With the holidays just around the corner, we’re encouraging folks to buy local whenever possible. Here are a few delicious ways to support Vermont farmers and food producers this season:

🍎 Sip local with apple cider from Champlain Orchards

🧀 Elevate your charcuterie with cheese from Blue Ledge Farm and cured meats from Vermont Salumi

🍨 Sweeten Christmas dinner with eggnog and ice cream from Strafford Organic Creamery

🍫 Fill those stockings with treats from Prophecy Chocolate and Sweet Mountain Chocolates

As you wrap up your holiday shopping, keep an eye out for these incredible Vermont-made products — and so many others.

Spending Vermont dollars locally keeps money circulating in our state, supports local jobs, strengthens small businesses, and builds community resilience.

Happy Holidays from Green Mountain Farm Direct. 🎄🎄🎄

This fall at Charleston Elementary’s Garden Club and Junior Farmer after-school programs, students have been busy learning and creating together! From seed saving and felting wool to making homemade ranch dressing, kids explored where food comes from, discovered new skills, and whipped up some tasty snacks along the way. 🥕✨

🍂Our Fall Newsletter Is Out Today! 🍂

From harvest season highlights and student learning to community partnerships and fresh ideas for the year ahead, our Fall 2025 Newsletter is packed with stories from across the Northeast Kingdom and beyond. 🍎

Thank you for being part of our farm-to-school community — let us know what you enjoy most!

Link in bio to read the newsletter and to subscribe to our email list.

Pictured:

1.) GMFTS Executive Director, Catherine Cusack, signs the Milk with Dignity Agreement as a representative of Vermont Way Foods.

2.) A student looks at his school’s garden harvest in Craftsbury.

3.) Brownington students work together to carry summer squash they gleaned from the field at Cabot Smith Farm.

4.) Apples from our producer partner, Hall’s Orchard, labeled to send out to our various customer partners.

Last week, two of our staff members, Elyse and Hilary, attended the National Farm to Cafeteria Conference in Albuquerque, NM, joining more than 1,000 representatives from all 50 states. Together, participants connected, shared insights, and explored new ways to strengthen our food system through education, local purchasing, and institutional change. 🍎🍽️

A few standout topics:

-Student leadership in transforming school food
-Food access + nutrition interventions
-Value-based procurement and farm-to-school wins
-Building bridges between teachers and food service teams
-Soil, sustainability, and community partnerships

It was inspiring to see how states and organizations across the country are advancing food education and improving school meals (it was fun to see our friends from NOFA-VT there too)! Hilary and Elyse returned energized—with a bundle of fresh ideas to deepen our work in classrooms, cafeterias, and beyond!🌱

This year’s November Harvest of the Month Taste Test at Troy School had a special twist — it was served at the school’s Thanksgiving dinner for families! 🧡🍽️

Ms. Flynn’s 2nd graders used crinkle cutters to chop butternut squash for a delicious butternut squash gratin. Along the way, they explored different types of winter squash and even created a colorful sign to announce the Harvest of the Month.

Hands-on learning, community connection, and local food — that’s what farm-to-school is all about! 🍂🥕🌱

Last month at Coventry Village School, Ms. Sarault’s first graders explored November’s Harvest of the Month — winter squash! Students practiced safe chopping skills with two-handed cutters and discovered different types of winter squash. Once all the squash was prepped, we turned it into a delicious butternut squash soup for November’s lunchtime Taste Test. 🥣

💚 Match Unlocked! 💚

Thanks to you, we officially reached the full Giving Tuesday match from Vermont Barn Angels! Your generosity turned $2,000 into $4,000, supporting farms, schools, and communities across the Northeast Kingdom and Vermont.

We’re now one step closer to meeting our year-end fundraising goal of $35,000. With your support, we have just over $20,000 left to raise in December to fully fund our programs for the coming year.

If you’ve already given — thank you so much. If you haven’t had a chance yet, could you help us cross the finish line? Gifts of every size truly make a difference.

Because of donors like you, this past year we were able to:

🌱 Connect 23,050 Vermont students to fresh, locally sourced food for school meals


🧑‍🌾 Engage 2,200 Northeast Kingdom children in hands-on farm-to-school education


🚚 Support 60 Vermont farmers and food producers through product sales and distribution


🥗 Provide hunger relief to hundreds of families with nutritious whole foods and meals


🌾🥕 Thank you for helping strengthen Vermont’s local food system!

Link in bio to make a donation. 💛

We’re excited to be halfway towards meeting our Giving Tuesday match! We need your help to get the rest of the way! 💛

Every dollar donated today is DOUBLED thanks to our generous match from Vermont Barn Angels. ✨ Your gift supports farm-to-school education, local farms, and food access programs across the Northeast Kingdom and Vermont.

Just $1,000 to go! Help us cross the finish line: double your impact before midnight!

Link in bio to pitch in now. 🌱