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Healthy Corners Expands as it enters its 3rd Cohort!
The Fresh Choice (aka Healthy Corners) program aims to bridge “grocery gaps” where food access is limited by providing local corner stores with all the tools necessary to grow their business and serve the community by increasing access to locally grown fruits, vegetables and culturally significant produce grown by new America farmers here in NH.
This program is on its 3rd cohort of store owners who are committed to serving their community, increasing healthy food access and growing their businesses.
We would like to highlight Himalayas General Store, the latest store to be onboarded into the Fresh Choice program and the first of the 3rd cohort!
Himalayas is run by Indu and Subash. They took over from the original owners in December 2019 and have been your one-stop-shop for all your South Asian grocery store needs for 4 years. Himalayas prioritizes bringing hard-to-find food items from their home country to service their customers.
If you haven’t been to Himalayas yet or are unfamiliar with South Asian foods, we highly recommend checking out their Facebook which is always being updated with simple, flavorful and approachable South Asian recipes for your fresh fruits and veg.
Indu and Subash have plans to increase the store’s offerings by adding new products, including American convenience items and farm fresh Halal meats (like mutton and chicken). They also plan to initiate an online ordering and delivery service to provide another convenient option for their customers.
We are honored to be partnering with Himalayas and contributing to their mission of addressing the lack of fresh South Asian foods that connect people to their heritage here in Manchester.
Updates
The team finished planting seedlings at Spring Ledge Farm (where we utilize greenhouse space before transferring to the fields at our Concord and Dunbarton Farms)!
In the next few weeks the seedlings will get hardened off (aka, exposed to cooler temperatures, lower humidity and increased air flow) before being picked up for planting after the mid-May frost date.
Tilling is scheduled to begin April 29th! After focusing on getting the fields cleaned and prepped, the farmers will till their fields to aerate the soil to permit moisture and air to permeate. This process is very important as it allows seeds to germinate, discourages weeds from growing and integrates nutrients and fertilizers into the soil.
The Produce Safety Alliance (PSA) lead a Food Safety training entirely in Kinyarwanda, a language spoken by many of our farmers who are from Rwanda, Congo and Burundi. This training gave 17 of our farmers a chance to learn about Food Safety Regulations and best practices in their native language.
Projects on the horizon: fencing, irrigation, planting! The farmers and NASAP team are excited to get into the fields!
Updates
Our Fresh Start Food Hub & Market is a food access point where we make local and imported fresh foods available for center city Manchester.
Featured at our market this week:
Backyard Farm Tomatoes $1.20/lb
Ataulfo Mangos $1 each
Avocados $1.50 each
Protecting Certified Organic Produce
For Processing and Handling
Fresh Start Food Hub is in the process of creating an Organic Systems Plan that will outline how we handle and protect the certified organic produce that moves through our hub.
The new Strengthening Organic Enforcement Act that went into effect in March requires that facilities handling organic produce obtain organic certification in order to continue to use the label “organic” for products that are certified organic when they enter the facility.
You’ll notice that currently, we are have dropped the word “organic” from produce you see in your FarmShare. Many of the products are from certified organic farms, but we aren’t able to label them as organic until the Food Hub’s certification is in place.
We are working to get certified to ensure that we can still give our organic produce and producers the certification that they work so hard to maintain.
In the mean time, if you are wondering which products in your FarmShare are organically grown, you can visit the “Meet Your Producers” page on our website to see the list of certified organic farms we source from.
Farmshare CSA
Highlights from this week's bounty
Salad Mix, first harvest from our Fresh Start Farmer Sylvain!
Spinach, Stout Oak Farm
Pea Shoots, Stout Oak Farm
Cilantro, Hungry Heart Farm
Oyster Mushrooms, Dunks Mushrooms
Featured Pantry Item
Heiwa Organic Tofu
Heiwa tofu is back in stock and is handcrafted in small batches using organic, non-GMO soybeans grown on Maine and New England farms.
STORE OPENS MONDAY AT 4PM!
When you refer a friend to our FarmShare and they sign-up for a subscription, you will both get a $25 store credit to be used that season!
How it works:
1: When a friend subscribes to a FarmShare, in the check out screen, click the box to add an order note.
2: Add the name of the friend who referred you, and you will both receive a $25 gift card to your inbox to be used when you customize your share or place an order.
Any questions, contact us at [email protected].
Featured Recipes
Mushroom Risotta
Make with kale raab and your favorite pasta!
Recipe
Sweet Potato Curry (1 Pot!)
Make with red radishes from Hungry Hearts Farm!
RecipeApril Harvest
New Hampshire Harvest of the Month!
Activities, posters, recipe and more!
New Hampshire Farm to School has been working with students K-12 since 2003, connecting establishing farm-to-school connections throughout the Granite State.
The NH Harvest of the Month is a fantastic resource that promotes seasonal, healthy eating!
Thank you & we'll see you soon!
Questions?
Email us at [email protected] or give us a call at 603-606-2663 and we will get right back to you!
