Stockbridge Community Meals
We began with a conversation.
In the summer of 2021, a septuagenarian, a farmer, and two cooks sat at a kitchen table and wondered if we could create a green food project that would benefit our entire community. Looking at the mainstream food economy, we saw room for improvement: vis a vis local livelihood, public health, the health of the planet, and food security. We wondered if we could address all those issues, holistically, by strengthening our local food economy.
What if, we wondered, we were to start by paying local farmers and independent markets for produce and meat, and paying local cooks to transform those local products into wholesome and delicious, prepared food? And what if we were to make that healthy, lower-carbon-footprint, prepared food readily available for all of us with the understanding that each of us would contribute monetarily at the level we could afford, from nothing at all to more than the cost of the food?
With our vision in mind, we began tackling the logistics.
First, we needed to figure out where and when we would make the prepared food available. We have been immensely fortunate that the principal of Stockbridge Central School, Lindy Stetson, has made it possible for us to install a freezer in a small building on the school grounds, that the school staff has been able to open this building to the public after school hours at 2:45, and that the janitor has been able to close the building before he leaves at 7:00 p.m. Thank you, Stockbridge Central School!
Then we needed startup money to buy the freezer and to begin paying the farmers and cooks. We have been immensely fortunate that the Stockbridge Trustees of Public Funds have approved startup money to partially fund our project with the understanding that the level of support will decrease as the project becomes more self-sustaining. Thank you, Stockbridge Trustees of Public Funds!
Other logistics included finding the appropriate containers. Eugenie Smith, one of the cooks, took a deep dive in to food container research. When she came up for air, she recommended that we invest in the greenest and healthiest option: reusable glass containers that can go directly from the freezer to the microwave with no risk of chemical contamination of the food. We ask our customers, ourselves included, to return the containers to the site.
Otto Pierce, a farmer who also directs a Stockbridge artists’ residency, The Sable Project, worked with Berto Guido, one of the artists-in-residence, to create our welcoming logo and sign. The circular logo sticker is affixed to the container lids and have proven to hold up even after multiple trips through the dishwasher. Rectangular labels are used on the side of the containers to note information about the food, such as ingredients and sources, and if the meals are organic, vegetarian, vegan, and/or gluten-free.
The goal is to become self-sustaining and a model for other rural communities by developing a broad and steady customer base including those who can afford to pay more as well as those who cannot.
In order to be sure that we are supporting rather than competing with the one, small but mighty restaurant in town (which is also a vibrant cultural hub with live music), a standing order was placed with The Wild Fern for 15 pizzas a week.
Stockbridge Community Meals officially opened in September 2021 with the taglines Locally Sourced, Community-Supported, Farm-to-Table Meals for Everyone. The goal is to become self-sustaining and a model for other rural communities by developing a broad and steady customer base including those who can afford to pay more as well as those who cannot.
Thanks to the generosity of the Stockbridge community, we are off to a great start.
In 2022, our first full year of operation, in a rural town with a population of 711 and no grocery store, 10,776 servings of wholesome, largely organic, prepared food were distributed; 37 percent of our costs were covered by customer support. In order to grow and stabilize our revenue stream, and to sustain universal access, community members who can afford to do so are now invited to commit to ongoing support of this project by signing up for our flexible Prepared Food CSA. CSA subscribers simultaneously purchase convenient, delicious food; lower their food-related carbon footprint; address food insecurity; and provide consistent support for our local farmers, cooks, and this project.
The project has been popular with our community. Shortly after we opened, a local resident posted on Stockbridge social media: “Many thanks to the organizers, participants, local farmers and chefs for the new Stockbridge Community Meals! Our family enjoyed our very first selection of some mighty fine meals from its freezer last night. You can tell someone with serious cooking “chops” prepared. What a phenomenal idea to serve the Stockbridge community and applause for superb execution…. Happy to enjoy, and happy to support.”
A woman who had been recently widowed called to say how much she appreciates access to this wholesome, prepared food. Retirees, dependent on social security, tell us how hard it is to get by and how helpful it is to have ready access to nutritious food. Multiple regular customers express how proud they are to live in a town that has delicious, locally sourced food universally available, and that they brag about the project with out-of-towners who say they wish they had something similar.
One of our CSA subscribers conveyed that he subscribed to support the community effort, but that he and his wife have found they very much appreciate the convenience and tastiness of the meals on a regular basis. Another regular customer wrote to say “SCM has been a blessing for this too-busy-vegetarian-single-mom-with-a-carnivore-child! I’m so happy to support this endeavor!”
The project also has been popular with our local providers. One of our cooks says this is her dream job: being paid to cook for her community. Birdsong Farm, one of our primary suppliers of vegetables and other farm-raised products, appreciates the significant boost that our business has been to theirs, and they are thrilled that the project helps them feed more people. Roma’s Butchery, a local meat purveyor in South Royalton, is happy for our business and delighted to be able to send us customers who cannot afford to shop in her store. The proprietor of The Wild Fern is an enthusiastic fan of SCM and grateful for the stability that the project has contributed to her business.
In addition, the local business community has been generous with support. Roma’s Butchery gives the project a generous discount. South Royalton Market also gives us a generous discount and provides periodic donations of food as well. When Fat Dragon Farm transitioned from a CSA garden to a teaching garden in 2022, they generously donated produce. (We continue to purchase Fat Dragon Farm pizza whenever it is available!) Vermont Fresh Pasta donates ravioli that they think of as seconds but that we think of as delicious! Stockbridge musician Bow Thayer has offered to play for a benefit, and Kevin Travis has offered the renovated Cobble House as a venue. Thank you, local business partners!
Stockbridge Community Meals celebrates our interdependence with each other and the land. We are profoundly grateful to be living in this beautiful corner of the earth with people helping one another as best we can. Big thanks to everyone who is participating in this project, and to the land and the people feeding us!
AN EXPERIMENT IN LOCALIZATION
- The mainstream food economy is not working for everyone.
- Two out of five Vermonters are now food insecure, up from one in four.
- Stockbridge Community Meals is an experiment in creating a local food economy that works for the entire community.
- In 2022, almost all of the $78,404 spent on our food-related labor and materials went to local farms, cooks, and independent markets—community money stayed in the community.
- Our locally sourced, prepared food is available for everyone, regardless of ability to pay.
- The entire community is invited to make use of the food.
- People are encouraged to pay as they are able.
