Neighboring Food Co-ops Frozen Veggies!

Regional Frozen Broccoli

I was delighted (ecstatic?) to discover the regional frozen veggies at the Lebanon Co-op yesterday: broccoli, corn, green beans, and blueberries, the “fruits’ of a collaboration between Sunrise Orchard and the Neighboring Food Co-ops Association. They seem to have arrived on the freezer shelves with little fanfare, yet are a big step forward in our hopes for extending regional food self-reliance. Here’s the scoop on their provenance:

* Blueberries; Highbush blueberries grown by Green Mountain Orchards and Harlow’s Sugar House in Putney, VT. The growers practice Integrated Pest Management (IPM) to control insect pests, weeds and diseases in their fields.

* Green Beans: John Farm in Sauquoit, NY, has been growing a variety of produce since the 1950s. The farm uses Integrated Pest Management (IPM) to produce the Caprice, Labrador and Lewis bean varieties for our frozen green beans.

* Sweet Corn: Delicious, non-GMO sweet corn is grown by Gill Farm in New York State. First planted by John Gill’s grandfather in 1937, the farm now produces a wide variety of produce using Integrated Pest Management (IPM) methods.

* Broccoli: Founded in 1986, Deep Root Organic Co-op is a pioneer in regionally grown organic produce, offering a wide variety of vegetables from their 14 member farms in Vermont and Southern Québec. Their co-op supplies our food co-ops with organically grown broccoli.

For more info see http://nfca.coop/farmtofreezer

Yum!