VERMONT & NEW HAMPSHIRE LOCALVORES  PROJECT... 
localvore kettle  updated 04/22/09

The Upper Valley Food Co-op prepared a Local Veggy Soup in honor of the January Localvore Challenge.   (photo by Sharon Mueller)


In August 2005, a dozen Upper Valley Localvores challenged themselves to eating foods grown within a 100-mile radius of home.  Since then, at least ten other localvore challenges have sprouted up around VT and NH with thousands of localvores committing themselves to eating locally grown foods! There are pods in the Champlain Valley, Mad River Valley, Addison County, Montpelier, Rutland, Brookfield, Brattleboro, Keene, Portsmouth, and the North East Kingdom as well as the Upper Valley. Vibrant groups of local food advocates have organized potlucks, workshops, film-showings, talks, socials and other events.  There has been collaboration with local food co-ops, farmers markets, restaurants, Valley Food and Farm, NOFA-VT, and VEI. Recipes have been created and shared, with lots of brainstorms and organizational meetings, blogs, and a great infusion of energy around local food and regional food self-reliance.


 Click here for the "pod" nearest you on the Localvore pod map  (click on the map to zoom in to see the fine print); or see links below for more information.    


Some Localvore recipes to sample:
http://www.vitalcommunities.org/Agriculture/localvore/localvore_resources.htm#recipes



Successful Localvore Organizing Strategies   

GETTING A LOCAL GROUP STARTED

1. Invite a group of potentially-interested friends to a Localvore potluck. Ask each guest to bring food that has been grown locally.  Give guests an opportunity to "introduce" their contributions, including sources of ingredients. Discuss the possibility of an upcoming Localvore Challenge week or month. With a few committed friends you are ready to proceed!

2. Set a Localvore Challenge date. Summer might be best for your first challenge; it gives you an opportunity to talk with farmers and producers at farm stands and farmers markets. Those personal relationships add flavor to your food!

3. Set up a Localvore information table at your local farmers market, co-op, and at local events.  Samples of Localvore food and recipes tend to draw people in. (Local food advocates in the Brattleboro area created a Localvore "Starter Kit" with about a dozen local foods, such as local dried beans, flour, cornmeal, cider vinegar, honey, etc and information on Localvores which they used as a very successful fundraiser.) It helps to have a web site to which you can refer people for more info. Provide free samples of localvore dishes, recipes and Locally Grown Directories at the tables

4. Publicize your challenge.  Write a letter to the editor of your local paper inviting others to join the challenge. (You may not get a lot of response initially but you will have planted a seed.) Use local newsletters, radio, local TV to promote your challenge. Let's get "Localvore" into the vernacular!

5.  Develop a list of local sources for food. In summer, fruits and vegetables may be easy to find (in your own garden?) but sources for items like apple cider vinegar, sunflower oil, bread flour, wheat berries, corn meal, etc may be more challenging. Distribute the list to all those interested.

6. Ask questions and make suggestions at stores, co-ops, farm stands, farmers markets, restaurants.  Lobby for local options!

7. Have a potluck supper to kick-off the Challenge week/month. Create a community of localvores. (Montpelier Localvores found that a sign-board posted outside the site of their potluck, posted a week in advance, was a cheap and effective form of advertising!)

8. Have a post-challenge gathering. Plan another Challenge!


ADDITIONAL TIPS

Collaborate with your local grocery or co-op.  Co-ops and community grocery stores were very receptive to the Localvore idea and with a little help from organizers supported the challenges in the following ways:
•    Created “Locally produced” labels to put on their produce and bulk bins
•    Ran information about the localvore challenge in their regular ads and newsletters
•    Offered “Localvore” selections in their cafés and delis
•    Added local beans and grains to their bulk section
•    Published handouts listing all the locally grown/raised products in their store

Host community events to educate the public prior to the Challenge:
Well-publicized community potlucks (often held in church basements) were critical for introducing the public to the idea of a localvore challenge. 
•    Central Vermont had pre-challenge community-wide potlucks at which they showed a video and had a panel discussion with local farmers and bakers
•    Brattleboro hosted free localvore pancake breakfasts and a recipe contest

Make it easy and fun to participate
•    Champlain Valley/Burlington had bulk orders of rolled oats, popcorn and black beans ready for sale at their kick-off party in the Intervale
•    Butterfly Bakery in Montpelier offered classes on cooking with maple syrup

Publicity
•    Send out press releases and invite the local media to events
•    Give presentations to local groups (e.g. the Chamber of commerce, the Sierra Club)

Ask local inns, restaurants, schools and bakeries to serve local items on their menus during the challenge
•    The Burlington group contracted with Red Hen bakery for a localvore loaf that people purchased in advance
•    Many restaurants offered “Localvore” specials on their menus during the challenge.  Restaurants and inns are more likely to participate if they are approached in person.  It helps if there is a chef, innkeeper or restaurateur in your organizing group
•    Mad River Valley gave a presentation in a local school with a sympathetic chef and had 33 children sign pledges! The children created a cookbook of localvore recipes.

Fundraising
•    Addison County asked local businesses to sponsor their challenge.  For only $25 a business could become a sponsor and have their logo printed on our literature.
•    Mad River Valley sold books at their events to raise funds


VT, NH & ME LOCALVORE LINKS (this is not exhaustive!)

Champlain Valley Eat Local
http://www.eatlocalvt.org
info@eatlocalvt.org

UVM-Slade Hall Localvores
Contact: Emily Tompkin
etompkin@uvm.edu

Mad River Valley Localvores
http://www.vermontlocalvore.org
Contact: Robin McDermott
info@vermontlocalvore.org

Central Vermont Localvores
http://centralvtlocalvores.pbwiki.com
Contact: Flo Miller/Sharon Plumb
vermontlocalvores@gmail.com

Upper Valley Localvores (White River Jct/Lebanon area)
http://www.uvlocalvore.com
Contact: Pat McGovern
pmcgovern@valley.net

Sustainable Living Center at Dartmouth College
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~slc
Contact: Matt Cloyd
matthew.j.cloyd@dartmouth.edu

Dartmouth Ecovores
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecovore
Contact: Margi Dashevsky,
Marguerite.N.Dashevsky@dartmouth.edu

Sunapee Localvores
http://www.greatgrandmother.org
Contact: Mario Capozzoli
mario@iteamne.com


Hannah Grimes Localvores
http://www.hannahgrimes.com/Projects/Localvore 
Contact: Jen Risley
jennifer@hannahgrimes.com

Lakes Region Localvores (Wolfboro,NH area)
http://www.galacommunity.org
contact@GalaCommunity.org


Windham Localvores (Brattleboro area)
http://www.windhamlocalvores.org
info@windhamlocalvores.org


Seacoast Eat Local (NH)
http://www.seacoasteatlocal.org
Contact: Sara Zoe Patterson
seacoasteatlocal@gmail.com

Addison County Localvores (Middlebury area)
http://www.acornvt.org/localvore.html
Contact: Bay Hammond
hamfam@together.net

Northeast Kingdom Localvores (St. Johnsbury area)
http://neklocalvores.wordpress.com 
nekfood@gmail.com

Rutland Area Localvores
http://www.rutlandfarmandfood.org
Contact: Carol Tashie
rutlandfarmandfood@gmail.com

Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Center Localvores
Contact: Martha Zoerheide
martha.e.zoerheide@hitchcock.org

Springfield(VT)Localvores
Contact: Sharon Mueller
sharonm@vermontel.net

Southwestern Vermont Eat Local
http://vteatlocal.org
Contact: Mary Barrosse Schwartz
localvore@comcast.net

Rationale for Eating Locally

Knowing where our food comes from, and how it is grown or raised, enables us to choose food from farmers who avoid or reduce reliance on chemical additives, and foods which are waxed, irradiated and genetically-modified.

Buying locally supports our local farmers and our local economy. It cuts down on transportation costs, since the average distance food travels in America is 1,500 and 2,500 miles from farm to
plate.1

Simply buying 10% of our most common fruits and vegetables locally would save more than 300,000 gallons of fossil fuel and keep up to 9 million pounds of CO2 from being
emitted. 2


1 Brian Halweil. 2002. Home Grown. Worldwatch Institute. url: http://www.worldwatch.org/pubs/paper/163/orderpage.html).
2 *Pirog, R., "Food,Fuel and Freeways"; Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture.

Statewide VT & NH food groups:
http://www.nofavt.org =  NOFA = Northeast Organic Farmers Association (NOFA-VT); has locations of organic farms http://www.vermontagriculture.com/  and  www.nh.gov/agric/ = Departments of Agriculture (VT & NH)
http://www.centeronhunger.org/states/nh.html  = Food Security in NH
http://www.vtpeakoil.net/index.html  = VPON  = Vermont Peak Oil Network =  a state-wide network of individuals and groups working regionally on issues of relocalization and sustainabilty.
http://www.postoilsolutions.org  Post Oil Solutions of Brattleboro has an August, 2006 Localvore Challenge
http://www.vitalcommunities.org/Agriculture/localvore/localvorehome.htm   VitalCommunities of the Upper Valley has an extensive section on food sources


Other related localvore links:
http://www.100milediet.org/ This web site allows you to calculate a 100 radius of your home for eating locally.
http://Worldwatch.org/features/food   Features what individuals can do,"Tale of Two Tomatoes", links, info on the book "Eat Here:Reclaiming Homegrown Pleasures in a Global Supermarket" by Brian Halweil
http://www.sustainabletable.org/    Features issues (ex. animal welfare, antibiotics, genetic engineering, fossil fuels, health,), sustainable food in schools, recipes, cookbook reviews, feature articles.
http://www.locavores.com    Culinary adventurers supporting food grown within 100-mile radius of San Francisco with rationale, recipes, food and cooking links.
http://www.localharvest.org   
Locate farms, CSAs,food co-ops and restaurants that feature local foods across the U.S.
http://vitalcommunities.org/Agriculture/agriculture.htm  Locally Grown Guide (for much of VT and NH);Tidbits newsletter; Dartmouth Local Food initiative; Localvores: rationale, recipes, food sources, etc.
http://www.farmtotable.org/index.php?cmd=F2TNews&method=view&id=121
http://www.vtcommons.org/node/189
Article by Bill McKibben "Can Vermont Feed Itself?". (After reading this excellent article, click on "Journal" in the menu and scroll down to Issue 6 October 2005; the entire issue is dedicated to local foods in VT.)
http://www.coopfoodstore.com/html/about_producers.html    Photos and descriptions of many VT/NH farmers supplying the Hanover/Lebanon-Co-op. See "Issues" in menu: excellent articles on food issues.
http://www.coopfoodstore.com/news/Archives/arch_9_04/editor.html   "Shopping for the Common Wealth"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4312591.stm      Features article "Local Food "Greener than Organic"
http://www.museletter.com/archive/159.html  "What Will We Eat as the Oil Runs Out" by Richard Heinberg, FEASTA Conference, Dublin, Ireland, June 2005.
http://www.omorganics.org/page.php?pageid=197   "Think Locally and Act Neighborly"; a comprehensive rationale for eating locally-grown foods

updated 04/22/09
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