Feast Down East is looking to expand our ability to bring fresh produce to you! Our small but mighty nonprofit needs to repair our box truck and expand our vehicle fleet to include a new refrigerated van.
The box truck is integral to the work of FDE as it is the primary vehicle for moving product around the region. It’s essential that the box truck have an efficient cooling unit and updated tires to continue to move farm-fresh product to restaurants, institutions and schools.
The new refrigerated van would be a multipurpose asset allowing the organization to grow our CSA program, drive to pick products up from farmers who can’t make the drive to our food hub, and enable FDE to expand food distribution.
You can contribute to the repair of our box truck or to help fund the purchase of our new van in two ways: Donate directly to the campaign Purchase a Feast Down East shirt(s)
Feast Down East is hiring a Community Advocate. The Community Advocate will be responsible for building strong relationships with Wilmington’s Southside community and soliciting input into the design of the Community Learning Farm and Local Motive Food Store. The Community Advocate will be in a key position to influence both the farm and food store market design and programmatic offerings by identifying and incorporating community interests, needs, and opportunities to be capitalized upon.
The hail storm on Friday, May 7th affected some of our farmers, including Altar Cross Farms, Black River Organic Farm, Red Beard Farm, and Quintino Brothers Farm. While they took some damage to their greenhouses and some plants, the community immediately banded together to lift them up. Some farms are back to selling to us.
Black River Organic Farm and Red Beard Farm were the two farms with the most hail damage. As a result, we got creative and sold their items any which way we could think of. We made them the stars of the CSA box with 7 out of 9 items included coming from the two farms. Both farmers had items they did not feel like they could wholesale but were still edible, so we diverted those to the Food Bank of CENC through Farmers Fighting Hunger. We took 150 pounds of collards to the Food Bank for Stefan of Black River Organics, and Morgan of Red Beard delivered over 500 pounds of cabbage to them.
We also put extra effort into Black River Organics and Red Beard's wholesale sales, making sure chefs knew the items may have hail damage but would still be perfectly usable, and no one would notice once they were chopped up. We wanted to make sure we did not allow their stellar reputations with customers to be damaged due to delivery of subpar produce.
Feast Down East supports our farmers in every way possible. The weather can be extremely unpredictable and unfavorable, but we ensure that no food goes to waste and farmers have the resources they need to succeed.
The food hub recently added GrassRoots Pork Co. to our availability list. Though this is their first week for wholesale, they participated in the Farmers Fighting Hunger program a few weeks ago with over 100 dozen eggs that went to the Food Bank. Zach, our food hub manager, has been working closely with Jessica Jones to build their brand in our market. The farm is also run by Jeremiah Jones.
-Customer outreach survey showed that 54/54 customers surveyed are satisfied with the mobile market
-Total of 25 markets
-Total April customer visits: 189
-Customers who paid with EBT: 73
-Total Fresh Bucks dollars matched: $483.56
-Total food prescription vouchers in April: $90.16 from 12 vouchers
POP-UP MARKETS:
Hi-Wire Brewing - April 14th:
This was the first of many pop-up markets at Hi-Wire Brewing on the Northside, and it was a great success! Hi-Wire donated $1 from every flagship pint sold directly to FDE. In total, we received $116 in pint sales.
Customers: 30
Stay tuned for future pop-up market dates with this exciting new community partnership.
DREAMS of Wilmington - April 20th:
FDE had a pop-up market at DREAMS, a local community agency and FDE partner.
Customers: 8
Live Oak Bank - April 22nd:
FDE attended the Live Oak Customer Appreciation Earth Day event.
Customers: 10
UNCW - May 3rd:
To celebrate the end of the school year, the mobile market had a pop-up at Wagoner Dining Hall at UNCW for Campus Dining staff, faculty, and students. In late 2020, Aramark granted FDE funds to further support feeding efforts, which has been the primary funding source for our food prescription voucher program. It was an incredible opportunity for us to be able to reach dining staff and for them to use their vouchers.
Customers: 23
Food prescription vouchers matched (funded by Aramark): 20
UPCOMING MARKETS:
NEW MARKET:
Brigade Boys and Girls Club - every Wednesday from 2-4 pm
Local Motive Mobile Farmers’ Market is launching a new market site at the Brigade Boys and Girls Club! As with all of our market sites, it is open to the public and purchases can be made with cash, credit/debit, and SNAP/EBT with a dollar-for-dollar for match, courtesy of Fresh Bucks. The address is 2759 Vance St.
POP-UP MARKET:
MLK Center and Robert Strange Park - May 22nd:
Join us from 11-1 pm at the Fitness Center behind MLK Center in Robert Strange Park.
Address: 302 S 10th St.
View the May Mobile Market schedule below:
The next emerging farmer workshop will be held onMonday, May 24that the FDE Food Hub (115 S. Dickerson St., Burgaw, NC 28425) from 5-7 pm.
The workshop will be hosted by Stephanie Kramer from the NC Beekeepers Association and is open to the general public. Farmers, perspective farmers, and gardeners are all encouraged to attend.
June's workshop will be on soil and water conservation and will be hosted by Matt Collogan. July's workshop will be about mushrooms and will be hosted by Morgan Milne of Red Beard Farms.
Workshops will be held once a month for the next six months.
All workshops are Covid-conscious. Please wear a mask. Individual Covid-safe snacks and drinks will be provided.
Farmers are happy that we are continuing the farm-to-fork CSA program. Through the first 4 weeks we have sold $5,148.94 worth of produce and eggs from local farms. We have been able to purchase these items from 9 farms and will be able to grow that number soon as more produce becomes available from our farmers.
So far, we have sold 182 half bushel boxes and 71 dozen eggs. Our total revenue on this round of boxes is $6,707.25.
You can order a CSA box each Friday at 12 pm until Tuesday at 2 pm.
CSA boxes feature products from five to six farms at a time and 75% of your purchase benefits the farmers.
Boxes include fresh fruits, vegetables, and value-added items. Produce is grown within a 50 mile radius of Burgaw, NC and varies based on seasonal availability.
Pick up is at our food hub in Burgaw (115 S. Dickerson St.) or at Seagate Baptist Church in Wilmington (6115 Oleander Dr.), depending on the location you choose.
northside food co-op
Help the Northside Food Co-op reach their monthly membership goal of 100 new members!
The Northside Food Co-op is a community-owned cooperative grocery store planned for the Northside of downtown Wilmington that will ensure food security and end the food desert, generate resilience in our neighborhoods, and enhance the local economy through equity and ownership.
The NFC believes that everyone in our community deserves to have access to healthy and nutritious foods through a full-service grocery store.
Feast Down East has been in conversation with the NFC since 2017. The proposed co-op is also in the same neighborhood/area of several Local Motive Mobile Farmers' Market sites (Rankin Terrace, Robert Taylor Senior Homes, Solomon Towers, Communities in Schools: The WIRE) and our Veggie Van planning site at The Pointe at Taylor Estates.
VISIT NC FARMS APP
Feast Down East has joined theVisit NC Farms App! This app was developed by the N.C. Dept. of Agriculture to help market farms and businesses that help support local farming by selling or using their products.
FDE is currently adding assets in Bladen, Brunswick, New Hanover, Pender, and Columbus Counties. If you own a farm or business in these counties and would like to be listed on the app, please contact app administrator Colleen atcolleen@feastdowneast.orgto begin the short process.
NC residents and visitors, download the app today to begin searching for farms and fisheries, farmers markets, local restaurants, local businesses and other events in your area!
