Supporting hyper-local and local farmers, food producers, and makers. Nonprofit programs of the Kearsarge Food Hub. In the spring of 2015, the Kearsarge Food Hub (KFH) launched a pilot project, Sweet Beet Farm and Farm Stand, as an opportunity to learn how to grow and sell vegetables, and establish relationships within the local food network. Through this project and complimentary outreach efforts
, founders and a growing group of folks committed to nurturing relationships with farmers, makers, food pantries, schools, thought leaders, food system partners, community organizations, and friends to build bridges between neighbors and their local food source. Since that spring and to this day, these bridges continue to be carefully crafted with a combination of multidimensional education, innovative solutions for widening food access and deepening connections, environmentally and socially conscientious practices, and a shared love of the New Hampshire seasons and the community that grows from this place. With tremendous collaborative effort, KFH has blossomed into a full blown 501c3 nonprofit organization on a mission to reinvigorate the community within a restorative local food system through cultivating food sovereignty, growing engaged learners, and nurturing community. Sweet Beet graduated from a seasonal roadside farm stand to a triad of engines, the farm + market + café, that each feed the food hub ecosystem in their own way. Alongside Unless LLC, owners of the old Bradford Inn at 11 West Main Street and dedicated food hub supporters, the KFH crew has been helping to revive this previously abandoned building and co-creating a shared sense of place in the Kearsarge and surrounding area that is inviting to all neighbors. Sweet Beet Market lives here at 11 West Main and is open year-round, alongside a community-supported commercial kitchen and the soon to be Sweet Beet Café. The market and café gratefully share space with Evergreen Healing Arts with yoga and massage, Circular Blu with sustainable health care consulting and recycling programs, Entroprise with software building, and a community room with events and music soon to return. Sweet Beet Farm now lives at 48 West Road, nestled in the backwoods of Bradford, and the fields at the old farm stand downtown now host a newly formed Farmer Apprenticeship Program. We’re growing food, farmers, and community!
