Keene Sentinel, June 29, 2008 - In the early 1990’s, Mary Ann Kristiansen started making soaps at home, but found that local retailers were slow to carry her products. Ultimately, she started a nonprofit to help promote locally-made goods. She named her enterprise Hannah Grimes, after the 19th-century farmwife who had once lived in Kristiansen’s Roxbury home.
Today, Hannah Grimes Marketplace is a for-profit store that carries the work of 200 local retail entrepreneurs, including artists, craftspeople, food producers and the like. From that beginning evolved the nonprofit Hannah Grimes Center. Besides overseeing the Main Street store, the organization offers entrepreneurial educational programs and workshops, and provides office rentals and technical support to nearly a dozen start-up and emerging small business owners. Beyond that, the nonprofit facilitates a number of community programs. Among them is the Hannah Grimes Localvore Project, part of a national movement that originated in California. The term, coined by three West Coast women, is a play on “carnivore” (meat eater) and “herbivore” (plant eater), and refers to individuals who commit to buy and eat locally produced foods. The nonprofit, which launched the movement locally three years ago, asks Monadnock Region residents to consider purchasing foods grown or made within a 150-mile radius of Keene.
Food choices are plentiful in that area — from vegetables, fruits, and syrups to beef, poultry and dairy products, produced by both small growers and large commercial enterprises. “Cabot butter is made within one hundred fifty miles. There’re lots of supermarket foods that we promote,” she said. “We work with Hannaford’s. People can check for Localvore signs (identifying local foods) in the store.” “If you think of farmers as entrepreneurs, there didn’t seem to be match between local farmers and markets,” said Kristiansen. “We just want to get as much information geared to the consumer out into the community.” “We’re increasing the size of our local economy by increasing that section of the economy,” she said. The nonprofit maintains an updated database of area food providers at http://www.hannahgrimes.com. Individuals also can sign up for a free newsletter with localvore news, recipes and current Keene farmers market information. Also available on the Web site: monthly featured farms, and Monadnock region localvore events. Recent examples include an informal workshop on how to make strawberry rhubarb wine, and this afternoon’s tour of a root cellar, a winter storage place for fresh vegetables. The group also encourages area food service professionals to purchase local foods. Monadnock Region chefs and restaurant owners serving locally grown food products in their establishments are awarded localvore storefront window decals; commended on the nonprofit’s website; and promoted in the newsletter.
“We’re promoting and strengthening our local food system,” said Jennifer Risley, program coordinator. “We’re helping farmers, protecting the land, and meeting lots of people.” Community members who wish to become localvores can sign up for free on the Web site, or contact the nonprofit.
~ Joan Geary
“Making a Difference,” a weekly feature, is a collaborative project of The Keene Sentinel and Giving Monadnock, which seeks to raise public awareness of the role of nonprofit agencies in the Monadnock Region. For more information, e-mail info@givingmonadnock.org or call 357-7171.
