But they always were able to get some loans or to have a benefactor step up. If you read histories about it, you'll kind of see there were different times when they were teetering on the edge of insolvency. There was a lot of talk that it might close through the years. Today the Adamant Co-op is an old funky store with all the wood floors and the old coolers. We're gonna hear that a lot in this episode, about how Vermonters started co-ops to make their lives better, because no one else was gonna do it for them. Back then it was a bit of a long haul to go down into Plainfield or Montpelier and so the folks up there pooled their money together and opened up a store front to sell food and hardware. So doing this Brave Little State episode was a great excuse for me to go visit the store up there.Īdamant Co-op is the oldest continuously operating food co-op in the country actually. And so the whole time I worked there, you know, we always said we are the second oldest food co-op in Vermont, and I hadn't been to Adamant. But it was really fun to go up to Adamant because the Putney Food Co-op is the second oldest food co-op in Vermont. Howard: And that’s one of the principles we'll get to–co-ops work together all the time. Howard: Oh, no–there are no enemies in the co-op world. Did it feel a little like crossing over into, you know, like enemy co-op territory? Josh: Well, you know, as part of your reporting, you did visit the oldest food co-op in Vermont, which is in Adamant. I was the general manager there for five years and the produce manager for about two years before that. I worked at the Putney Food Co-op in the ‘90s for about seven years. Josh: Howard, do you have something to disclose? But it turns out that Vermonters definitely voted for the right question for you, specifically. Josh: So because of the way this show works, you did not initially know what story you'd be working on because we choose episode topics in public voting rounds. The oldest and second-oldest Vermont food co-ops Josh: We have support from VPR sustaining members. Jan Kuhn: “In the morning we were celebrating, in the afternoon we were looking down a septic tank hole!” Josh: And how people these days are forming new co-ops to address issues in their communities. Josh: To learn why this model of ownership prospered in Vermont.Īndrea Serota: “When the profit motive is removed from an endeavor it changes everything.” So it was a self-help program when it originally started.” Josh: VPR reporter Howard Weiss-Tisman goes back to the early days of the so-called “co-op movement.”īob Smith: “Well, it was quite a history of farmers doing for themselves. Kate: “What is the history of co-ops in Vermont, and why are they so successful here?” Today’s question is from Kate Phillips in East Montpelier: Here on the show you ask the questions - about Vermont, our region and its people - and we find the answers together. Josh: Welcome to Brave Little State, VPR’s people-powered journalism project. And she was like…another co-op? What gives? And her new electric company was… Washington Electric Co-op. Remember-she had just moved into her new house in Vermont. Then she got a notice from her new electric company. But she had never lived in a place where it was an option-let alone three options. She’d heard about them, and shopped at one or two here or there. Howard: Kate had never been a member of a food co-op before. Kate: “Just the fact that there are so many kinds right in that area is surprising to me.” Howard: Three food co-ops, within a short drive of her new place. And that’s, you know, three food co-ops within 10–15 minutes from my house.” Kate: “I live in East Montpelier and it would be perfectly reasonable for me to shop at either the Hunger Mountain Co-op in Montpelier, The Adamant Co-op, or the Plainfield Food Co-op. Howard: You know, when you move to a new place, one of the first things you do is check out where you’re gonna buy your groceries? Kate started doing some research. And, we liked the scale of things, needed a big change at the time, and it worked out really well.” Kate: “We’d come up to Vermont several years in a row on vacation and always just felt really at home. She came from New Haven, Connecticut a few months before COVID-19 hit. Howard: Kate moved up to Vermont with her partner about three years ago. Kate works at the Vermont Historical Society in Barre, and so I drove up to talk to her. Howard: Kate Phillips, the question-asker this month is a librarian. Josh: So about every month a different VPR reporter gets to work on Brave Little State, and for this episode, Howard, who is usually VPR’s southern Vermont reporter, is taking the wheel. Howard Weiss-Tisman: And I’m Howard Weiss-Tisman. Josh Crane: From Vermont Public Radio this is Brave Little State.
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