NASHUA, NH – The Lil Free Farmstand puts the notion of farm-to-table into high gear, like same day service fast. They gather hundreds of pounds of fresh produce from local growers and distribute it directly to families at no charge on the same day. And they do that every day, seven days a week for the duration of the local harvest season.
This is the fourth year of the program. In year one they had a single farmstand and distributed 1,500 pounds of produce. Year two was three farmstands and they gave away 7,500 pounds of vegetables.
Last year they added a mobile version of the farm stand by adding a delivery truck. The truck has a route of scheduled daily stops at food pantries and random passes through neighborhoods. They use an ice cream truck jingle on those passes to let folks know of their presence. No doubt there is a bitter child who dreamt of ice cream and found out it was only veggies on the menu.
Despite 2023 being the wettest year on record and a very challenging gardening year they had 1,700 people come to the farmstand and they gave out 27,000 pounds of food.
The Lil Free Farmstand is a part of the larger Grow Nashua enterprise. In addition to the fresh food program, they operate Nashua’s curbside compost program, three school gardens, and seven community gardens. Co-directors Justin and Jess Munroe manage operations, educate, and connect with Nashua through the issues around food.
Hundreds of families are fed, and in garden plots all around the city people are growing and connecting with the garden experience. The curbside compost project is on track to gather and eliminate one million pounds of food waste from Nashua’s landfill this year and they are doing that one 5-gallon bucket at a time. Grow Nashua makes things happen.
A combination of full and part-time staff and an expansive group of volunteers all chip into the mission. According to Justin Munroe, they expect to have a team of about 300 volunteers working this year.
Produce is gathered each morning from local farms and donation stations strategically located around the city. The donations are from local gardeners who have an abundance to share. At the collection hub in a tent in the parking lot of the Christ the King Lutheran Church, the food is cleaned, sorted, weighed, and packed for delivery. From there the truck rolls on the delivery route and the individual at home, deliveries are dispatched.
The gathered produce is strategically distributed throughout the city. Their stops and stands are in the Title 1 school neighborhoods where most children qualify for food assistance from the schools. With schools closed for the summer food insecurity escalates for many Nashua families.
“We try to focus on neighborhoods with the highest need, most low-income families,” said Munroe.
Each day an estimated 700 to 1,000 pounds are gathered and distributed. At the end of the day if any produce remains it is dropped at the Nashua Soup Kitchen or other feeding operations. Gathered and delivered in a single day, it provides the freshest, highest quality produce to those who can least afford it.
The Lil’ Free Farmstand is first and foremost a hunger relief and food distribution program. A secondary and equally important goal is to build community. Volunteers get to know each other, get to know people in neighborhoods all around the city, and the people they serve who are often marginalized by economic or cultural barriers become part of a greater connected community.
“All of our programs serve purposes within the community and they all tie back to the fact that we are trying to build community. We are trying to connect neighbors. We give the opportunity to see firsthand what is going on, to help in their community, to understand others in your community.” And they do that one box and one bag of fresh produce at a time.
Another connection they make is by growing and culturally relevant food. Food is a fundamental part of cultural identity. The Lil’ Free Framstand sources a variety of crops from the homelands of the immigrant communities to provide them a familiar connection to home and their cultural traditions.
Grow Nashua and the Farmstand program also rely on corporate sponsors and partnerships with other non-profits. The United Way of Nashua is a primary partner and some produce is supplied by the NH Food Bank, for example
Service Credit Union is one corporate supporter providing extensive financial and consulting support Munroe credits them for being critical in growing from the first 1,500 pound season to the operation they are running today. Jamie Yates, Assistant Vice President for Community Development for the credit union, describes the relationship this way.
“Service CU has been supporting Grow Nashua since 2021. When we first connected, they didn’t have many corporate sponsors. We were able to work with Justin and offer advice on how to approach a corporate sponsor and how to nourish and grow those relationships. I was most interested in the Lil’ Free Farmstands, so I asked Justin to put together a proposal sharing costs on how to increase the amount of stands,” Yates said.
“That was our sponsorship the first year. The next year our sponsorship involved the farm stands as well as a vehicle to increase their impact. Since 2021, Service CU has contributed $86,000 to Grow Nashua. It has been amazing to watch the program and its reach grow. They are a devoted group who are in it for all the right reasons, and we are proud of our involvement with them,” Yates said.
The program is also a conduit for communication to and from the neighborhoods of Nashua. Part of the program, that goes beyond feeding, is care for the people they reach. Delivering produce creates opportunities to connect and to learn. The Lil Free Farmstand crews are always inquiring with their “customers” to see how they are doing, to hear about issues they are facing to hear from the community. When issues arise they can report and begin to act on solutions.
The communication does not end with the summertime food program. Recipients are contacted regularly by email by Grow Nashua with information about additional services. They also use the Farmstand network to distribute donated items. They have distributed 300 Patagonia winter coats and supplies of turkeys in their off-season.
“We begin all this by giving free food to people, by giving volunteers a really positive experience. We designed our volunteer roles so that people can continuously be part of this so they can understand more about Nashua and care more about the people they are helping because of the relationships made,” said Munroe.
Volunteer Tess George, who mans the stand at the Universalist church and teaches in the school gardening education programs, explains her support this way: “I’m a gardener, I bring my own vegetables here to the stand. I know that if you are low-income sometimes fresh food is hard to get, and fresh produce can be really expensive. It is good for you and it makes me happy that people have access.”
Erin Scott, a Ministerial Intern at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashua is one of the volunteers at the farmstand hosted by the church. Last Saturday was her first experience volunteering with the group and she was delighted that about 50 people stopped by for fresh food. She reflected on the importance of the work, and the connection to the community.
“Food justice is important because there is a spiritual connection between us and the planet. The food grown in the ground then becomes our bodies. The food that we eat and where it comes from strengthens our connection with the planet and so for me, this work in addition to being justice work is spiritual work,” Scott said.
Growing food. Growing community. Local solutions. Food for thought.