Hi CKP folks!
> Here's a volunteer opportunity for this Friday, Oct. 17, from 9 am - 
> noonish. Volunteers are needed to help harvest pumpkins for the "Pies 
> for People" project. The pies will be donated to the Hardwich food 
> Pantry in November. If you're interested in volunteering please 
> contact Joe Speidel, [log in to unmask], for more details. 
> Transportation to and from the project will be provided, they just 
> need people to help harvest the pumpkins.
> All the best,
> Sarah
>
> DETAILS:
>
> Pies for the People
>
> The Center for an Agricultural Economy, based in Hardwick, VT, is 
> working on pulling together a project called "Pies for the People" to 
> bake and donate 500 pumpkin pies to the Hardwick Food Pantry and other 
> community organizations in November.
>
> The squash from Foote Brook Farm in Johnson, VT will be harvested and 
> processed by UVM students, transported by Vermont Soy folks and 
> trucks, processed at Pete's Greens, recipes developed from Claire’s 
> Restaurant, cooked at Sterling College with students using Cabot 
> butter, local milk and flour, quick frozen, and then delivered weekly 
> to the local food pantry. We are doing it as a challenge to the rest 
> of the greater Hardwick community to bake 500 more pies for the food 
> bank in November. It is possible that this will get picked up on and 
> become a statewide challenge next year based on our experience in 
> Hardwick - we are exploring that now. Other parts of the state would 
> specialize in their own local produce.
>
> Friday, October 17th
> 9 AM to 12:30 PM
> Foote Brook Farm, Johnson, VT
> Ride available for 3-4 students from a staff member from the UVM 
> Office of Federal, State, and Community Relations
>
> Directions: Travel to Johnson via Route 15 heading east (a little more 
> than an hour travel time). We will be harvesting the squash on fields 
> owned by Foote Brook Farm and used by Tom Stearns at High Mowing Seeds.
>
> Tom Stearns from High Mowing Seeds will be parked on the left side 
> (north) at the intersection of Foote Brook (Hill) Road and Route 15 
> (just before the farm stand which is on the right) probably in a 
> maroon Subaru at 9:00 AM on Friday October 17th. His cell number is 
> 224-6301. We will all travel up Foote Brook (Hill) Road to the field 
> where his butternut squashes are in the field.
>
> We will harvest about 750 pounds of squash into vehicles for 
> transport. This should not take more than an hour or so. Then it is 
> off to Pete’s Greens in Craftsbury (about 40 minutes away at most) 
> where the squash will be off-loaded, washed and prepared. At that 
> point that should conclude your official role in this project. If 
> there is any extra time, then you can see Sterling College and perhaps 
> come to the office in Hardwick on your return trip. Or grab a sandwich 
> at the Craftsbury general store.
>
> Description of Foote Brook Farm: Tony Lehouillier
>
> 641 Vermont Route 15 West
> Route 15 West Johnson (just outside of the village)
> Johnson VT
> p: 635-1775
>
> “Tony Lehouillier started Foote Brooke Organic farm, on Rte 15 in 
> Johnson, in 1995. In the last ten years he has expanded his operation 
> from just a 1/2 acre of lettuce to almost 45 acres of organically 
> grown vegetables. These include four varieties of lettuce, three 
> varieties of kale, collards, three varieties of potatoes, rutabagas, 
> turnips, summer squash, zucchini, and six varieties of winter squash. 
> Other smaller crops including greenhouse tomatoes are grown for local 
> weekly farmers’ markets and for Foote Brook Farm's own farm stand. The 
> Foote Brook Farm Stand is open 7 days a week on Rte 15 West in Johnson.”
>
> This hits many targets simultaneously;
>
> 1. Great collaborative project with many parties
> 2. First project with UVM collaboration
> 3. New strategic partners with Sterling College
> 4. Uses a local, organic, by-product (the squashes are left over from 
> our seed harvest and typically get composted in the field after 
> extraction)
> 5. Gets healthy food to people who need it and a crucial time of year 
> when the economy is tanking, heating season is upon us and 
> Thanksgiving season
>
> This project is in direct response to the Hardwick Gazette article 
> regarding the shortages at the Hardwick Food Pantry. As it turns out, 
> this year several producers are better equipped to meet this challenge 
> which is why we can even consider moving forward at this time.
>
> We will be looking for both local and statewide press.
>

-- 
Sarah J. Heim
Campus Kitchens Coordinator
A*VISTA Vermont Campus Compact
University of Vermont, Student Life
Dudley H. Davis Center
(802).656.2060
www.uvm.edu/~csp

The Department of Student Life's mission is to foster an inclusive culture of student leadership development, community involvement, and programming in order to develop a socially just community of lifelong learners.