With Nordic Nite Out, Charlotte Agriculture Hub Launches Weekly Market 

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• Melissa Pasanen
• Jacob Keszey at Nordic Nite Out

A new Thursday on-farm market brings together almost a dozen food and drink producers connected to Nordic Farm to offer their wares at 1211 Ethan Allen Highway in Charlotte. The Nordic Nite Out series kicked off August 26 and will continue through October 7, from 4 to 7 p.m.

Attendees can purchase bread baked at Slowfire Bakery, beer brewed by House of Fermentology and shrimp raised by Sweet Sound Aquaculture — all based at Nordic Farm. They'll also find CBD seltzers and other products made by Upstate Elevator Supply using hemp grown on the farm, farm-grown flowers from Clayton Floral, and a rainbow of vegetables cultivated by Jacob Keszey, Nordic Farm's director of farm and land.

Other products for sale include Shrubbly, an Aronia berry-based carbonated beverage company headquartered in Hinesburg; the business will expand its fruit fields and production to include sites at Nordic Farm. Vermont Farms and Gardens sells organic garlic, which will be grown on-site at the farm in the future, as well. WhistlePig Whiskey of Shoreham plans to use Nordic Farm-raised grain and open a tasting room there. Nitty Gritty Grain of Charlotte consults with Nordic Farm on grain cultivation.

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• Melissa Pasanen
• John Brawley with his Sweet Sound Aquaculture farmed shrimp at Nordic Nite Out

On September 2, some shoppers lingered at picnic tables at the farm to eat pizza from Farmers Market Pizza VT of South Burlington and dip Sweet Sound's peel-and-eat shrimp into a tangy mayonnaise. Other prepared-food vendors will rotate through the remaining events.

Nordic Farm was a dairy operation before its purchase in 2018 by Andrew Peterson of Peterson Quality Malt and two partners, who began its transformation into a grain-growing enterprise and food and beverage production hub. The market idea has been in the works for a while, Keszey said. "It's a collaboration of all the businesses on-site. We wanted a way to interact with the community in a retail setting on-farm."

Will Raap, founder of Gardener's Supply and the Intervale Center, was also at the September 2 event. In June 2021, he announced plans to purchase the 580-acre farm.

Raap told Seven Days at the time that he and several partners will build an agricultural center at Nordic Farm to showcase Vermont grains, botanicals and beverages on a working farm that produces those goods. The "ecosystem" of enterprises will encompass private businesses, nonprofits and agricultural education.

The sale is still in process, Raap said at the market, but everything is moving forward. Referring to the weekly Nordic Nite Out event as a "farmstand," he said it aims to share the diversity and "collaborative feel" of the agriculture-based enterprises that will cross-pollinate at Nordic Farm.