Hey! Do you ever dream about food?

I do. One of my wildest dreams involves eating local foods, year-round. In this food fantasy, I would support area farms, but I’d be able to choose each item myself. Gone would be those panicked moments when I’d purchase things on a whim because time is tight: in my dream I’d have several days to think about and add to my weekly order. And, while it’s always nice to visit farms in person, my ideal world includes having a convenient weekly pick-up location for my bounty of produce and products. I’d know that the farmers were getting paid fast and fairly.

My dream is actually pretty simple: I want to eat well and feed my family well. I also want to support local businesses–especially those striving to serve as much of Maine as possible. I’d like flexibility and choice when food shopping and I’d also like to feel connected to the farmers and purveyors who are my neighbors, friends, and fellow Mainers. In my dream, I’d get to know these local food heroes through reading their personal stories or watching mini-documentaries, but I’d never be bombarded with emails and updates from or about them. Having the opportunity to voice feedback–to a real person in real time–is another piece of this magical world, as is seeing that feedback in action. If all of the above also meant that I was supporting a women-owned, mission driven, and community-minded business, then all the better. Because that would be, well, dreamy.

Welcome to FarmDrop. We’re here to help your wildest food dreams come true. 

A bit of backstory

FarmDrop began as you might imagine: a Blue Hill-based family started selling natural wines and specialty food items at the Blue Hill Wine Shop in XXXX. Ever-increasing demand led them to create an online farmer’s market, one that served the neighborhood and surrounding area for four years. At that point, they realized it was time to dream bigger and they passed their blossoming business onto two women who had the desire, skills, and vision to bring FarmDrop to new levels.

Current CEO Hannah Semler and her then business partner took over FarmDrop, growing it into what it is today. A Blue Hill native who spent years living in Spain and Central America, Hannah has long been both food and farm obsessed. Seeing first-hand how other cultures managed their food systems, she knew that with the right technology and the right implementation, people in Maine could eat better, farmers could thrive better, and people could be better. Her work as gleaning coordinator at Healthy Acadia, a public health organization serving Hancock and Washington Counties, gave her a unique, insider understanding of local possibility, including being able to identify potential road blocks and areas of opportunity. 

Now solely at the helm, Hannah is continuing to build FarmDrop, creating gig economy jobs for locals, expanding the reach and rewards for consumers, and supporting farmers every step of the way. She’s carrying out the mission of creating an accessible, sustainable, local food hub. In other words, Hannah is making her wildest dream come true.  

At a glance

Over the last XX years, the FarmDrop mission has broadened to include the building of powerful networks of regenerative community food systems. This includes:

• providing additional farm income.
• creating year-round access to a wide variety of local food and food-related products.
• ensuring small farm viability through smart, data-driven, technology-powered business planning. 
• building thriving local food economies through social enterprise. 
• supporting nonprofits that prevent food waste and feed hungry families. 
• preserving the knowledge and sustainable stewardship of our rural landscapes by making it convenient to access the extraordinary local food being produced in our own foodsheds. 
• making it possible for communities to buy, sell, and trade year-round, sharing the most nutritious, safe, and delicious foods available, that in turn protect our planet, restore our place-based culture, and build food sovereignty.

Please contact us to talk about FarmDrop and how we might support each other and the mission that connects us. We’re evolving. We’re growing. We’re in the business of making wild food dreams come true.