Littleton Food Co-op | Littleton Food Co-op

Producer Spotlight: Pip’s Heirloom Snacks

June 15, 2026 By Littleton Food Co-op

Producer: Pip’s Heirloom Snacks

Location: Bethlehem, PA

Found at the Littleton Co-op: corn dippers and fries

Website: pipsnacks.com

Pride Month is an annual month-long celebration to recognize and uplift the cultural contributions made by those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and other marginalized gender and sexual identities (LGBTQ+). Pride is celebrated in June to commemorate the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, a 1969 anit-LGBTQ police raid of a New York bar recognized as a major turning point in the fight for gay rights. The phrase “gay pride” is said to come from activist Craig Schoonmaker, saying “I authored the word ‘pride’ for gay pride … [my] first thought was ‘Gay Power.’ I didn’t like that, so proposed gay pride. There’s very little chance for people in the world to have power. People did not have power then; even now, we only have some. But anyone can have pride in themselves, and that would make them happier as people, and produce the movement likely to produce change.” As a community-owned co-op championing an ethos of “Everyone Welcome,” the Littleton Food Co-op supports our local LGBTQ+ populations and is happy to recognize relevant producers from our store during Pride Month. Read more about Littleton Co-op’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) work here.

Pip’s (formerly Pipcorn) was founded by trio Jen, Jeff, and Teresa with just $3,000 in capital and a restrictive diet. Cofounder Jen was living with many dietary restrictions which made popcorn inaccessible to her. While working at a health food store in Chicago she was introduced by a farmer to an heirloom corn kernel with a thinner shell – and a better, in her opinion, taste. Heirloom corn has no genetic modification or hybridization and gets its flavor through open pollination. She recruited her brother Jeff and his wife Teresa, both in the CPG field, through a simple taste test. With very little start-up money, Pipcorn began as a direct to consumer product packaged in brown paper bags and handstamped with an ink logo by the founders themselves. Their business catapulted when it made Oprah Winfrey’s list of Favorite Things in 2012, followed by an appearance on the tv show Shark Tank in 2014. They signed a deal with “shark” Barbara Corcoran; the day of the airing brought them more sales than the previous 12 months.

In the founders’ words: “We are Black, we are White, we are Chinese and we are Queer. The world we operate in isn’t made for us. We don’t look like most of the people we sit in meetings with. Frankly, we weren’t supposed to make it this far, yet we are here—primarily due to extraordinarily hard work. We aren’t talking about the hard work we’ve put in, but the hard work of our parents and their parents and their communities and the generations who came before us. People who, in the face of adversity and discrimination, kept going in the hopes of equality and a better future..”

Status of product availability at the Littleton Co-op, and labeling of producers (such as local, Black-Owned Business, NH-made, etc) and product status or ingredients (gluten-free, vegan, etc) is based on available information at time of publication. The food world is an ever-changing landscape and information presented here may not reflect the most up-to-date information available.

Producer Spotlight: GT’s Living Food

June 14, 2026 By Littleton Food Co-op

Producer: GT’s Living Food

Location: Beverly Hills, CA

Found at the Littleton Co-op: kombucha and probiotic yogurt

Website: gtslivingfoods.com

The story of GT’s Living Foods starts in a place of family tragedy and adversity before triumphing in unimaginable ways. At age fourteen, GT Dave (George Thomas)’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and found solace in the family’s homebrewed kombucha. His family had a reverence for the power of food for whole-body wellness and healing akin to that in Eastern cultures. After witnessing his mother’s journey, he followed his family’s values and recipes to start bottling his own kombucha at age 15. His Original (Classic) flavor is the first known kombucha to be on grocery store shelves in 1995. While his product was quickly gaining notoriety, GT Dave struggled internally with his identity. After coming out as gay at 13, he was met with little acceptance by his peers and even dropped out of high school because of it. So when he started his business shortly thereafter, “for the first 90% of my career I wasn’t out.” However, he ultimately decided around 2015 to publicly come out as gay to share his full life experience with others.

While GT Dave didn’t have a LGBTQ mentor to look to growing up, he is excited to be one to others now. In addition to his company’s donations to non-profits and the previous Synergy Scholarship for LGBTQ+ youth, GT Dave works towards inclusion by urging other brands to make sure their LGBTQ+ employees are not only siloed to one stereotypical role. “Make sure it’s clear that there’s not just one role this community can exist in.” The role he currently occupies: CEO of the world’s number one selling kombucha brand.

Producer Spotlight: Sweet Rowen Farmstead

June 11, 2026 By Littleton Food Co-op

Producer: Sweet Rowen Farmstead

Location: West Glover, VT

Found at the Littleton Co-op: spreadable farmers cheese, bloomy rind cheese, cheese curds, milk

Website: sweetrowen.com

Dairy production has a long and significant history in the United States, which we celebrate in June with National Dairy Month. The recognition, dating back to 1937, was originally called National Milk Month, and was started to promote milk during a national surplus. Before modern refrigeration, milk was not popular with consumers in the warm summer months, but farm milk production continued. Today, we move beyond milk to honor the contributions of dairy and the hardworking people who stand behind it. Not only does milk and dairy offer nutritional value to a daily diet, supporting local dairy means supporting local family farms persevering in an especially difficult and volatile industry. At the Littleton Food Co-op, we are honored to support local and regional dairy producers, and are excited to share a glimpse at some of their stories in June and beyond.

Paul Lisai didn’t set out to be a farmer, let alone a dairy farmer. Growing up in Vermont, he wanted a sustainable, regenerative livelihood from the land – dairy farming just so happened to fit the bill. His eventual farmstead’s name came from his time working on other farms, when farmers would ask him to get the sweeter, finer second cuts of hay for their cows, also called rowen. Sweet Rowen Farmstead started in 2011 with eight cows, and now milks over 60 cows on 500 acres of crop and pasture land. The cows are neither Guernsey nor Jersey, but a critically endangered breed called Vermont Heritage Linebacks. Vermont Heritage Linebacks evolved from the Randall Lineback cow, a landrace breed. Rather than going through selective breeding, landrace breeds were allowed to adapt to the climate and environment around them – Randall Linebacks adapted to Vermont, and Vermont Heritage Linebacks adapted to the Northeast Kingdom. Perhaps that’s why their milk won the Best Quality Award for Vermont in 2024.

In addition to providing the utmost quality for his cows and consumers, Paul has started numerous environmental initiatives on Sweet Rowan. The farm does not plow or till, which has resulted in an 0.5%-1% increase in organic soil matter, and catches water runoff to conserve resources, especially in droughts.

Producer Spotlight: Huckins Farm

June 8, 2026 By Littleton Food Co-op

Producer: Huckins Farm

Location: North Hampton, NH

Found at the Littleton Co-op: raw milk and yogurt

Website: huckinsfarm.org

The story of Huckins Farm in New Hampton, NH goes back over 200 years ago, but the farm and micro-dairy we know it as today started to take shape in 1906 when it was purchased by the Huckins family. It continues to be family-owned, with Matty Huckins at the helm. She arrived on the farm with her late husband in 1988, with no knowledge or experience but a love for animals. Together, their mission is to provide wholesome, nutritious products for you and your loved ones while promoting education through workshops and classes as we work together to cultivate a more healthy, sustainable, and loving world. The farm specializes in raw, meaning unpasteurized, milk and raw milk products, firmly believing in the power of the probiotics and enzymes lost from pasteurization. Their 16 Guernsey cows, each with their own documented name and personality, go through pasture-based rotational grazing (except in the winter) and the care of a nutritionist. Approximately 128 acres of Huckins’ farmland is permanently protected from development through the local Lakes Region Conservation Trust.

While holding strong through support from family and friends, Matty was still looking for a family successor in 2022. Her Lakes Region neighborhood has withstood the fall of local, family-owned dairies – unlike many New Hampshire areas – so she is hoping that she will be able to eventually pass the baton.

Producer Spotlight: Butterworks Farm

June 8, 2026 By Littleton Food Co-op

Producer: Butterworks Farm

Location: Westfield, VT

Found at the Littleton Co-op: yogurt, kefir, buttermilk, heavy cream

Website: butterworksfarm.com

When the Lazor family started Butterworks Farm in Westfield, VT back in 1976, there was no other farm they knew doing what they set out to do. Thus, with no map to follow to create Vermont’s first organic yogurt, they led with what they had: the values of self-sufficiency, value-added dairy products, and land stewardship. That led to a 400-acre spread in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont supporting 76 100% grass-fed Jersey cows and a position as a leader in the field of organic dairy. The cows produce high-butterfat and high-protein milk and yogurt as they are treated to high quality pasture, free choice minerals, and plenty of space to move. After the passing of Lazor family patriarch Jack in 2020, the next generation Lazors and owners came to the difficult decisions to sell the creamery and land. Butterworks was purchased in 2024 by Anthony Calderaro, a NH technology executive with an interest in healthy food. After the sale he told Seven Days “I was very excited about this farm because they do it the right way,” he said. “I have this huge passion to take this great product and take it to the next level.”

The original Lazor owners, Jack and Anne, were honored with the Vermont Agricultural Hall of Fame lifetime achievement award in 2019. New owner Calderaro also told Seven Days he wants to continue the Lazor legacy and create a culture “where people enjoy working there and we pay them fairly, where people can go on vacation. You know, life can’t be just work.”

Producer Spotlight: Hatchland Farm

June 4, 2026 By Littleton Food Co-op

Producer: Hatchland Farm

Location: North Haverhill, NH

Found at the Littleton Co-op: milk and cream

Website: facebook.com/hatchlandfarm

Some entrepreneurs have an internal battle on whether or not they should start their business before they dive in; for Howard Hatch, it required going through an actual war. Howard went to the Thompson School of Agriculture at the University of New Hampshire and worked on other NH farms as a herdsman. The Vietnam War draft changed everything. After serving in Vietnam in the 70th Combat Engineer Unit he knew he could no longer be someone else’s herdsman; he longed to work for himself on his own farm. He bought property in North Haverhill, NH in 1971, and by 1999 he was purchasing an additional property to expand operations. Not only did direct customers love Hatchland Farm’s milk, so did other companies; to this day, the milk from North Haverhill is sold under the Hatchland brand and under private labels for distributors in the northeast. The farm is home to over 600 cows, mainly Holsteins.

Perhaps most gratifying for the original Hatch patriarch: Hatchland Farm has remained a family owned and operated business. Howard Hatch now co-owns the farm with his wife and two adult children. Daughter Kristen has also spoken of getting her daughter, Emily, involved in the business to continue the local dairy legacy.

Producer Spotlight: Nuts for Cheese

June 3, 2026 By Littleton Food Co-op

Producer: Nuts for Cheese

Location: London, Ontario, Canada

Found at the Littleton Co-op: plant-based cheeses and spreads

Website: nutsforcheese.com

Margaret Coons grew up as a vegetarian, but veganism came shortly after. But she found that vegan options were scarcely available, so she took matters into her own hands, crafting foods to meet her own needs. She became a certified vegan chef at a restaurant in Ontario, Canada, her home country, where she was able to devote time to developing recipes and refining products. Customers immediately gravitated to her creations and wanted more, so she eventually moved to a separate farmer’s market stand, and then an independent facility; Nuts for Cheese was born. Unlike other plant-based cheeses that start with potato starch or oils, Margaret has, and always will, make sure Nuts for Cheese is nut-based first. In addition to having to fight to not cut corners and keep the integrity of her products, Margaret also found she faced barriers being a queer-owned business. But, she found that, through community, she could connect and work with inclusive and supportive suppliers and funders.

Nuts for Cheese was the first Canadian artisan vegan cheese producer to launch in the US. However, within all of the company’s growth, Margaret says . I always make time for good meals with my friends and family, because it’s crucial to keep balance between working hard and making time for myself.”

Producer Spotlight: Mount Cabot Maple

June 1, 2026 By Littleton Food Co-op

Producer: Mount Cabot Maple

Location: Lancaster, NH

Found at the Littleton Co-op: maple syrup, maple sugar

Website: mountcabotmaple.com

Morgan Hill’s life thus far is a full circle, beginning and currently standing on Mount Cabot in Lancaster, NH. As the owner of Mount Cabot Maple, which sits upon its namesake, they have returned to the land once owned by their grandparents. Now, instead of simply observing, Morgan has owned Mount Cabot Maple since 2020 and ushered it into an era beyond just sugarmaking to include a diversified farm, agritourism, and event venue. What started as an apprenticeship under the previous owner turned into the discovery of a passion with many intricate pieces to manage, including production, sales, maintenance, employee well-being, and more. Their staff is predominantly female, with Morgan saying to the Union Leader “It’s a different internal culture. We make decisions as a team, and it just feels healthier to me. We’re more consensus-focused.” That said, they added, “That doesn’t make everything easy, and it’s still challenging to work with people.”

While Mount Cabot Maple’s syrup is single origin, Morgan is determined to make landstewardship, connections to nature, and joyful experiences open to all identities in the North Country and beyond. Their maple product has been recognized and celebrated up and down the East Coast, and the success story of their queer-owned and women-owned is not far behind.

Producer Spotlight: Gimme Seaweed

May 17, 2026 By Littleton Food Co-op

Producer: Gimme Seaweed

Location: San Rafael, CA

Found at the Littleton Co-op: dried seaweed snacks

Website: gimmeseaweed.com

Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month is celebrated worldwide to bring awareness to and honor the cross-sector contributions made by people of such cultural background. And that includes impacts in our food system! While foodies of all backgrounds collectively contribute to what we eat, how we eat, and how we produce food, Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders have faced widespread systemic barriers and erasure from history, making AANHPI an important time to acknowledge and celebrate those contributions and the people behind them. Furthermore, we celebrate AANHPI Heritage Month in May specifically to commemorate both the anniversary of the first arrival of a Japanese immigrant on American soil, and the completion of the Trans-Continental Railroad, whose Western-half was primarily completed by Chinese laborers. While the contribution of Asian Americans to such events was not recognized until much later, both demonstrate the obstacles, and perseverance, that deem AANHPI Heritage Month worthy of annual recognition. Read more about Littleton Co-op’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) work here.

You might read the brand name Gimme Seaweed and hear the sounds of children reaching for the crispy snack packets in the Littleton Co-op’s aisles saying “gimme, gimme!” However, founder Annie Chun’s USDA Organic and Non-GMO Project Verified seaweed products play on the Korean word for seaweed, “gim.” She grew up in central Seoul, Korea, where food from the sea was more common than food from the land. A household staple was seaweed that her mother would dry and roast in her house. She knew that seaweed was not only delicious, but also packed with vitamins and fiber, and deserved to have a larger place in the American diet. After selling her first company (you may recognize her “Annie Chun’s” noodle kits) she took on the challenge of introducing seaweed to the US market with husband Steve Broad. Furthermore, she wanted to take it out of grocery stores’ ethnic food aisles. Today, she continues to adapt her childhood snack for new generations across the country to enjoy a crispy and healthy snack.

Organic seaweed growth naturally has benefits to oceanic habitats by reducing water acidification and habitat creation for various species, but Annie Chun has now taken ocean protection to a further level. Through Gimme Seaweed’s partnership with rePurpose, every purchase of Gimme helps fight plastic pollution, brings ethical waste management to underserved areas, and economically empowers waste workers.

Producer Spotlight: Pop & Bottle

May 14, 2026 By Littleton Food Co-op

Producer: Pop & Bottle

Location: San Francisco, CA

Found at the Littleton Co-op: canned lattes

Website: popandbottle.com

When Pop & Bottle CEO and co-founder Jash Mehta moved from London to San Francisco, she hardly expected to be joined across the pond by her best friend and eventual co-founder Blair Hardy less than a year later. The duo quickly immersed themselves in the world of farm-to-table meals, backyard agriculture, and clean eating. The one “compromise” to their healthy eating, plant-based lifestyle was their daily coffee ritual. So they decided to venture into making a ready-to-drink latte with clean and plant-based ingredients. Jash had grown up watching her mom be an entrepreneur and business owner. But in the Pop & Bottle creation, Jash and Blair wanted to make sure their product encompassed the entire coffee experience. To them, drinking a daily latte was more than just consuming a beverage; it was conversation, community, and a chance to reach out to other women. As CEO, Jash continues to pour integrity into Pop & Bottle products to make sure they’re all good enough for her, her customers, and her community.

For other founders, Jash says “Be prepared to drink a lot of caffeine! Other than that, the most important thing is an unwavering belief in yourself.” Hopefully founders and consumers alike will consider turning to Pop & Bottle to fuel their explorations into business and beyond.