Bartlett Farm

by Shane Smith, Outreach Coordinator

A few years ago Bartlett Farm in Concord decided to change some its marketing strategy.  One of Concord’s two working dairy farms, the Bartletts contracted with a small processor in Maine to pasteurize and bottle some of their herd’s production for sale under their own label. The growing demand for local food and the fact that the milk is available in reusable glass containers has made it easier to get local milk into stores like the Co-op.   Bartlett milk comes in a raw option as well making it a win-win for Co-op customers who expressed interest in choice of pasteurized or raw milk and choice on recyclable and reusable containers.

 

Although our little group had arrived at Bartlett Farm with plenty of notice the farm just doesn’t stop because someone wants to take a few photos and yack about the weather.  We shot most of the photos and talked about the farm while they were tending the cows and to the endless chores that accompany a working dairy farm.  We did manage to get a few grins before we were on to our next farm.

Visit Bartlett Farm on Facebook  http://www.facebook.com/Bartlettfarm

Hillside Apiaries-The Bees Knees

by Shane Smith, Outreach Coordinator

Allen gets excited about his bees!

Einstein is supposed to have said humanity would have four years once the bees were gone.  I don’t know if that’s true but it seems like a forgone conclusion that we must protect important pollinators like bees if for no other reason than our own survival.  Honeybees are known to pollinate more than 100 crops in the U.S. alone.  Luckily, in our neck of the woods we have Allen Lindahl, and he knows bees... he also stay on top of current trends and research in the beekeeping.

Really...no gloves?

Hillside Apiaries honey is made from several New Hampshire bee keepers with Allen managing the refining and processing. When we visited Allen at his home in Merrimack he showed us his extensive cultivated high bush blueberry patches pollinated by his bees whose hives line the path between the patches.   He also showed us the area where the honey is processed into jarred and bulk honey, beauty creams and other products.

Allen is eager to teach others about the joys and rewards of bee keeping.  He is always a hit at the Co-op’s annual Spring Into Healthy Living event each spring where he brings his portable see- through hives to help educate people about the life cycle and purpose of bees.  He also operates a store from his home where anyone can purchase supplies and jump into bee keeping.  Read more about Hillside Apiaries by clicking here.

The Co-op's own Brad Turgeon created this idiomatic painting.  Can you guess the idiom?