Welcome Back All!
Now that almost everyone is back to school, our school food service teams have expressed how great it is that we're starting to see our kids in cafeterias again. While this is not the case everywhere yet, we're feeling hopeful for the future and thankful for the opportunity to serve our school communities.
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National Fruits & Vegetables Month
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September is National Fruits and Vegetables Month! While The Abbey Group celebrates these natural nutritional powerhouses all year long, we wanted to give them some extra love in their dedicated national month in addition to our regular commitment to Harvest of the Month.
Not only are fruits and veggies a cornerstone of each of our meals, they are also the cornerstone behind our working relationships with local farms. Local produce is certainly fresh and delicious, but by purchasing local we are supporting and strengthening our communities. We always strive to provide local produce whenever possible!
Did you know? We post new recipes to try at home that include the Harvest of the Month on the first of each month. You can find them by going to your school's Abbey Group nutrition website and clicking on "Harvest of the Month" under the "Menus" tab!
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Local Food Field Trip: West Farm
Jeffersonville, Vermont
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Speaking of vegetables, back at the beginning of August, some of our Northern Vermont Abbey Group crew had the pleasure of attending a workshop hosted by Vermont FEED, NOFA-VT, and SNA-VT at West Farm in Jeffersonville, Vermont. West Farm is a 10-acre non-profit organic vegetable farm that is operated by Angus Baldwin, pictured above, in partnership with the Brewster Uplands Conservation Trust and the Vermont Land Trust.
The mission of the farm is to ensure that good, nutrient dense food is available to all in their community. They currently sell to schools, hospitals, and institutions, as well as through the Deep Roots Organic Coop and a handful of retail stores. We are lucky enough to have a great working relationship with West Farm and rely on Angus and his team to provide high-quality veggies to a number of our accounts.
The workshop included a walking (and tasting!) tour of the farm, a seminar on new local purchasing incentives in Vermont, and a meal prep activity featuring rainbow veggie wraps complete with freshly harvested West Farm produce. To learn more about West Farm, you can visit them on Facebook and Instagram.
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From North Country High School in Newport, VT and Swanton Elementary School in Swanton, VT, this month we are sharing a few photos of just some of the amazing "Welcome Back!" meal spreads that our teams have been serving up. Outdoor meal service in school communities has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, and we don't think that is a bad thing! We're also thrilled to be catering our school events again, too.
Do you know of a food service employee going above and beyond? Did a recent meal knock your socks off? We want you to tell us about it! In our coming newsletters, we will feature our employees, schools, communities, events, etc. that are demonstrating our commitment to fresh! Nominate someone or something for public kudos by e-mailing our Director of Marketing, Cassie Fraser, at cassandra@abbeygroup.net with a photo and why they deserve some extra special recognition.
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Stay tuned for our October issue where we will update you on our latest happenings and highlight National Vegetarian Month.
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