3c hapter - Index of

Community Capital 119
Farmers Diner is still building up, but it has already begun
to fulfi ll some of the lofty ambitions it has set for itself. The
Middlebury diner, which also serves as the commissary, sources
83 percent of its food within a 70-mile radius. It turned profi table
in August 2010. Together, the Middlebury and Quechee diners
employ about 50 people and generate annual sales of about $1.2
million—all of which benefi t the area’s farmers and economy.
A sister company, Vermont Smoke and Cure, turns locally raised
pork into bacon, sausage, and ham.
Now, Murphy and Perras are getting ready for their fi rst
foray outside of Vermont: They plan to open a Farmers Diner in
Lafayette, California, just outside of San Francisco, in May 2011.
In keeping with the pod model, the Lafayette diner will be followed
with a second one in the vicinity, along with a commissary
to share costs and prep work. Rumors of a Brooklyn diner had
local foodies buzzing last summer, and a prospectus was circulating.
Although that is still being considered, Perras says, the lure of
a nine- month growing season in the Bay Area was just too much
to resist. In the meantime, Brooklynites will have to content themselves
with The Farmers Diner Cookbook, to be published in late 2011.
Community- Supported Everything
The community- owned and -supported ethos has been taken to
perhaps its most ambitious lengths in Hardwick, Vermont, where
an entire ecosystem revolving around sustainable agriculture and
food has taken root, sparking an economic and cultural revival in
the area. You might call it community- supported everything.
Over the past three years, Hardwick has created 100 jobs in
value- added agriculture. To put it in context, that’s one- fi fth of
the area’s total employment. The Hardwick “miracle” has been
well- chronicled: It has been the subject of features in the New York
Times and Gourmet, as well as a book, The Town That Food Saved, by
farmer and area resident Ben Hewitt. But less attention has been
paid to the creative fi nancing that made it all possible.
Like any story about Hardwick, it all seems to begin with Tom
Stearns, the red- bearded, charismatic founder of High Mowing