earth before we ask them to save it.”
 - David Sobel

There’s this powerful intro on the Embodiment Podcast (a great podcast exploring what it means to be embodied, definitely worth a listen), which states that “we don’t have the luxury of living in ordinary times.” Indeed, we do not. These are extraordinary times, with extraordinary challenges. And in these times, adaptability is one of our greatest strengths.

And that’s what we’ve done with our farm-based education programming here at the Kearsarge Food Hub - adapt. In part 1 of this blog series, we explore how we could not find a candidate for year two of our farmer apprentice program, and how this reality has led us to pivot and reimagine where our energy can go to address the very real challenges we face as a community and meet people where they are.

At KFH we have a vision of offering multiple layers of farm-based education to students in order to help young people find their place in nature and in community, while growing the next generation of farmers, food system workers, and environmental stewards. We want our educational programming to reach students of all ages, generating awareness about opportunities in the local food system, and creating tangible ways to get involved. 

Farm Education Coordinator Julie.

Without Farmer Apprentices this year, our farm education team has had more space to infuse existing programs with fresh energy and bring some new programs to life, too. We now have a Farm Education Coordinator, Julie, who brings a ton of enthusiasm, experience, and great ideas for how to grow our education programming. She loves working with younger kids and connects the farm experience to the experience of being rooted in nature.

Julie is working with Co Founder and Farm Manager Pierre to create a menu of offerings for students of all ages, from K-12 in the local school districts to the homeschool community, as well as tours for curious community members who want to get a feel for farm life. Ultimately this dynamic programming will start prepping Farmer Apprentices early on.

Pierre and Julie plant some seeds with Bradford 1st Grade, Spring 2021.

When it comes to programming for students, the team is taking a curriculum approach, which is all about being intentional about how we engage with students on the farm. This means taking extra time and care to create specific plans and set goals based on the different age groups we work with, while still being flexible to embrace whatever alchemy arises from the programs. Between interacting with the students in person and being in the setting of the farm, there are always beautiful and unforeseen learning moments, especially when we let the kids lead the way with their curiosity. 

In essence, KFH’s farm-based education programs are guided by this mission:

Our farm education programs are experiential, holistic, inclusive, and rooted in nature. Our farm and the surrounding forest are our classrooms. This farm-and-forest approach allows us to learn about and experience both aspects of Sweet Beet Farm and investigate how they interact. Through our programs, we foster connections to nature, connections to food, and connections to ourselves and each other.

Within this context, the farm education team has been revamping and reinvigorating KFH’s farm-based educational offerings. Let’s take a look at what’s new and exciting!

Bradford Elementary School: The 3rd-4th Grade Three Sisters Garden

Farmer Pierre harvesting salad mix with Bradford 1st graders in the Spring of 2022.

Kearsarge Food Hub has been working with the Bradford 1st Grade class for years now. It is one of our staple programs where we get to explore putting the fields to bed in the fall, planting seeds in the spring, and harvesting greens and making a big salad for their field day at the end of school.

We’re really excited to expand offerings to Bradford Elementary School 3rd graders this year with the start of the Three Sisters Garden. This project is linked to the Abenaki Seeds Project and is an opportunity to weave together knowledge of Indigenous food ways and food security, as well as gardening and growing food. The students will visit us in the farm in the fall, and we’ll come together in the spring to plant corn, beans and squash - the three sisters. What’s extra special about this program is the 3rd graders will come back to the farm in the fall as 4th graders to help with the harvest and pass the concepts they learned on to the incoming 3rd graders. 

Farm & Forest Homeschool Program

KFH is preparing to pilot our new Farm & Forest Homeschool Program, geared toward homeschool families in our area, in the spring of 2023. Through this program, which will immerse homeschooled students aged approximately 6 to 11 in our working organic farm and its forested surroundings, we will explore concepts related to how to grow food, how farm and forest ecosystems function and interact, and how and why to be a steward of our environment.

The farm education team will take this winter to finalize curriculum and plans for this drop-off, multi-week program, which, after the spring pilot, will expand to full capacity. Full and/or half days will be offered, depending on the needs of our community. Each session will have a theme, such as Fall Harvest, Water & Wetlands, and Buds & Blooms, to give our time together a varied, flexible focus.

Our days will consist of a mixture of farm projects (such as tending the student garden and harvesting in the production field alongside the farm crew), environmental games and practices (such as Nature Journaling and Sit Spots), and experiencing new farm foods (such as roasting kale over the campfire).

We believe that coming together each week and participating in set group routines, challenging tasks, and novel experiences ignites in students a sense of grit, connection, teamwork, and wonder. We are really looking forward to bringing this program to fruition! 

Extended Learning Opportunities (ELOs) with Kearsarge Regional High School

The Sweet Beet Farm team at a staff training event in the fall of 2022, from left to right: Rah, Pierre, Anna (ELO student), Julie, Jake

Starting this September, KFH is piloting Extended Learning Opportunities (ELOs) on the farm for the local Kearsarge Regional High School. Extended Learning Opportunities are gaining popularity as critical alternatives to classroom learning for older students. Many are yearning for hands-on experience in the community, which also serves as practical job training. Being able to get experience in different fields like farming while gaining school credit is an important opportunity for young people as they consider what life after high school might look like.

Anna Cook, who has already volunteered with us before on the farm, is our very first ELO student. She will be coming once a week through the end of the first semester to gain practical knowledge and experience on the farm in exchange for school credit. 

This is a great example of the pathways we hope to create with our farm-based education for young people. We have a relationship with Anna as a volunteer, as she’s done some of her high school community service hours on the farm. This helped us identify her as a good candidate to test out ELOs with since she’s familiar with our work and setting. As with any program, it will take a little time to hone in on the process and outcomes, and we are excited to be able to offer this program to more students in years to come. 

Field Trips & Farm Tours

The KFH Farm Education team is working to create opportunities for more students and community members to come to the farm for field trips and tours. The focus of these visits can range from exploring seed cycles and forest ecology for younger kids, to concepts in regenerative agriculture for older students, to simply a fun and inspirational tour for community members and visitors. A full list of offerings will be available in the coming months.

13 Homeschool students explored the farm, and surrounding forest and pond ecosystems, during a Homeschooler Education Day in the Spring of 2022.

The farm education team has been putting in a ton of work behind the scenes to make the growth of KFH’s farm education program possible. They are thinking through regulations and safety considerations, ironing out systems on the farm that make educating students there as fun, enriching, and safe as possible. We also have a plan to update farm infrastructure to accommodate more visitors, including an educational structure. The structure will provide a dedicated, shaded area for belongings, gatherings, lessons, educational materials, kitchen materials, meals, and cover from inclement weather.

We’re so excited to grow farm-based education on Sweet Beet Farm in service to our greater Kearsarge Food Hub mission - to reinvigorate our community within a restorative local food system.

Stay tuned as things are ever evolving. Sign up our our newsletter and follow us on social media to stay up to date!

You might also like:

Growing Farmers Blog series

Part 1: We need more Farmers!

Part 2: Learning as we Grow on Sweet Beet Farm

Part 3: Meet Cassie and Jake

KFH's Farm-Based Education: An Important Update!

Part 1: Turning Challenges into Opportunities

In the Spring of 2021, Kearsarge Food Hub had a special opportunity to co-create a new program that’s both exciting and deeply needed. We joined in partnership with Andy and Dorothy Jeffrey and Colby-Sawyer College to bring our first ever Farmer Apprenticeship Program to life. This is a six-month, paid, intensive training opportunity for young folks interested in pursuing farming as a career. 

That spring, a lot of details big and small came together to make this program a reality. We worked hard to outline specific outcomes that support potential new farmers with access to land, education, community, mentorship, technical assistance, business support, and markets. To learn more about the urgent need to support new and beginning farmers in this way, read our blog on Growing Farmers.

We had two fantastic and eager candidates, Cassie and Jake, who just wrapped up college at Colby-Sawyer and were looking for hands-on farming experience. They were already familiar with our work here at KFH, having engaged in various capacities throughout their college career as students and volunteers. They were able to find affordable housing and additional work to make the part-time apprenticeship manageable.

By the end of the season, Cassie and Jake far exceeded expectations as farmer apprentices. They surpassed sales goals from the produce and flowers they grew and sold, took initiative to make structural improvements on the farm, sought out new markets when they had abundance to share with the community, and showed up every day with enthusiasm and a problem solving mindset. They also engaged with elementary age students who came to the farm, passing on their knowledge and keeping the educational cycle moving forward.

Cassie showing us the Community FREEdge which she stocks several times per week with fresh produce, prepared meals, and grocery items.

We are delighted to share that they are now full-time employees here at the Kearsarge Food Hub! Cassie is our Food Access Manager, running Sweet Beet Market and our food donations program. Jake is a full-time farmer on Sweet Beet Farm. This is exactly the kind of pathway that we hope to cultivate with our educational programming - reaching students in K-12 and college, generating awareness about opportunities in the local food system, and creating tangible ways to get involved from volunteerism to employment.

Though this first year went according to plan, this past spring things went a little differently. We were ultimately unable to find new farmer apprentices for year two of the program. The pieces that fell into place for year one, like affordable housing and having an established relationship with candidates, were lacking this second time around. This gives us valuable information moving forward.

The inability to find apprentices is a challenge in and of itself, and it’s also a symptom of a complex set of issues that we all face here in the Granite State, and in rural areas in general.

Jake harvesting beets on Sweet Beet Farm, summer 2022.

The hard truth is that the social determinants of health are compromised for many neighbors in NH - safe and affordable housing, access to transportation, access to good jobs with liveable wages, the ability to purchase nutritious foods, and supportive social networks, to name a few.

New Hampshire has an aging population that is exacerbated by a lack of infrastructure and services that young people and families need to thrive.

On top of all this, the cost of living is on the rise. According to a US Census pulse survey, in June of 2022 more than a third of New Hampshire residents reported that it was somewhat or very difficult to pay for usual household expenses. That’s nearly 400,000 people. 

And of course, when we say things like labor shortages and lack of affordable housing, we’re really using transactional terms to describe how the health of our rural communities is suffering. So, in the longer term, we view these realities as a call to action to address the root of the problem and make New Hampshire a welcoming and supportive place to live.

For us here at KFH, this is an opportunity to re-envision our farm-based educational programming to meet the needs of our community and the demand for job training within the complicated context in which we live.

We’ve learned so much, not only about what it will take to create a vibrant, sustainable, and meaningful apprenticeship program, but also even more about the very real challenges that are faced by our community and the next generation of farmers.

We are now exploring ways we can address the housing concern for our apprentices, and are hoping to raise more money so that the paid internship is enough to support the apprentices through the farming season. Farming is incredibly hard work and there is tremendous room for improvement in terms of fair compensation, especially to keep up with the rising cost of living across the board.

There’s also a lot more work we can do earlier on in the process to support greater accessibility and viability for something like an intensive 6-month farmer apprenticeship program. We feel invigorated to reach local kids at younger ages, from homeschool groups to school districts, to create excitement, interest, and experience in the local food system early on.


In part 2 of this blog series, we’ll explore the specifics of how KFH has adapted our farm-based educational programs to meet the needs of our community here and now. Our goal is to address the problems we face with creative solutions and long-term vision, and, ultimately, help support the next generation of farmers who will feed our communities and care for our lands. Stay tuned!

Kearsarge Area Victory Gardens: An update three years in

When the pandemic hit in 2020, Kearsarge Food Hub (KFH) joined forces with community partners to co-create FEED Kearsarge - a shared initiative designed to support the community through turbulent times and beyond through Food Education, Expansion and Distribution. 

One pillar of this collaboration is the Victory Garden Revival, which is a concept repurposed from World War II, when households started growing their own food to support food security for themselves when supply chains were precarious. Check out our blog post going more in depth on community gardens, including Victory Gardens, here.

We find ourselves in a similar situation these days, with supply chains in almost every industry disrupted by a global pandemic, and otherwise crumbling under the weight of unsustainable systems that don’t honor human and natural limits. Alas, with a warming planet, ongoing environmental degradation, political divide, and tangible transitions in the workforce, unsustainable supply chains will surely continue to produce increasingly unreliable results and empty shelves - not the least of which will be felt at the grocery store.

And so, the Victory Garden Revival seems most appropriate here in the Kearsarge region, and any community that’s interested in helping its members have more control over their own food supply and, beyond that, cultivating joy and community connections in a time of high stress.

And still, helping households and community garden sites grow more of their own food is easier said than done. Gardening can be cost effective, supportive to physical and mental health, and incredibly rewarding, and it also requires resources, learning, and time to all come together.

The Origin of Victory Gardens in the Kearsarge Area

In the spring of 2020, KFH, alongside Colby-Sawyer College, spearheaded the building of a garden at the Bradford Food Pantry, one of the local Victory Garden sites. Another was built at the college and this year in 2022, the Warner Connects Food Pantry went through a process of getting town approval and building gardens on site at the pantry.

Seedlings grow on Spring Ledge Farm for the 2022 Tray it Forward Program.

The Tray it Forward program, another pillar of FEED Kearsarge, just had its third round this past spring and distributed 400 seedling trays to neighbors experiencing food insecurity and community garden sites. These are all considered Victory Gardens, as well as any other home garden that’s producing food, or learning how to produce food, in any amount. 

Helping home gardeners have a successful growing season requires not only distributing seedlings, but providing garden education and creating opportunities for neighbors to support one another through the growing season. So the FEED Kearsarge partners developed a weekly gardening newsletter and a Facebook support group to share knowledge and build community around gardening. 

When it comes to supporting community garden sites, it’s important to not only share information and build community connections, but also facilitate collaboration amongst partners. In simplest terms, it can come down to addressing two primary questions:

1. What do we want to grow and why?
2. Who’s responsible for what at the garden?

Let’s explore these two core questions here using the examples of the three community victory garden sites here in the Kearsarge region.

 1. What do we want to grow and why?

FEED Kearsarge partners have learned that when starting a community garden, It's helpful to identify the goals of the garden. One obvious goal is to produce food, but there are many other benefits to a community garden site. Gardens can provide education and exposure to gardening at a place like a food pantry, which might make clients more likely to choose fresh vegetables or consider starting their own garden. They can create opportunities to connect with nature, engage in self care, and be more environmentally sustainable, among many other benefits.

The Warner Connects Victory Garden

Amelia Gardner of Farmsteads of New England gives a tour of the Warner Connects Victory Gardens.

At the Warner Connects garden, Amelia Gardner of Farmsteads of New England is tending the beds along with other volunteer support. She says “Every garden is an opportunity for learning”. So, even if you’re not feeding the whole community with the garden, the opportunity for learning ripples out. There is no such thing as failing in the garden, Amelia believes. Only learning. 

The Warner Connects Garden provides space to Tray it Forward recipients to garden, participates in the Abenaki Seeds Project (another collaborative initiative to grow heritage Abenaki seeds for the Native American community), and produces food for the pantry. With the goal of producing a steady from for pantry clients in mind, they’ve been focusing on radishes, which are quick to grow and can have several harvests throughout the season. Though they have had to trouble shoot with the very dry summer, mulching the beds seems to have helped.

The Warner Connects food pantry is open 4 days a week and is a very active food pantry. Having a garden here has proven to be quite the educational tool. Folks come and walk around the gardens, either experiencing them for the first time or, being gardeners themselves, are looking for inspiration or bringing questions. One thing they’ve noted would be helpful in guiding clients would be to have an experienced farmer or gardeners there during busy times to help answer questions. 

Colby-Sawyer/Main Street New London Victory Garden

Professor Leon Malan gives a tour at the Colby-Sawyer College Victory Gardens.

At the Colby-Sawyer Victory Garden, they have a clear what and why. They plant seedlings from the Tray it Forward Program as well as the Abenaki Seeds Project to function as a hands on learning space for college students and interns.

They donate the harvest to either the food pantry there in town or the Abenaki Helping Abenki food pantry. As part of the environmental science department, Professor Leon Malan, who is an experienced farmer, oversees and manages the space. He’s able to work with his students, troubleshoot any problems in the garden, and maintain relationships with the folks at the food pantries.

Both Colby Sawyer and Warner Connects hosted tours at the gardens as a way to share their process and build community around gardening.

Bradford Food Pantry Victory Garden

Victory Garden at the Bradford Food Pantry

The Bradford Food Pantry Victory Garden has been through a trial and error process over the past three yers in figuring out exactly what to plant to have a successful growing season.

In the past few years, we’ve experimented with up to a dozen different kinds of plants in the space, all from the Tray it Forward program, which has proven to be too many in this small space. Laura, who manages the food pantry, along with Cheryl from the partnering church, has decided that fewer varieties of plants will be better for this small space.

Garden volunteer Patty is checking on the garden weekly and sending produce to the community FREEdge at Sweet Beet, a free fridge resource for folks to access 24/7.

Though this garden doesn’t produce a high volume of food, the goal is for it to support pantry clients with fresh veggies they will actually use. Having the garden right outside the pantry creates greater exposure to gardening for clients who use the pantry, and a source of joy for friends and neighbors that drive down main street who get to enjoy the garden's beauty.

2. Who’s responsible for what at the garden?

FEED Kearsarge Partners meet at the Warner Connects Victory Gardens.

This second question speaks to probably the most common pitfall of a community garden, which is unclear roles and responsibilities and a lack of communication. This not surprising at all - it makes sense that it’s difficult to outline roles and maintain communication when partners from various organizations and sectors are collaborating. The FEED Kearsarge partners continue to explore ways to iron out these kinks and keep communication flowing.

One option for addressing this is through a victory garden coordinator role. This is a volunteer position at the garden sites that essentially are responsible for coordinating with the food pantry leaders to harvest and distribute foods grown in the garden, as well as helping with planting and maintenance throughout the year. Other roles the coordinator could fill, or could collaborate with others to work on, include designing the garden - as in what plants to plant and where - and the actual building of the garden if that’s needed.

As described above, each Kearsarge area victory garden has at least one volunteer supporting the space, or a team of student interns. Each site is working on communication between garden volunteers and those that run the pantries to determine how to make the most of the harvests.

Ultimately, at a community garden site, the guiding question is how to make it helpful and useful to the site that it lives on, like a food pantry. To be successful toward any goal, it requires continued communication and problem solving amongst all involved parties.

Victory Garden Manual: An online resource coming soon!

Acknowledging that there is a real need to provide tangible support to home gardeners and community garden sites alike, and that there is something of value to share from the process undergone by FEED Kearsarge over the past three years, there will be a Victory Garden Manual crafted later this year.

This online resource will be a directory of sorts containing a growers guide for different types of victory gardens, garden designs and plans that could be built at home or a community garden site, and an outline of what a garden coordinator role and volunteer support could look like.

It will also provide insights on the technicalities of getting gardens started at community sites like food pantries, and which community players should be involved in the process. Other logistics will also be considered, like acquiring and funding seeds, plants, compost, and other garden amendments. 

The creation of this manual will provide an opportunity to outline what has worked so far in the Victory Garden Revival in the Kearsarge area, explore what doesn’t work, and ask questions around what we have yet to learn. 

We know these gardens can produce food, education, and connection in the community. And still, there are a lot of unknowns, mostly because these sites are living, breathing organisms. Between the plants growing in the garden and the people who manage and benefit from them, whether at home or in the community, gardens are fully animated and dynamic projects. But, as Amelia reminds us, there’s no such thing as failure in the garden. Only learning…and growing!

Additional Information

Stay connected with this ever unfolding project by joining the Kearsarge Food Hub mailing list here.

Check out another look at the Kearsarge Area Victory Gardens here in an article by Daisy Young: Kearsarge Area Cross Pollinates Community

Thank you to all that have supported the FEED Kearsarge endeavors, including these Victory Gardens, including (but not limited to):

• Vital Communities: Providing grant funding toward storage infrastructure at Warner Connects Food Pantry

• Kearsarge Community Network (KCN): A result of the UNH Cooperative Extension’s grant work in the Kearsarge region, funded by the USDA, geared toward building community resilience. This network is currently led by Carol Conforti Adams. Funding from UNH Cooperative Extension through KCN will be used to craft the online Victory Garden Manual, coming out mid-November.

• Kearsarge Neighborhood Partners (KNP): A FEED Kearsarge partner, KNP created a survey to gather feedback about the effectiveness of the Tray it Forward program and associated Victory Garden educational efforts. If you participated in the 2022 Tray it Forward program, you can take the survey here.

Reflections on KFH's Community Fair

July 4th weekend holds a special place in our hearts as it’s the anniversary of when we opened Sweet Beet Farm Stand back in 2015 - the genesis of all the Kearsarge Food Hub, home of Sweet Beet, would become.

Since then, it’s been a tradition to create space to gather this time of year, with our vibrant local food system at the heart of it.

At this special event, we saw our vision and our mission come alive. We created a space - free and open to all - for the community to gather. We offered wholesome and engaging activities for folks of all ages to play and learn. We saw dear friends and met new ones. We ate delicious food featuring locally grown and lovingly prepared ingredients!

Thank you to all of the friends who joined us for this lovely day!

Special thanks to community partners for making the day so magical:

• Evergreen Healing Arts - fairyland was amazing! 

• Decatur Creek - the music was absolutely lovely, as always.

• Abenaki Trails Project and Hopkinton Historical Society - the community really enjoyed learning about the Abenaki Seeds Project and all your amazing work.

• Broken Boat Farm - everybody adored the goats and we love your mission of environmentally friendly landscaping!

• Warner Public Market - the exquisite food system art project was equal parts bizarre and fun!

• Bradford Energy Committee - thank you for bringing Plastic Free July to the Kearsarge area.

• Nathan Wechsler & Company  - thank you for sponsoring the event!

And last but certainly not least, thank you to our Community Engagement Committee for organizing this lovely event, to the volunteers and staff members who brought it all to life! It’s a whole lot of work, and absolutely worth it.

We look forward to the next opportunity to gather.

Earth Love at the Sweet Beet

Happy Earth Day, friends!

One of our core values at the Sweet Beet is promoting the health and vitality of the Earth. We do this through environmentally restorative measures of our own, and also by partnering with producers that intentionally practice sustainability in a variety of ways, from farming methods to packaging choices. 

Let’s dig into some of the specific ways that Sweet Beet and our amazing partners are working to care for the Earth, one step at time! 

Compostables

You may have noticed over the past several months that more and more greens from Sweet Beet Farm are coming to the market in small plastic cases. The cool thing about that, is that these are specially designed compostable plastic clamshells made by something called PLA plastic.

What is PLA plastic? 

Well there’s a lot of science that goes into this explanation that might be a bit too much to fully get into here, but if you follow this link you can learn much more about them, at your leisure. To simplify, PLA plastic is bioplastic material that is sourced from plants (instead of fossil fuels like regular plastic), synthesized into usable material, and is biodegradable when its journey through useful life is complete. PLA plastics require 65% less energy than producing conventional plastics, generates 68% fewer greenhouse gasses, and contains no toxins (source). Return your clamshells to us here at the Sweet Beet and we’ll get them to the proper composting facility.

Additionally, all of our bowls, plates and utensils in Sweet Beet Café are also compostable, and we use paper bags for produce and grocery bags. Our bags are not wax coated, which means that they too are biodegradable. Though, paper products of course use trees so we always encourage folks to bring their own reusable bags.

Reusables

Our milk comes in glass bottles from Contoocook creamery, and other producers use glass bottles for things like yogurt. Recently we’ve seen producers struggling to source packing materials like glass bottles due to supply chain issues, but our vendors have stepped up to that challenge and either found other earth friendly material. Abbot Hill Creamery, for instance, has transitioned to a corn based compostable packaging for their yogurt. Some vendors are committed to sourcing glass bottles despite price hikes and an increased effort to consistently find them. 

And to support our dear customers in cutting back on single use waste in the home and in life, we have a lovely selection of sustainable goods like insulated water bottles, bamboo utensil sets, stainless steel containers, and more. 

Farming Practices

Beyond packaging in the market, another aspect that we highly value is farming practices that build soil and nourish local lands. Living soil is the foundation of nutritious foods. On Sweet Beet Farm, for example, we aim to disturb the soil as little as possible to support its own aliveness and vitality. So, let it be! And when we need to work with the soil, we use minimum tillage practices and employ tools that have as little impact as possible. 

We use a permanent raised bed system on Sweet Beet Farm, and emulate the natural systems of the forest to create the conditions for a thriving ecosystem. That means covering the soil with mulch, cover crops, and dense planting of a diverse range of crops. This provides a canopy of protection to the soil, which prevents erosion, nutrient depletion, runoff, and so much more. We’re bringing in local, organic materials to feed the soil, which in turn feeds the crops that feed our community, and always letting it rest as part of our farming strategy. 

A sea of green cover crops nourishing the soil!

The aliveness of our soils all around the planet provide the irreplaceable foundation from which healthy, happy plants and nutritious foods can grow. But unfortunately, soil health hangs in the balance due largely to the extractive methods of the industrial food system. Some estimates suggest that we have just 60 harvests left worth of topsoil around the globe.

Beyond that, soil holds carbon, which is a critical function in helping to reverse the effects of a warming climate and imbalanced carbon system. 

All of this adds up to mean that supporting farms that support healthy soils is more important than ever before and has a huge impact. In addition to our own farm, many of our farm partners at the Sweet Beet are also prioritizing soil health as part of their farming strategy. 

Sweet Beet was founded on the idea that food is a powerful lever for effecting the change that our Earth and all of its inhabitants need most right now. We are grateful for local agriculture, the local food community, and the enterprises that center sustainability and empower us to make choices that demonstrate love and care for Earth in our every day lives.

It is, after all, home to all of us and utterly irreplaceable.

#earthdayiseveryday

Reducing plastic and saving time on the farm with the paper pot system

On Sweet Beet Farm we’re obsessed with the paper pot transplanter! It is such an incredible tool for a whole host of reasons. This Earth Month especially, we’re celebrating the paper pot transplanter as an essential small farm tool that reduces waste, saves time, and helps us grow lots of organic food with less impact on the land.

The paper pot transplanter is a tool that assists in the growing process from seed to planting. It is a low-impact, hand-powered system that allows us to start seeds and transplant them into the ground using less plastic and with far less time input. It’s really a win for all situation!

Learn more about how the paper pot transplanter has transformed our farming systems on Sweet Beet Farm in the following two part video series.

Part 1: Reducing On-Farm Plastic in the seeding room with the paper pot!

Part 2: Save time AND reduce plastic in your seeding process with the paper pot!

We hope you enjoy these short videos on what the paper pot is and how it’s transformed life on Sweet Beet Farm! We’re all about finding the tools that help us save time, reduce waste, and have as little impact on the Earth as possible while growing nutritious foods for our community.

You can support our nonprofit work on our organic farm and in the local food system with a donation today!

Black History Month: Community Healing & Food Sovereignty

February is Black History Month, and we here at the Kearsarge Food Hub want to take a moment to explore some of the ways that the Black community has done incredible work toward community care, food sovereignty, and environmental stewardship. 

Black folks in the United States have historically been, and still are, disproportionately impacted by inequitable food systems, poor labor conditions within the agricultural and national food system, economic pressures, and environmental degradation. However, the Black community has also been wildly resilient despite those injustices, and we want to showcase that resilience as well as some organizations that are currently doing incredible work in the realms of community healing and food sovereignty. 

One area in which the Kearsarge Food Hub is working to learn and grow into is our food sovereignty initiatives. Community gardens are one aspect of this programming that we are working on implementing both in our immediate community of Bradford, but also in further reaching spaces like with the Tray it Forward program with FEED Kearsarge! In doing this work, we are building upon a tradition established generations ago, by communities acting out of necessity and a deep care for their fellow people.

As Julie Loosigian of Sweet Beet Farm and Kearsarge Food Hub’s education team writes in “Community Gardens: Growing More Than Food” on the Kearsarge Food Hub Blog: 

“There was the gardening practiced by enslaved African Americans in order to supplement their often meager and non-nutritious provisions. Charles Ball, a former enslaved man, describes in his 1853 book Slavery in the United States, what are often termed “slave gardens”; “the people are allowed to make patches, as they are called—that is gardens, in some remote and unprofitable part of the estate, generally in the woods, in which they plant corn, potatoes, pumpkins, melons, [etc.] for themselves” (p. 128). According to Ball, each family often had their own garden space; likely, such family units included extended family, and tending tasks were shared among the group.”  

This work that has roots in history has continued throughout generations to the present day, where there are many dedicated communities and organizations working to nourish, heal, and sustain their community members. 

We want to take the time to re-highlight some organizations we have previously mentioned that are doing incredible work at cultivating food sovereignty so that our audience can check that work out, and hopefully support it as well!

FRESH START FARMS IN MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE: 

Fresh Start Farms is a branch of the Organization of Refugee and Immigrant Success (ORIS), headquartered in Manchester, New Hampshire. ORIS is a nonprofit with the mission to “aid in the resettlement of refugees and immigrants in New Hampshire by providing assistance, training, resources, and opportunities that promote self-sufficiency.” (Mission Statement on ORIS webpage). Fresh Start Farms contributes to that mission with a goal of promoting land tenure and equity for New American farmers, wherein immigrant and refugee farmers can provide culturally appropriate foods for their communities as well as economically support themselves. 

THE SOMALI BANTU COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION IN MAINE 

Since 2005 The Somali Bantu Community Association’s mission has been “to provide vital transitional services, advocacy, and programming that empowers members of the refugee community to uphold cultural identity and thrive in their new life here in Lewiston, Maine.” -- Somali Bantu Community Association

Liberation Farms, a community farming program of the SBCA, exists with the goal of providing “new American families struggling with food insecurity with the tools and resources to grow healthy, culturally-appropriate foods for themselves and their community. This investment in growing nourishes body and soul as farmers ground into familiar traditions and meaningfully utilize their agricultural roots as they build new homes here in Maine.”  --SBCA webpage

Over the past summer, the SBCA raised the necessary funds to secure farmland in Maine. “The Agrarian Commons holds land in perpetuity, protected against future development, and conveys equitable, renewable leases to farmers and communities for 99+ renewable years.” This was a massive step toward food sovereignty, however the work continues and the members of the SBCA continue to work tirelessly toward their goals. You can read more about the SBCA and Liberation Farms here on their website. 

THE SUSU COMMUNITY FARM IN BRATTLEBORO VERMONT: 

And finally, we want to take the time to showcase the folks at SUSU Botanica (previously known as the SUSU Healing Collective) in Brattleboro, Vermont, who, in the time since we last wrote about them, have officially been able to launch the SUSU CommUNITY Farm. 

“The SUSU commUNITY Farm is a Afro Indigenous stewarded farm and land based healing center in Southern Vermont that elevates Vermont’s land and foodways. We do this by co-creating a life affirming and culturally relevant platform for Black, Indigenous, People of color, youth, under resourced folx, and allies to thrive and experience safety and connection while beginning to develop the tools and agency to heal from the trauma of colonization.Through collective commUNITY we aspire to co-create an equitable and just culture for the global majority to thrive in Vermont that centers access to safe and affirming food, commUNITY, and job opportunities.”

SUSU commUNITY Farm creates health equity by offering culturally relevant spaces that center earth based and afro-indigenous health and healing traditions as well as reclaiming and centering the wisdom, stories, and legacies of our ancestors.” – (SUSU commUNITY Farm: About)

When we previously highlighted the SUSU Botanica, they were fundraising to purchase land upon which to create a community farm that would work toward multiple ends. Their hope was a space where BIPOC folks could come and work on healing their relationships to the land, and healing through working with the land. Additionally, the products of the garden would go toward feeding and nourishing that community. Furthermore, the idea of a Heritage Garden was also an important aspect to the work to begin at the SUSU commUNITY Farm:

"We're planning to have multiple different gardens grown just for traditional lineage and heritage throughout the African diaspora, growing in a way that's aligned with the way our ancestors have grown food," Arnold.” – (Amber Arnold, co-executive director at SUSU as quoted by Chris Mays in the Brattleboro Reformer, March 5, 2021). 

We are excited to say that the money has been successfully raised to purchase land for the commUNITY farm. Now, the folks at SUSU are working to plan for the upcoming season, with goals such as raising enough funds to hire a second armer, build healthy soil on land that has been worked as a hay field for years, establish community gardens full of culturally relevant heirloom crops, increase their CSA share, and run the free CSA program for another full 20 week season in 2022. Please visit their website here to learn more about and donate to the outstanding, revolutionary, and healing work that this organization and community are doing.

We hope you can check out the amazing work being done by these organizations!

The what, when, how, and why of grafting tomato plants!

Sweet Beet Farm and Education team Julie and Pierre sat down to explore the world of grafting tomato plants! We hope you find this video and short outline helpful for you in determining how to try out grating at home or on your farm!

5 resources that have been the guiding posts of our operation:

1. Dave Trumble and Good Earth Farm (taught us how to graft)

2. Jean Martin Fortier: The Market Gardener

   1. The foundation model; highly influenced by Eliot Coleman

3. Curtis Stone: Urban farming

   1. Land access problems/accessibility to all 

4. Ben Hartman: Lean farming

   1. Business sense to the farmer & reducing mooda (waste of energy)

5. Andrew Mefferd: The greenhouse and hoophouse grower's handbook (Maine) 

What is grafting? Grafting or graftage is a horticultural technique whereby tissues of plants are joined so as to continue their growth together. The upper part of the combined plant is called the scion while the lower part is called the rootstock. You choose the scion for it’s fruiting properties and the rootstock for its soil born disease resistance.

How we got started with grafting & why are we hosting a webinar? 

• A core value of ours on Sweet Beet Farm and at Kearsarge Food Hub learning as we grow, and this means community building and transparency throughout our process of figuring stuff out. We are new to grafting, have learned a lot so far, and are excited to continue in the learning process

• We employ market gardening and intensive growing techniques, because:

  • Our intention is to grow nutritious food with soil health in mind on a small plot of land (less than 2 acres) while making a fair wage doing so. 

  • There are no RIGHT ways but rather models that have been adapted to the environment where they exist. 

• Protected Culture is key

• In cold climates we need protected culture!

  • High tunnels, green houses, hoop houses, row cover, mini-tunnels and much more

  • Allows farmers and home gardeners to extend the growing season and with the power of technology be able to grow year round

  • Creates more opportunities for healthy foods to be produced in our home communities

  • Grafted tomatoes are grown in protective cultures

• The importance of tomatoes for a small market garden

• The most important, profitable crop for small farms 

• Grafting can take tomatoes to another level of profitability 

Advantages of grafting: 

• Soil-born disease resistance

• Plants are more vigorous & produce over a longer period of time (flattens the production curve)

• Yields can increase by up to 50%

• Andrew Mefferd: “When I worked at Johnny's Selected Seeds, I did the grafting and ran rootstock trials at the research farm. For many of those years, the trials were conducted in unheated hoop houses. Most combinations yielded a 30 to 50 percent increase over the ungrafted top variety grown as a comparison— and that was without soil borne disease taking a toll on ungrafted tomato plants.” 
  

Disadvantages of Grafting

• Will not protect from airborne diseases

• It takes time- ½  day of set up and grafting for 100 plants. Subsequent monitoring and adjusting - 30 minutes a day for weeks. 

• Growing 4 times as much tomatoes to account for as low as 50% success rate and seeds are expensive!---Especially greenhouse bred varieties 

Equipment required (for more specifics check out Johnny’s grafting kit)

• Healing  chamber

• Grow lights for babies

• Clean cutting equipment (what is it?)

• Sterilizers 

• Clips

• Stakes

Process

• Start seeds for both rootstock and scion plant ahead of time to do a trial run to see if your timing is right to get both plants to the same diameter for grafting

• How to choose which ones to graft?

  • So many options! Depends on the varieties you want to grow, the environment you’re growing in, and what your problems have been. Search catalogs and reach out to seed suppliers for advice 

• Grafting happens roughly 3 weeks after planting seeds

• Top chop method: chopping the tops of the plants, at the same angle, to then clip the scion on top of the rootstock

• Put into healing chamber so grafted plants can fuse together into one plant

Post-grafting considerations

• Keep in healing chamber for 3-4 days

• Fourth day, we give 20 minutes of light and 20 minutes of fresh air 

• Increased a bit each day, it’s a bit of an experiment

• 6th day, bottom watered, made sure they soaked up water

• By then, 3 hours of light and some air

• A week and half later, 12 hours of light and 1.5 hours of air 

• 2 weeks later, we took them out and treated them like normal plants 

• Very important - don’t bury the grafting scar when you plant them!

For questions, get in touch with Pierre or Julie!

Now seeking applicants for our Farmer Apprentice Program! Learn more & apply.