We moved to the farm in December of last year. Since then we have had the time to plan and dream. At the same time we are also realizing how many resources we need to make this project come true.
We applied to a PRODUCE SAFETY grant through the agency of Agriculture last month. We envisioned success and believed that our project is worthy of support. We love what we do and nourishing our community is our greater goal.
We started the week off delighted to find out that we got the grant proposed and received the maximum funding available! The grant is aimed to help us create an efficient and safe wash station for all the delicious produce. We are going to completely redo part of our almost a century old barn, where we will spend many comfortable hours washing, packing, and selling the fruits of our land and labor. It is in the plan to
create a farm stand in the front part of the barn where the community can access fresh food when its most convenient for them.
Life is a dance, a huge balancing act. For abundance and opportunity also come with closing doors and changes. So while we got the good news, we are also settling into the increasing chance that we will not be part of the Capitol City Farmers market in Montpelier.
This will challenge us and bring us the opportunity to focus in directing our resources to create community spaces here on the farm where we plan to accomplish our mission:
"Serve our community, improving our natural landscape, promoting a healthy living."
We will use this opportunity to develop space here on the farm to host community events.
We also recently were awarded a grant to attend a "F
arm-based Education" Workshop at Shelburne Farms. This program is supported by the Farm Based education Network and we had the opportunity to learn how important farms
are in the context of environmental education in our communities.
So we are inspired to bring all these learning experiences to our farm through a process that will include creating the conditions for you to come visit Ananda Gardens in an exciting, comfortable, and safe environment.
So for now we will be focused on building our wash station with a farm stand.
We are planing to host events such as an opening of the seasons festival, a Climate Change film festival, and picnics at the farm. We will send more details as summer approaches.
Thank you for your support and please consider giving us a recommendation on Front Porch Forum. This is a great way for us to connect with people of our community that might be interested in receiving their su
mmer produce direct from our farm delivered!
FOR ALL PARENTS WITH YOUNG CHILDREN
We are creating a farm-to-childcare coop with a group of moms for a couple of weeks this summer. This is something that we are starting to explore so if you are interested in being part of this summer adventure please feel free to contact Melisa (info@anandagardens.com, 802-223-1951)
