[B]URLINGTON — In the depths of winter, Ethan Thompson is busy tending to his greenhouse kale and lettuce plants, but his thoughts often turn to the upcoming growing season when he can return to the backyard farms of the city’s New North End.
Thompson, a graduate of University of Vermont’s community development and applied economics masters program, said that when he was first asked to farm a friend’s backyard, he thought it might make for a fun hobby.
Family friend Liam Griffin offered him a deal: Grow all the vegetables you would like in the backyard, give Griffin’s family whatever it wants, and then keep the rest.
Little did Thompson know this germ of an idea, which he called Urban Homesteader VT, would blossom into a successful business venture with his friend Nick Kierstead.
“At the beginning, it was difficult and inconsistent,” said Thompson, 39. “It was hard getting the business started all by myself, and I was running into issues I wasn’t expecting.”
After a few years trying to make a go of it, Thompson decided to team up with Nick Kierstead and create Queen City Acres — an operation that now consists of five backyards and a greenhouse with plans to add one or two more yards this year.
The two test the soil of interested homeowners who have sufficient backyard space, then plant and maintain the vegetable gardens throughout the growing season. After giving the residents their share, Queen City Acres sells the rest to restaurants, food stores or individuals who can place orders online.
Among Queen City’s clients are restaurants Duino!, Butch & Babe’s, Juniper Bar & Restaurant, Tomgirl Juice Co., Farmers & Foragers and the Good Food Truck. The firm’s produce is also at grocery stores Healthy Living Market & Cafe, City Market, Natural Provisions Market & Deli, Commodities Natural Market Winooski and Momo’s Market.
Queen City Acres has also teamed up with Folino’s pizza and Simple Roots Brewing to make pizza set-ups and beer available for pickup.
The yard-to-table farming enterprise aims for four harvests of most vegetables each year. Thompson says, however, that recent weather patterns have provided a fifth round for some crops.
“I’ve noticed some changes in the weather. The summer has more scorching hot temperatures, and when it rains, the storms are much bigger and more sporadic,” Thompson said. “The plus side is that we’ve been getting a few extra weeks for the growing season since the frost has come later.”
One of the primary goals for the two is to build strong relationships while also selling vegetables.
“We don’t want to be in our own bubble,” Kierstead said. “We want to build community while we sell and grow veggies. We spend some time with our hosts and have frequent communication.”
Griffin, whose backyard is where it all started, said Thompson is a regular presence there.
“Ethan is here three to four days a week in the summer when it’s busy,” Griffin said. “When he has a new potential yard, he will bring the family over to our house, show them what it’s like, and then I’ll see a greenhouse go up in their yard, and then see them at the bagel shop and ask how it’s going.”
As for the quality of the food, Griffin is one of Queen City Farm’s biggest fans, comparing the fresh vegetables from his backyard with those he would get from the store.
“There is a huge difference between food that is picked and eaten within an hour, and food that is shipped and picked and packaged and then eaten,” he said. “I feel like the vegetables are still bleeding when I eat them.”
The 27-year-old Kierstead, who had experience working on a 400-acre vegetable farm, has noticed the difference between rural farming and urban farming and says the latter “seems like a more viable option.”
“It is less resource intensive than rural farming, and has less externalities,” he said. “There is less fossil fuel output and less plastic use.”
Thompson, who teaches a class in comparative food systems at UVM, said Queen City Acres vigorously strives for the smallest carbon footprint possible.
“The only carbon we usually emit is from driving our deliveries, and from the gas-powered tiller we use when we first till grass into soil,” he said.
Although urban farms tend to be better for the environment, the backyard duo encourage Vermonters and citizens around the country to also support their local, rural farmers.
“The last thing we want to do is to drive local farmers out of business,” Kierstead said. “We want to grow the pie, not take someone else’s. That’s our main focus.”
When consumers choose what food they are going to buy, Thompson and Kierstead both emphasized how important voting with their dollar is.
“At the end of the day, it really comes down to where the money is going. Is it going to local farmers or to huge corporations with factory farms?” Kierstead said.
Urban farming continues to grow in popularity around the world. According to the New York Times, cities like Paris, New York, Newark and Detroit are developing different ways to introduce urban agriculture into their cities.
When asked about what the future looks like for Queen City Acres, the New North End urban farmers say they are planning to expand.
“We are still in the growth process,” Thompson said. “But we definitely want to grow in the next two to five years.”
