2025 ACORN Events
Upcoming ACORN Events:
Local action and deep connection with neighbors is so valuable in times like these. Please join us as we celebrate another year in local food, connect with friends new and old, learn how we can take action to support our community, and enjoy a delicious light dinner from farmer-chef Janis Reinke from Frog Hollow Farmstead and the Farmstand Cafe. In addition to recapping the last year, we’ll hear stories from folks who work across the local food shed:
Thelma Gomez, Migrant Justice (Statewide)
Changchang Ma, The Knoll Farm and Climate Action Fellow at Middlebury College (Middlebury)
Ava Murphey, Jump Rope Farm (New Haven)
Jacob Powsner, Baird Farm (Chittenden)
Ellie, Foxglove Farm (Leicester)
Where: Champlain Valley United Unitarian Society, 2 Duane Court, Middlebury
When: Tuesday, November 18, 2025, 5:30pm- 7:30pm
How: Registration is required to help us plan! RSVP using the orange button below.
We don’t want financial barriers preventing our community from accessing our events. A sliding scale option is available in the registration process.
Benefit Bake at American Flatbread!
American Flatbread Middlebury is hosting a Benefit Bake! As a way of giving back, American Flatbread will donate a portion of every flatbread sold that night to ACORN ($3 donation for smalls and a $4 donation for larges).
Join us December 2 from 5-9 pm and support local food access and small farm viability. Eat in or take out! 🍽
Come break bread and have a glass of wine with us! 🍷🍕
*Restaurant Reservations are strongly encouraged for this event!
Farmer Wellness Day Hosted in Collaboration with Rural Vermont!
We can’t wait to welcome farmers and farmworkers to enjoy a restful day.
Please use the links below to RSVP to the event. We have group and individual wellness sessions:
Restorative Yoga (group)
Song Circle (group)
Massage (individual)
Herbal consultations (individual)
Hydrotherapy (small groups of 4, but sign up as individuals)
If you’d like to participate in an individual session, please sign up via the link in the registration form.
The deadline for RSVP’s is December 1, 2025.
Join Us in Waitsfield for a Sip!
We have been selected as a Sunshine Fund Recipient for 2026. We will be “On Tap” from January 1 - 15, 2026 in the Lawson’s Finest Liquids Tap Room. In lieu of tips, all donations during this time will go directly to ACORN to support our programs. Support local farm viability and food access while enjoying a snack or drink!
Bring your friends! Our team will be there on January 2 from 4:00-7:00 pm to mingle.
Events Archive
ACORN hosts events to further support our mission of strengthening the food and farming community in the Champlain Valley. Check out some of our previous events below!
2024 Annual Meeting
November 18, 2024
We had a blast at our 2024 Annual Meeting, with delicious eats from Frog Hollow Farmstead and Farmstand Cafe, an informational presentation from the ACORN team, and a story-telling hour centered on the theme of “Showing Up.” Watch the recording above to learn more about ACORN and our local food shed!
Agency of Agriculture Listening Session for Addison County.
February 13, 2024
Mark your calendars! Tuesday, February 13th, from 5 PM to 7 PM, Agency of Agriculture and ACORN will be co-hosting an evening of conversation in Middlebury.
Join us at the Champlain Valley Unitarian Universalist Society to casually chat plans for a changing climate, grant opportunities, business support, and your farm’s needs.
Parking, childcare, and light nibbles will be provided.
2023 Annual Meeting
November 29, 2023
We had a blast at our 2023 Annual Meeting! You can catch up on all the ACORN news by watching the recording above! Thank you to V Smiley and Minifactory for hosting us. A HUGE thanks to our wonderful panelists, as well:
Matt Bryan + Olivia Glascoe (Lower Notch Berry Farm)
Silas Doyle-Burr (Last Resort Farm)
AnnaJo Smith (Smith Family Farm)
Spence Blackwell (Elmer Farm)
Cooperatively Healing our Watershed Homes
November 9, 2023
Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op and ACORN were thrilled to host Abe Collins of The Land Care Cooperative and special guest speaker Mercy Larson of Larson Farm.
The event was a wonderful opportunity our community to come together to educate and organize ourselves as we begin a new chapter of cooperation with our farming neighbors to engage in the work of growing topsoil, increasing biodiversity, increasing the water-holding capacity of our soils, increasing groundwater recharge, practicing economic democracy, and beginning the long journey of effectively healing our watershed homes.
Nightmare on Exchange Street
October 26, 2023
ACORN hosted a Halloween-themed launch of our new Farmer Climate Network! Best dressed went to the Foxglove Farm family of acorns! How cute are they!?
Complete with a taco bar, wellness bar, Fiddlehead on tap, masseuse and DJ, we welcomed growers, and their friends and family members, to kick back at the ACORN Food Hub to enjoy a few hours of relaxation time.
We also gathered feedback for winter and spring working bees. These half and full day projects will prove that old adage that many hands make light work! Thanks to funding from the Vermont Council on Rural Development for the seed money to start the Network and working bees.
If you are a grower and have additional ideas for winter and spring working bee projects, please email Lilah.
Cultivating Food Sovereignty through Community
May 16, 2023
We want to extend a big thank you to Addison Allies, the chefs of Viva el Sabor, the staff at 51 Main St, and the Middlebury College environmental studies seniors who helped us pull off a last-minute end of semester celebration on May 16!
Addison Allies and ACORN collaborated with a group of 8 Middlebury students on a senior capstone project that researched the continued development of the ACORN Food Hub and potential commercial community kitchen.
We decided (three weeks before the end of the semester) to host an event to connect the students' research with our wider community so we can begin to build community support for this growing project. You all turned out in spades, with over 120 folks registering and just under 100 attending, and for that, we thank YOU as well!
We plan to continue hosting events like these to keep you all informed of our progress and to make sure we're on track to creating an inclusive space that best serves our whole community. Stay tuned!
To learn more about the project, read Aria and Louisa's op-ed in the Addy Indy here.
The ACORN Food Hub Presents: Taste the Valley
January 10, 2023
