Get involved
The Jericho Underhill Food Hub serves as a collaborative umbrella for a variety of community-driven projects—or “pods,” as we call them—that focus on growing, sharing, and enjoying locally produced food. Our work supports local farms, promotes food access and education, and fosters connections across our community through food.
Members of the Food Hub gather monthly to share updates, exchange ideas, and offer support to one another’s efforts. Whether you’re looking to get involved with an existing project or are inspired to start something new, we’d love to hear from you. Everyone is welcome. Join us at our monthly meeting, held on the 4th Wednesday of each month at 6:00 PM at the Deborah Rawson Memorial Library.
Browse the projects and email us to get involved!
Community meals
The Food Hub offers 2 meals annually (January and August) that bring the community together to celebrate local foods. Meal menus focus on foods from local farms and producers. These are large gatherings that involve many volunteers to cook, prepare the site (summers are outdoors under a tent), serve the meal, and pick-up afterwards. The leaders of this pod include: Anne Clift, Bill McMains, Lisa Hoare, Gale Sassan, Chantal, Tom, Jason Crooks. Contact us to get involved: jufoodhub@gmail.com
Underhill Central School garden
UCS has a wonderful fenced in garden space that has been used by the school. Currently there is an effort by the Food Hub to coordinate the planting and maintenance of the garden. The leaders of this pod are Ann Linde, John Connell, and Lisa Hoare. Contact us to get involved: jufoodhub@gmail.com
Underhill Potato Patch
Members of the Food Hub have again planted a potato patch at Chamberlin’s Farm in Underhill. This annual event entails community members participate in the planting, weeding, bug picking and harvesting. The 2024 planting yielded 700 pounds of potatoes that were distributed to local food shelves. The leaders of this pod are John Koier, John Connell, Amy Golodetz, Ann Linde and Nate Goldman. Contact us to get involved: jufoodhub@gmail.com
Workshops
The Food Hub offers educational opportunities to home gardeners and homesteaders throughout the year. Topics vary according to the season and usually involve a local expert who volunteers to lead the workshop. The leaders of this pod are John Connell, Sandy Wilmot, Jeff Coulson. Contact us to get involved: jufoodhub@gmail.com
Kids Garden Contest, April and May
Transition Town Jericho, a partner with the Food Hub, offers children of Jericho an opportunity to grow their own garden. Materials for the garden are provided and put in place in the spring. At the end of the growing season there is a follow up visit to celebrate their harvest. This pod leader is Dave Clift.
NOFA Farm resilience legislation
The Food Hub has participated in NOFA sponsored workshops to improve farm resilience statewide. In 2025 there was state legislation introduced that could help support farms both in preparing for and recovering from weather extremes. This pod leader is Amy Golodetz. Contact us to get involved: jufoodhub@gmail.com
Extra Row Project with Transition Town Jericho, September to October
Extra Row Project with Tucker Andrews and Bone Mountain Farm and Charley Segrest of Barber Farm in Jericho Center.
Since 2020, Tucker has grown over 9,600 pounds of squash for distribution by the TTJ team. TTJ team organized teams of up to 18 individuals from the Jericho and Underhill communities, each year to come to Tucker’s field and harvest the squash in September, and prepare it for delivery. Many hands make light work as each year the harvest took less than 1 hour to complete. The TTJ team then identified multiple food shelves nearby and organized delivery in the amounts needed by the food shelves.
Charley Segrest along with his non-profit organization, barberfarm.org, has been growing and distributing food for many years. In the past few years, TTJ has helped to provide volunteers to assist in harvesting and distribution. Once the crops are ready as early as mid-July, there will be a need for people to go to Barber Farm and help pull crops out of the field.
The leaders of this pod are Dave Clift and Laura Markowitz. Contact us to get involved: jufoodhub@gmail.com
Food Hub visioning for the future
This newly formed pod will organize around how the JU Food hub will move to the future. The meetings will be high level discussions on what the Food Hub can do in the community to promote food resiliency and farmer’s assistance. This team will be doing a lot of research and reaching out to food hub resources that are already established in other parts of the State of Vermont. Recommendations will be made to the wider membership and build consensus on a direction for the future. Initial leader: Dave Clift.
Community pizza bake at Jericho Elementary Pizza Oven
The Food Hub uses the outdoor bread oven at the Jericho Elementary School during July and August to host weekly pizza bakes. Community members bring toppings and the pizza dough is donated by Stone’s Throw Pizza. The fire is started mid-afternoon, and the community is invited to come make and bake a pizza from 5:30-7:00. This is a zero-trash event, so bring your own plates and eating utensils. The leader of this pod is Emily Tompkins. Contact us to get involved: jufoodhub@gmail.com
Jericho Elementary School gardens and Farm to School
Raised beds outside the school building are maintained by a school volunteer. The Food Hub is working with members of the school to enhance programs that connect students to the gardens. This is in keeping with the statewide Farm to School program. The leader of this pod is Emily Tompkins. Contact us to get involved: jufoodhub@gmail.com
Farmer forums
Our local food depends on viable farms. The Food Hub offers several annual farmer forums where farmers can speak about the successes and challenges of farming and how the Food Hub might be helpful in promotion, grant writing, or other support. The topics and formats vary. The leaders of this pod are Dave Clift and Sandy Wilmot. Contact us to get involved: jufoodhub@gmail.com
Underhill Food Sharing Shed
The Food Hub maintains 2 small food sharing shed where home gardeners can bring extra vegetables and fruits, and anyone needing them is free to take them. is One shed is located across from the Town Hall on Pleasant Valley Road. A new shed added in 2025 is located behind the United Church of Underhill on Park Street. Volunteers in both areas keep the shed clean, refresh the cooler ice packs, and make sure local animals are not getting into the food. The leaders of this pod are, John Koier, John Connell and Sandy Wilmot. Contact us to get involved: jufoodhub@gmail.com
A guide to local food, farms and agricultural products in Jericho and Underhill
The Food Hub has an important role in promoting local food, farms and agricultural products. In 2024 we created a brochure with all the food-related farms in Underhill and Jericho and mailed it to every household in our two towns. In 2025 the promotional booklet will include farms, maple producers, homemade foods, and other local products and involves contacting each business and creating a directory that will be mailed to every household. The leaders of this pod are Amy Golodetz, Ann Linde, Lisa Hoare and Sandy Wilmot.
Food, agriculture and resiliency speaker’s bureau
Transition Town Jericho, a partner with the Food Hub, offers many educational opportunities for community members to learn about local foods, environmental topics and resiliency topics. This pod’s leaders are Dave Clift and Laura Markowitz. Contact us to get involved: jufoodhub@gmail.com
Community Outreach
The Jericho Underhill Food Hub team manages communication through Front Porch Forum, Facebook and JUFoodhub.org website. When notifications are needed to promote activities by Pods or general information from the JU Food hub team, then getting the word out to the community, then the team who makes the updates are provided the details and make the updates. The Pod’s leaders are Sandy Wilmot, website, Nate Goldman for FPF and Chantal O'Connor for Facebook.
