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Newsletter No. 5
| May 17, 2011 |
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Greetings!
It's been a wild spring for the ACORN team. We started back in March with the publication of our award-winning Addison County Guide to Local Foods and Farmswith the Addison Independent. Then, we hosted the first-ever Addison County Matchmaker at Middlebury College, bringing local growers and buyers together. April brought us the annual Stone Soup Farm to School conference at Middlebury Union High School, followed by the ACORN Annual Meeting at Lincoln Peak Vineyard with Ben Hewitt. Next, Ellen Kahler of the VT Sustainable Jobs Fund came to Middlebury College to talk to us about the Farm-to-Plate strategic plan and what it means for Addison County. Just last week, we co-sponsored a screening of Bloom: The Plight of Lake Champlain at the Town Hall Theater. So it's time to take a breather! Take a moment to enjoy some of the breaking stories we've been following below. Have a great summer, and remember--when you have a choice, support your local growers!
Sincerely,
Jonathan Corcoran
President, ACORN Network |
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Capacity Audience Discusses Bloom Film
and Health of the Lake
by Jonathan Corcoran
 Bloom, a documentary film about the pollution of Lake Champlain, drew a crowd to the Town Hall Theater in Middlebury last Monday, May 9, at a screening co-sponsored by ACORN. Bloom, which is to be the first of four films, examines the causes of lake pollution, including urban storm-water run-off, aging wastewater treatment plants and agricultural fertilizer run-off. Subsequent films will focus on the search for solutions.
The near-capacity audience of citizens, farmers, scientists, community activists, and town, county and state officials participated in a 90-minute conversation about the film, but more importantly about the health of the lake.
This is a complex issue that has developed over four hundred years and accelerated in the last sixty with the dramatic increase in population, development and changes in agriculture. Aging infrastructure, climate change, pets and lawn fertilizers, and invasive species aggravate the problem. Is the lake at a tipping point? The ecology of the lake is biological, political, economic and cultural - it touches us all and reminds us that we are all in this together.
Click to read the rest of the article.
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Thanks for Making Our Annual Meeting a Memorable Success!
 | | Ben Hewitt explains how food helped save the town of Hardwick, VT |
Lincoln Peak Winery filled to capacity for the ACORN Annual Meeting on Thursday, April 14. Over 85 of you arrived for Ben Hewitt's engaging talk related to his book The Town That Food Saved, plus wine tasting, updates on ACORN's latest projects, and plenty of good company.
ACORN Network thanks Chris Granstrom and family at Lincoln Peak, Ben Hewitt, and all of you for convincing us we should do this again next year!
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HOPE Strives for Equal Access to Fresh, Local Food
by Corinne Almquist
For the past two years, the amount of fresh produce distributed at HOPE (Helping Overcome Poverty's Effects) in Middlebury has increased dramatically through the gleaning program and generous donations by individuals and farms. Response from HOPE clients and staff about the availability of local food has been hugely positive, and HOPE is actively exploring new ways to decrease their reliance on canned, processed foods.
This year, HOPE will partner with Jeremy and Caitlin Gildrien at Gildrien Farm in Middlebury to grow specifically for the food shelf. HOPE will purchase a mix of different vegetables from Gildrien Farm, balancing fresh vegetables like lettuce and swiss chard with crops that store easily for later consumption, such as winter squash. Jeanne Montross, executive director of HOPE, is leading the transition from the typical non-perishable foods found at emergency meal sites to fresh, local produce at the Addison County Food Shelf.
HOPE will also continue to support and expand the Addison County Gleaning Program. Jeanne plans to focus on client participation as a major component to the gleaning program this year; she will work to encourage recipients of HOPE donations to join gleaners in the field, picking food for themselves and their neighbors. A Middlebury College poverty intern will act as gleaning coordinator for the summer.
If you would like to spend time helping out in the field or in the kitchen this season, you can contact the Addison Gleaners at gleanaddison@gmail.com. We hope that it will be a fruitful season for farmers and gleaners alike!
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The Tour de Farms Needs Your Help!
by Elizabeth Golden-Pidgeon
The Tour de Farms (a 10, 24 or 30-mile bike ride through Shoreham and Orwell) is scheduled for Sunday, September 18, 2011, and is looking for 12-15 volunteers.
If you aren't planning to ride one of the routes and can spare about 3 hours (sometime between 8 AM and 6 PM), please join us and be part of the fun and frolic! You may even want to take a ride when your work is done! All volunteers will receive a free Tour de Farms event tee-shirt.
Contact Elizabeth Golden-Pidgeon at elizabethgolden@shoreham.net to sign up and be part of the greatest bike tour in the Champlain Valley! Thanks!
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Perspective:
Ellen Kahler Talks Farm to Plate in Addison County
by Suki Fredericks, Oliver Hill Farm
Ellen Kahler's presentation on The Farm to Plate Strategic Plan, given in partnership with ACORN at Middlebury College on April 28, was insightful and heartening. I am excited that the project participants have put insights, creative ideas, community input and data together to come up with such a thorough plan for our state. Many of the needs cited have been around for decades. As noted, there are various types of infrastructural development and collaborations necessary in order for small farms, diversified farms, and organic ones to flourish.
All of this can help redirect agriculture in Vermont towards more economically sustainable and environmentally healthy pathways. And it is encouraging that so many young people are embracing farming organically and in other alternative ways. It is worthwhile to be supportive of them in their endeavors.
Vermont is an incubator in itself! So let us hope this strategic plan can be implemented sooner than later for the benefit of Vermonters, and also demonstrate to others how to make such transformations happen elsewhere. Many thanks to all involved in Farm to Plate.
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Partnership Update:
The Willowell Foundation Promotes Water Conservation by Hannah Mueller, AmeriCorps Member
 Come to the Willowell land for an Open House this Saturday, May 21, between 1 & 5 PM, and a colorful garden of rain barrels will greet you. ACORN partners with Willowell-- the environmental & arts education foundation that supports The Walden Project--to enrich Farm to School in Addison County. This spring Willowell focuses on water with "Rain Drops in the Willow Well," a community art and conservation project.
Thanks to a grant from Disney Friends for Change, Willowell purchased 15 rain barrels and enlisted local artists and school groups to design and paint them. On Saturday, all the barrels will reunite at Willowell for a silent auction. Then, they'll disperse to different corners of Addison County, where lucky barrel owners will use them to capture water from their gutters to wash cars and care for gardens. From what we've glimpsed so far, each barrel promises to be a unique creative feat. (Above, a sneak peak of artist Jeff Rowekamp's barrel.)
More water-related conservation work on display this weekend will be the Pond Brook Wetland restoration area, where local students have already planted hundreds of the 1,200 trees to go in the ground this spring. Through this initiative, the wetlands at Willowell are becoming both an outdoor classroom and a key wildlife corridor for animals including bear, moose, and bobcat. Learn more at www.willowell.org
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Community Gardening Opportunities Abound by Susan Smiley
Three towns and a little city in Addison County have established community gardens in the last several years and make plots available to all comers. Each garden contains twenty plots rented annually, and all have room to grow. Vergennes Community Garden is located at the Northland Job Corps Center at the edge of the center of the city. Bristol's Community Garden is in the village behind Martin's Hardware. Starksboro's garden is behind the Town Hall, and Middlebury Community Garden's new location is beside Porter Hospital.
Each garden has guidelines for plot holders, with greatest emphasis on good plot maintenance and weed control. Middlebury, Bristol and Starksboro till all of the plots annually in advance of planting. Vergennes, in its fourth year, has adopted a no till policy, allowing people to get in early to work the garden's clay soils; without tilling, gardeners can more easily form raised beds and establish perennials. Middlebury has applied compost to its new site, and all the gardens set up compost bins close to the gardens. Each garden provides water for irrigating thirsty plants.
Master gardener classes and workshops on aspects of gardening and food preservation create community connections. Weary gardeners in Bristol will be able to rest and chat at a picnic table set up beside the community garden. Starksboro hosts pot luck dinners at the garden in July and at the end of the harvest season.
Click here for contact information for community gardening in Bristol, Middlebury, Starksboro, and Vergennes.
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Mt. Abe and Ferrisburgh Schools Win Garden Grants
by Hannah Mueller, AmeriCorps Member
 Two Addison County schools won competitive $1,000 grants in March to support their Farm to School gardens. Friends of Burlington Gardens awarded 40 School Community Garden Mini-Grants to schools in VT. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders started the federally-funded grant program. Here in Addison County, we're proud of Ferrisburgh Central School and Mt. Abraham Middle & High School for winning grants based on their gardens' strong teacher/parent/student support.
The Mt. Abe grant, written by teachers Caroline Camara and Cindy Brisson, will fund the installation of an irrigation system. Students will plan, design and install the system before the end of the school year. Judy Elson, who wrote the Ferrisburgh grant, says their school will also use the money to make watering the garden easier by building underground water lines. Both gardens produce hundreds of pounds of food for school meals.
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 Thank you for your interest in the ACORN Network. If you have specific questions about the Network, please e-mail us at info@acornvt.org or call us at 802-382-0401.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Corcoran, President
ACORN Network |
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