From left to right, EMFV Lori Van Horn from Ocean Isle Beach, EMFV Jane Kulesza Oak Island, Matthew Walker, Intern from UNCW, Jordyn Appel-Hughes, Executive Director, JT Crawford, Food Hub Operations Manager and Cheryle Syracuse, NC Extension and Margarete O'Leary EMFV from Supply.
Our Extension Master Food Volunteers (EMFV) recently toured the Feast Down East Food Hub. It’s located at the historic old train depot in the town of Burgaw in Pender County. This is the oldest railroad station in NC and the train cars are now being used as coolers, freezers and storage areas for local food products.
Feast Down East (FDE) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to help strengthen the farming communities in Southeastern North Carolina. They do this by providing resources, education and distribution opportunities to farmers. The other part of their mission to make these farmers’ products available to consumers—especially to folks that may not have access to fresh, seasonal local foods.
FDE currently has eight staff members. We met with Jordyn Appel-Hughes, Executive Director, JT Crawford, Food Hub Operations Manager and Casey Strout the Food Hub Coordinator.
From left to right, JT Crawford, Food Hub Operations Manager, Casey Strout the Food Hub Coordinator.
Each week, participating farmers list what products they have for sale on the FDE Online Wholesale Marketplace. The amount and types of food change each week as the seasons change. Typically, this is local produce, fruits, meats, eggs and other value-added products such as grits, nuts, honey and corn meal. Restaurants, grocers, institutions and community organizations shop at this Online Marketplace for the foods they’d like to purchase each week. The Food Hub links these two groups together.
Between 30 and 70 farmers from the surrounding 12 counties in southeast NC bring their products to the Food Hub each week. FDE then sorts and delivers these items to the customers quickly.
There’s a long list on the FDE website of the restaurants, markets, cafes and groceries that purchase the local foods from Feast Down East. Most of these are in the Wilmington area. Currently there are no restaurants in Brunswick County participating in the program. Let’s encourage them.
Here in Brunswick County, we can benefit from the Feast Down East organization. They have a Mobile Market that brings local fresh food to our Senior Centers three times a month. They are at the Senior Center in Calabash at 10050 Beach Dr. SW in Calabash from 11 a.m. till 2 p.m. on the first Friday of every month. On the second Friday they are at the Senior Center in Supply at 101 Stone Chimney Road, SE in Supply from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. And they visit the Shallotte Senior Center at 3620 Express Dr in Shallotte on the third Friday from 11 a.m. till 1 p.m.
They accept EBT/SNAP, cash, credit cards, mobile pay and Food RX vouchers at these Mobile Markets. An added bonus, if you’re using SNAP/EBT (food stamps) they participate in the Fresh Bucks program. That means for every SNAP dollar you spend they will match it up to $25 in extra Fresh Bucks,
CSA box
Another opportunity for us to get fresh local foods from FDE is through a CSA Box. CSA means Community Supported Agriculture. Each week customers that participate in the CSA program get a box full of local produce. Each box contains 6-8 items from local small farms from the Food Hub. Their fall CSA program started in September and is ending soon, but they plan to do it again in the spring. I’m currently participating in this program and look forward to getting the box full of goodies each week. Our closest pick-up location for a CSA box is at Brunswick Beer & Cider in Leland.
Feast Down East has a Food Prescription Program they call Food RX. This program allows physicians and other health care providers the opportunity to give Food RX vouchers to their food insecure patients. These vouchers can be used at the Mobile Markets for fresh local food. They are currently partnering with Novant Health in New Hanover County and plan to bring it to Brunswick County next year.
Anyone is welcome to sign-up for the wholesale weekly mailing list or their monthly Feast Down East newsletter. There are also opportunities for volunteering at the Mobile Markets. feastdowneast.org
Our Brunswick County Extension Office and our Extension Master Food Volunteers are looking forward to partnering with the Feast Down East folks in the future to help bring fresh local foods from the farm to your table!
Mobile Market locations:
Senior Center in Calabash: 10050 Beach Dr. SW, Calabash, NC 28467
First Friday of every month, 11am-2pm
Senior Center in Supply: 101 Stone Chimney Road SE, Supply, NC 28462
Second Friday of every month, 9:30am-11:30am
Senior Center in Shallotte: 3620 Express Dr. Shallotte, NC 28470
Third Friday of every month, 11am-1pm
Syracuse is a Family and Consumer Science team member and can be reached at N.C. Cooperative Extension, Brunswick County Center 910-253-2610 or by email at
clsyracu@ncsu.edu
