more hope

[chelidon]

Vermont Foodbank To Grow Fresh Veggies

Warren, Vermont - July 24, 2008

The Vermont Foodbank will soon have a new way to provide area food shelves with fresh fruits and vegetables.

The foodbank is buying a 20-acre farm in Warren. The deal closes in December, and the foodbank hopes it will be able to plant its first crops in the spring. It expects to grow as much as 150,000 pounds of food, such as seasonal greens like spinach and root vegetables that have a long shelf life.

"Many low-income Vermonters find that purchasing fresh, wholesome food, primarily fruits and vegetables, can be the most expensive things in the shopping cart," said Vermont Foodbank Executive Director Doug O'Brien. "So we want to ensure we can provide wholesome produce, locally procured, to as many low-income Vermonters as we can."

The foodbank says the land was purchased for a bargain price of $225,000, thanks to a partnership with the Vermont Land Trust and local communities that wanted to preserve the land as a working farm.

Kate Duffy - WCAX News

Comments

[jennlynn-green.livejournal.com]

WOO-HOO! That is so wonderful...

Whole foods on the table for all!

[chelidon.livejournal.com]

Seriously...good stuff!

[america-divine.livejournal.com]

Wow! Excellent precedent.

[chelidon.livejournal.com]

I'm liking it...people are starting to get a clue, and besides the huge benefit of feeding people real food instead of cheap manufactured garbage, I think more folks are starting to look at the long-term, and what systems are likely to have to be like in the not-too-distant future (local, direct, sustainable, etc)

[shapeinthclouds.livejournal.com]

local food= less transportation=happier skies

[ravenedgewalker.livejournal.com]

that is very cool!

[chelidon.livejournal.com]

I think New England is in better shape than many other areas to deal with resource shortages -- I mean, the cold winters are rough, but people will cluster together and it'll work, folks have been living here (and much further north, too) for a long, long time, well before modern heat and insulation and such. But food/farm-wise, the small farm culture here, the cultural combination of individualism tempered with a strong sense of community and neighborliness, and the strength of alternative/no-till/organic/etc forms of agriculture is a good thing...