Littleton Food Co-op

a community-owned market

October is Co-op Month

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October is National Co-op Month — a great time to stop in at your local food co-op to learn more about how co-operatives are built for this moment! 

Every October, Littleton Food Co-op joins with the more than 65,000 co-operatives and credit unions across the United States in celebrating Co-op Month, a celebration of this unique business model and its contribution to communities across our country.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture first proclaimed National Co-op Month in October of 1964, reflecting the importance of co-operatives to America’s rural communities. 

Since 1971, U.S. Co-ops (formerly the National Co-operative Business Association) has continued this tradition, promoting co-operative enterprise as a trusted, proven way to do business and build resilient, inclusive communities. Under the theme, “Built for This Moment,” this year’s Co-op Month is a reminder that the first co-ops were organized to address the social and economic challenges of the Industrial Revolutions of the 1800s.  Successive waves of co-operative development have often responded to the market failures of their times, enabling people from all walks of life to work together to meet their needs and achieve their aspirations. From electric co-operatives powering rural America when investor-owned corporations saw it as unprofitable to farmer co-ops supporting small family farmers locked out by corporate monopolies, worker co-ops securing livelihoods in unstable job markets to credit unions enabling working people and immigrants to meet their financial needs, housing co-ops retaining affordable shelter amid rampant speculation to food co-ops building community food security, co-ops are a proven response to uncertain times.

Stop in at your local Littleton Food Co-op during Co-op Month to learn more about what makes co-operatives different.

Not only are we ourselves a cooperative, but we sell cooperative brands, too! Many of the brands you know and love are actually worker/farmer owned co-ops! When producers form as a co-op, it establishes their commitment to democratic power, member-owners’ economic participation, and independence from the pressures of a corporately-dominated marketplace. The brands below are just some (because we likely forgot a few) of the cooperatively-owned brands sold at the Littleton Co-op that have demonstrated that working together can create great-tasting food:

  • Cabot Creamery Cooperative
  • Real Pickles
  • Alvarado Street Bakery
  • Sunsweet
  • Sunmaid
  • Blue Diamond Almonds
  • Equal Exchange
  • Florida’s Natural
  • Ocean Spray
  • Dean’s Beans
  • Land O Lakes
  • Organic Valley
  • Tillamook
  • Alaffia
  • Aura Cacia
  • La Riojana
  • Frontier Co-op

Thanks to Neighboring Food Co-op Association (NFCA) for the article information.

Producer Spotlight: North Country Smokehouse

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Producer: North Country Smokehouse

Location: Claremont, NH

Found at the Littleton Co-op: bacon, ham, kielbasa, sausage

Website: www.ncsmokehouse.com

Just as the city itself is said to be a key ingredient in New York City’s famous bagels, North Country Smokehouse attributes the same importance and product differentiation to its hometown of Claremont, NH. In 1912, Abraham Satzow emigrated from Russia to Claremont, NH, where he established a butcher shop to cut meat from local farms. Years later, the butcher shop was taken over by Abraham’s grandson, Mike Satzow, who added meat smoking to the family business’s repertoire, and then developed it into the nationally recognized brand North Country Smokehouse. He sought out chefs and specialty foodservice accounts that would appreciate his high product standards; the same standards that would eventually lead to USDA Organic, Certified Humane Raised and Handled®, and Global Animal Partnership certifications once the language was developed. When Satzow prepared for retirement and to become a subsidiary of his longtime pork supplier, he wanted to make sure the heart of the business stayed in Claremont, even if he wasn’t at the head. Not only was he concerned about his product – he maintained a belief that the air and water in Claremont were integral parts of his recipes – but about the community. Thus, it was written into the acquisition agreement that the business had to remain in Claremont, New Hampshire. 

That community support continues strong. North Country Smokehouse sources ingredients like maple syrup, beer, and cheese from NH and VT businesses. When their partner farms need to close to convert to organic standards, North Country Smokehouse subsidizes farmers during the transition with fair market prices. And when the local school district suddenly lost funding for its Culinary Arts Program, North Country Smokehouse stepped in to fund it through the year. As CEO Aaron Corbett said: “”These aren’t just students – they’re the children of our coworkers, neighbors, and friends.”

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: Gingue Family Farm

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Producer: Gingue Family Farm

Location: Waterford, VT

Found at the Littleton Co-op: sweet corn; under their NEK Grains label: flour, wheatberries, pancake mix

Website: ginguefamilyfarm.com

Around the Littleton Food Co-op, “Gingue” is pretty much synonymous with “corn.” While Gingue Family Farm in Waterford, VT does produce exceptional sweet summer corn, a more overall descriptive word may be “evolving.” The Waterford farm was first settled by Rosario and Marie Jeanne Gingue, immigrants from Quebec and current owner Shawn’s great grandparents, in 1935. From there, the Gingue Family Farm were prominent milk producers in the Northeast Kingdom. However, by the time the fourth generation was preparing to take over in 2014, the unstable and increasingly homogenized dairy industry meant that the current path forward was no longer a profitable way to survive. Shawn Gingue always saw himself continuing his family’s commodity dairy farm, but knew it was no longer sustainable, especially when thinking about supporting his wife, Sarah, and four children. The first step in the 2010s was transitioning from raising their own cows to raising dairy heifers for other farmers and diversifying operations through meat production and supplementing farm stand sales with other local producers. Then, Shawn, looking for yet another way to diversify the farm, took a chance and attended the Grain Growers Conference put on by the Northern Grain Growers Association and the University of Vermont in 2018. Less than 90 days later there was barley and Warthog winter wheat in the ground where the cows previously pastured. What is now established as the subsidiary NEK, was built from the soil up with help from fellow Vermont farmers and producers. As Sarah told Edible Vermont, “We had the mindset of going all-in and becoming self-sufficient, but we took the Vermont approach and developed the business incrementally.” 

In addition to the stability and increased margin dollars they find in flour and grains, Shawn and Sarah both appreciate that NEK Grains allows them to better track their community impact than when they were commodity dairy farmers. As Shawn told Seven Days, “The best part is being connected to the customers and to the product through eating the bread and pasta and doughnuts. And drinking the beer.” As long as we can still track their fan-favorite corn to the Co-op we’ll be happy.

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: Barn First Creamery

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Producer: Barn First Creamery

Location: Westfield, VT

Found at the Littleton Co-op: goat milk and specialty goat cheeses

Website: www.facebook.com/barnfirst

Before becoming dairy industry pros in their own right, Vermont’s Barn First Creamery founders Merlin Backus and Rebecca Velaquez became entranced with Vermont cheese… by buying it in New York City. However, once the couple made the move back to Merlin’s hometown of Westfield, VT, it was only natural they became involved in cheesemaking; at least, that’s how Merlin’s father saw it. Merlin’s father, Dan, set Rebecca up to work with Laini at nearby infamous Lazy Lady Farm. Rebecca and Merlin learned about goat and cheese care, and bought their first two goats from Laini. They didn’t need to build a barn – that was already on their property, hence the name Barn First Creamery. They did, however, need a milking parlor and cheese room, so the couple milked seven goats by hand from 2013-2016. Fast-forward and Barn First Creamery milks about 60 goats a year to produce milk, and cheeses from bloomy rind to blue. Rebecca’s goal was to branch out from what’s expected of goat cheese and make cheese varieties most would not try with goat milk. 

While remaining pioneering in the cheese world, they still bring it all back to family and community. All of the cheeses are named after the maiden names in Rebecca and Merlin’s families, and the goats are named with assistance from their (human) kids. And, sticking to the northern Vermont way of living, they may have won a first place award from the American Cheese Society, but they still don’t have a website. 

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: 4 Corners Farm

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Producer: 4 Corners Farm

Location: Newbury, VT

Found at the Littleton Co-op: Vermont-grown produce

Website: 4cornersfarm.com

Bob and Kim Gray have been together, as partners in owning 4 Corners Farm and partners in life, for over 45 years. They both grew up around gardening, with Bob’s family’s growing efforts becoming prolific enough that he was eventually able to bring some to the Brattleboro Farmers’ Market. Back then, the “eat local” movement was not popularized, and farmers’ markets, cooperatives, and the like were not mainstream. However, that farmers’ market showed Bob that making a living through farming was not only possible, and the market for his produce existed. Bob and Kim got their hands wet working on someone else’s Vermont farm in the Four Corners neighborhood of Hartland after putting an ad in the newspaper seeking land to farm on. After the landowner’s passing, they purchased 120 acres in Newbury, VT to build up their own farm – 4 Corners. 4 Corners Farm, now over 225 acres, is so diversified that, according to VT Digger, “a visitor’s head is left spinning like a salad drier.” And now, the farm and the Grays have become exemplary models for keeping a farm alive, accessible, and community-oriented for many of their Vermont peers. 

Farming isn’t the only thing the duo has excelled at in their lifetimes: Bob and Kim were both members of the U.S. Ski team in the seventies, competing in cross-country and alpine, respectively. Bob is a two-time Nordic Olympian! Going from Winter Olympics to successful farming with a peak growing season in the summer certainly wasn’t easy, but the couple is adamant they wouldn’t want it any other way. And this way, Bob still gets to ski in the winter 🙂

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: von Trapp Farmstead

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Producer: von Trapp Farmstead

Location: Waitsfield, VT

Found at the Littleton Co-op: specialty cheeses

Website: vontrappfarmstead.com

Perhaps the first thing you think of when you hear the name von Trapp isn’t cheese, but maybe it should be. Or, at least be the second thing. Werner and Erika von Trapp started von Trapp Family Farm in Vermont in 1959 after immigrating from Austria. Von Trapp Farmstead is now run by Werner and Erika’s grandson, Sebastian, with other von Trapps running other businesses in the area. Growing up, Sebastian didn’t want a future on the farm; but, after a tenure in software, he found himself called back home. Werner and Erika farmed in a way we would now consider regenerative agriculture – no-till soil management, crop rotations, no chemical fertilizers, etc. – and the same practices have been continued to this day. In addition to creating a quality cheese product, Sebastian emphasizes that their regenerative agriculture practices primarily stem from a love of the land. He says “When you love something you want to tend to it. You don’t make it unsafe, you don’t poison it, you don’t turn a blind eye, or walk away when a challenge arises. Our connection to the land, the cows, the milk, the cheese and the people, make it impossible to exploit any part of the system. Since we live here on this land and we rely on these beautiful animals for our livelihood and the livelihood of our team, since we are nourished by the milk, cheese, yogurt, and meats… for these reasons, taking care of all the parts of the farm is non-negotiable.” Now, von Trapp produces four cheese styles – all of which have won numerous national and international cheese awards. 

Similar to the lasting legacy of the von Trapp family, the family pushes for Vermont’s cheesemaking industry to continue by hosting a yearly apprentice on site to learn about cheese making and food systems through the Anne Saxelby Legacy Fund. 

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: Joe’s Brook Farm

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Producer: Joe’s Brook Farm

Location: Barnet, VT

Found at the Littleton Co-op: Organic produce

Website: joesbrookfarm.com

For Eric and Mary Skovsted, the desire to farm and tend to the Vermont land was an inescapable pull they initially resisted. After meeting in college, the pair tried on different vocations and locations before returning to Mary’s hometown of Barnet, VT. The anchor to their dreams and eventual farm came in the form of a beaten up farmhouse alongside Joe’s Brook. The farm was originally just one tomato greenhouse and an oversized home garden, but within four years they acquired land along the Passumpsic River to expand growing land to total 17 acres. In 2022, that land allowed for growing over 130 varieties of vegetables, herbs, and berries.  Joe’s Brook Farm also expanded to employ year round and seasonal employees, including Eric and Mary’s daughters, Anna and Harriet, who can frequently be seen checking out customers at the Farmers’ Markets. However, the goal isn’t to continue buying land and increasing production. Instead, “It is a balancing act aimed at conserving our soil, maintaining a quality of life for ourselves and employees, and ensuring the farms financial viability, all while keeping the food we grow affordable and available to as many people as possible.” 

Unfortunately, Joe’s Brook Farm was a victim of flooding in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom in 2023 and 2024, both incidents resulting in over 90% crop loss. In 2025, they published a highly regarded series of resiliency strategies to arm against future climate change events. It includes adjustment to growing techniques, an emergency harvest plan, and how to supplement income to pay employees in the case of crop loss. In true farmer fashion, Eric and Mary also couldn’t help but look forward to future seasons and the increased soil nutrients the flooding provided, ultimately gleaning rays of hope from a devastating situation. 

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: Bonilla Bread

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Producer: High Points Bakery – Bonilla Bread

Location: Bethlehem, NH

Found at the Littleton Co-op: quick breads, dessert breads, sourdough bread

Website: bonillabread.com

For one local bakery, the keys to success were: bananas, Bethlehem, and Bonillas. Casey Bonilla grew up with a passion for baking learned from days spent in the kitchen with her grandmother. As an adult, she never saw baking as anything more than a small seasonal venture. However, after she baked a batch of banana bread for a school fundraiser, the Bethlehem, NH community demanded year-round prolific access to her products. She started Bonilla Bread with classic dessert breads, but has since expanded to include quick breads, sourdough loaves, and baked goods to markets, stores, and restaurants across the North Country. With the expansion came more room for Casey’s family of seven to get involved! As she joked to the Littleton Chamber of Commerce, “[My daughter] just bought me a binder and gave me the assignment to organize all of my scraps of paper covered with recipes and notes. I’m supposed to have it all ready before she comes home for the summer.”

The Bonilla family is currently constructing their own “Little Bread Barn” in Bethlehem to have a dedicated space to fulfill the orders of their growing customer base. In the distant future, Casey dreams of a commercial bakery that provides employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

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: Small Axe Farm

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Producer: Small Axe Farm

Location: Barnet, VT

Found at the Littleton Co-op: Organic produce

Website: smallaxefarm.com

Small Axe Farm could be called the antithesis of big corporate farming not just because of their local farm status; their grounded, small-scale community approach reaches throughout their operations, philosophies, and even the farm design itself. Farm owners Heidi Choate and Evan Perkins own 45 acres of land, but conscientiously decided to only farm on one acre. Not only is that number far below the average farm acreage, but their chosen acre sits on a steep hill. The rest of their land remains forested and wild. Both decisions reflect their desire to work with the land, rather than tear against it. It also led to Small Axe being an off-grid, no-till farm and house. No till farming is a strategy to limit soil erosion, capture carbon in the soil to mitigate climate change, use less soil inputs, and use less petroleum-powered farm equipment. Evan, Heidi, and their crew have optimized their operations so that their small growing area doesn’t further limit their production. According to Perkins, they prioritize growing “high rotation crops,” and are able to turn over and replant a garden bed within one hour. 

While farming is their primary occupation, Heidi and Evan make sure to model for their son, Rowan, their employees, and other farmers that it doesn’t have to be all-consuming. In the winter you will often find the family on a lake in Vermont wild ice skating. Coverage of their balanced farm and active life has amassed Small Axe Farm a substantial social media following and coverage in Seven Days Vermont.

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: Popzup Popcorn

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Producer: Popzup Popcorn

Location: Somersworth, NH

Found at the Littleton Co-op: ready-to-eat popcorn

Website: popzup.com

What’s more to popcorn than corn kernels? If you do it like Popzup, there’s a lot more thought behind it, without adding unnecessary ingredients. Wife and husband duo Julie and Marty Lapham were no strangers to entrepreneurship or the packaged food business when they founded Popzup in 2016. But after their children were grown and they had fallen into long-tenured careers, the duo decided it was time to start their next food business. They noticed that the popcorn on the market, often thought of as a simple snack, was filled with unnecessary oils and chemicals, and left a wasteful carbon footprint. Their mission was to create a popcorn that was antithetical to what was out there – not to mention tasted good. As Julie told Foster’s Daily Democrat, “As a popcorn company we consider ourselves accountable for everything we do, for our carbon footprint, our packaging (recyclable) and of course our products which are made using only fresh ingredients.” Popzup quickly grew from selling compostable microwave popcorn boxes at farmers markets to selling seasoning mixes and ready-to-eat bags with said seasonings at over 2,000 retailers nationwide. 

From their experiences working in the local food system (Julie used to manage multiple NH farmers’ markets!) the Laphams knew the importance of uplifting other local producers on your way up. Popzup continues to be made from locally grown corn, and seasoned with local butter, maple syrup, and cheese.

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.









Upcoming Events

 

Meet and Greet the Artist: Deidre Blair

Meet and Greet the Artist: Deidre Blair

Come meet the Sept/Oct featured Co-op Gallery Artist Deidre Blair in an intimate reception on Saturday, October 10th from 1-3PM
2026 Littleton Co-op Annual Meeting

2026 Littleton Co-op Annual Meeting

Co-op members are invited to join us Wed., October 14th 6PM at The Rocks for an evening of food, discussion, …
Screening of Italian Wannabe at Bethlehem Colonial Theatre

Screening of Italian Wannabe at Bethlehem Colonial Theatre

Join the Co-op and The Colonial Theatre on Thurs. October 15th for a screening of the documentary "Italian Wannabe" with …

View more events here!

 

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