Help Reopen a Historic Market in the NEK Vermont

Hinterland Market is asking for your help.
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Hello, we are Karin and Aaron. We started Hinterland in the winter of 2021 out of necessity, now it has become our passion. The pandemic turned our world upside-down but during that turmoil we were given the gift of time. Time to dream and come up with new possibilities. The result was our new small business idea. We could finally work for ourselves and we would make delicious things that we would offer to the community, first out of our home and then eventually we would expand and resurrect a historic general store. We are now at that point!




For the past several months we have been selling baked goods, mostly soft pretzels that we made in our tiny kitchen. As passionate cooks we decided to expand and develop our own products that are difficult to find in this part of the world, things that we miss from previous lives. Many of our recipes are derived from authentic ones, some of which have come directly from our friends in various countries. We develop our recipes until we reach the point that we are enamored with consuming them ourselves, then we offer them to you! As the months have passed we have expanded our product line to include fermented goods, granola, several hot sauces and as a result we have completely out grown our space. The next step is where we are going to need your help.



In 2018 we stumbled upon a listing for an old general store in the Northeast Kingdom. Intrigued, we checked out the property and immediately fell in love with it. After procuring 1534 South Albany Road we began fantasizing about what we could do with all that space.  In the June of 2021 we are going to make those dreams come true. The building is the old South Albany General Store circa 1913.  All of the bones of the original store still exist, the kitchen is twice the size of the one we have at home and there’s even room for a prep kitchen. On the second floor there are artist studios and room for a gallery in what used to be the old dance hall complete with its own entrance. Our idea is to resurrect the store and to bring life back to this tiny corner of the Northeast Kingdom, creating a hub for community activity as well as offering a venue for local makers, farmers and artists to sell their wares. We would like to become a curious destination in the middle of the hinterlands where you might grab a coffee, peruse some antiques  or just sit on the front porch and talk to the locals. Our mission is to foster community through food and art.



We plan to open with only what we have on June 1 of 2021. The funding we are looking for would go a long way toward helping to shore up our appliance situation and to ensure that we have redundancy so we will never incur downtime in delivering a fantastic product to you.  We are looking to procure numerous appliances so that we are as productive as we can be. The list includes a back up refrigerator, new propane stove, a secondhand electric stove, new hot water heater and most importantly a CREEMEE machine as there is a severe lack of the classic Vermont CREEMEE in this neck of the woods! It's soft serve ice cream to those who are not familiar with the local vernacular.




We hope to use some of the funds to repaint and install appropriate lights in the smaller 1000 sq ft studio that has its own entrance on the side of the building. This will be our gallery space that will feature local artists.  Should the funding fall into place we are aiming to hang the first show on July 1st.  There will be an application on the site to submit your work for consideration.

If all goes well, we are planning to host at least 6 dinners this season and at least that many every summer after. Hopefully we will have enough of us vaccinated to do this family style so we can bring the community together at one table. If not, we will undoubtedly still offer you the best Take Out available in the NEK. We would also like to eventually set up an AirBnB style rental in our vintage Airstream trailer so you can come and stay with us. This summer we are also getting the gardens started. We hope that one day that the gardens will produce a big portion of what we use to make products in the kitchen.





Our needs are listed at the end of this campaign and we are offering what we believe is strong return on your support!  We have also provided a breakdown of our current products to get your mouth watering. We sincerely appreciate your interest in making this endeavor a reality.  Hinterland Market is here to serve the community as well as all that come to visit our neck of the woods! We will not disappoint!

SOFT PRETZELS

Our pretzels are made with the finest natural ingredients. Each one is hand rolled and baked with love in our home bakery. Our pretzel dough is made with King Arthur flour and our toppings are all purchased locally, from seeds to cheese and black cumin from an Indian market in Burlington. We do an egg wash with our neighbors eggs to help the toppings stay put but of course this is optional if you would like them to be vegan.



HOT SAUCE

We have traveled extensively throughout the Caribbean over the last couple of decades,  acquiring local hot sauces along the way.  Our favorite island? Well that’s a bit of a toss up! We have a particular affinity for a little town in Tobago.  We use the word “little” loosely, since the town of South Albany is dwarfed by this Tobago town! There is a magical woman in this particular town who has spent her entire life there.  She is the matriarch and is known to the locals as Mama Lyda. For 30 years Lyda ran a tiny bar and every Friday she cooked a feast for locals as well as visitors. Karin was informally adopted midway through our first visit. Lyda nearly handed Karin the keys to the bar to run while she was away! Through this adoption Karin was afforded Lyda’s insight into local recipes, from Hot Sauce to learning the nuances of Buss Up Shut (more on that at another time).



With Lyda’s blessing we went about making our own variations of her hot sauce. While tamed a bit to accommodate the Northern palette, they are very much the authentic recipe just with a little less heat.  Be forewarned with any of our hot sauces, you will feel it!  Though you will most definitely smile because of it!





GRANOLA

We know there are a lot of options for Granola out there but we figured there is always room for one more!  At Hinterland Market we have been working on variations for years and our first offering is quite tasty, if we do say so ourselves. Our Coconut Golden Raisin granola is made with locally sourced natural ingredients, sweetened with maple syrup of course, hand mixed and baked in small batches in our home bakery.



FERMENTED LOVE

Who doesn’t love crunchy fermented Veggies?  They are a staple food in numerous countries all over the world and are as satisfying eaten alone as well as a savory addition to other dishes. Karin has been tirelessly working on these flavors and we are now ready to offer them to you! Each has a strong foundation in traditional flavors but with unique undertones to make your palette smile. Hinterland Market is offering lip smacking versions of Sauerkraut and a very authentic Kimchi.





OTHER SPECIALTIES

We got a little extra time in the LAB (kitchen) this April and have a couple of exciting additions.  First up we are adding our House Made Ramp Salt to the roster. Great on almost everything in place of plain old salt. But why stop there! After the better part of the year we are finally ready to release our Jamaican Jerk Sauce. This marinating gold has gone through many iterations, but we are happy to report that we have never had a better Jerk Sauce! And finally, what goes great with jerk sauce, why Cocktails of course! So Karin headed back to the kitchen and brewed up a batch of Blood Orange Tonic Syrup for making Tonic Water. Can you say Gin & Tonic time! Hopefully this is only the beginning of what we will have in the market.




We would be remiss to not give credit to Mr. Sparkles Effingham Valentino (aka Shop Cat and a whole lot of other names!) for keeping us on our toes!



Below is the list of items we are looking to fund. These are the essentials to get our store open a well as provide redundancy for critical appliances. Thank you for all of your support and we look forward to serving you starting on June 1st!

 

Store Equipment Breakdown

Refrigerator                    $1050

Propane Stove               $1075

Used Electric Stove    $250

CREEMEE Machine   $2650

Hot Water Heater      $450

Ice Machine                   $250

Paint for Gallery         $160

Lights for Gallery       $195

Tables for Dinners     $400

Chairs for Dinners     $720

Freezer                             $300

Plumber                           $250

Electrician                      $250

Misc Hardware           $500

Total                                   $8500

In the style of other fundraising platforms we would like to offer the following incentives for various donation levels.

$10 donation

Our eternal gratitude plus a free CREEMEE!
 
$25 donation

Our eternal gratitude plus 3 Free CREEMEEs!

$50 donation

Our eternal gratitude plus 3 Free CREEMEEs and our smashingly attractive logo on a canvas tote bag that you can use when you shop at our market.

$75 donation

Our eternal gratitude plus 5 Free CREEMEEs and our smashingly attractive logo on a canvas tote bag.

$100 donation

Our eternal gratitude plus 10 Free CREEMEEs our smashingly attractive logo on a canvas tote bag and 10% off house made goods for the summer of 2021.

$200 - $300 donation

Our eternal gratitude plus 10 Free CREEMEEs our smashingly attractive logo on a canvas tote bag, 10% off house made goods for the summer of 2021 and a Hinterland Market logo T-shirt.

$500 - $999 donation

Our eternal gratitude plus 10 Free CREEMEEs, our smashingly attractive logo on a canvas tote bag, 15% off house made goods for the summer of 2021 and a Hinterland Market logo Trucker Hat or T-shirt.

$1000 donation

Our eternal gratitude plus 15  Free CREEMEEs, our smashingly attractive logo on a canvas tote bag, 20% off house made goods for the summer of 2021 a Hinterland Market logo Trucker Hat or T-shirt.
 
$2000 donation

Our eternal gratitude plus 25 Free CREEMEEs, our smashingly attractive logo on a canvas tote bag, 20% off house made goods for the summer of 2021 and a Hinterland Market logo Trucker Hat or T-shirt and dinner for 2 hosted by Karin and Aaron at Hinterland Market (menu choices to be discussed at end of campaign) .

$5000 donation

Our eternal gratitude plus a Lifetime Supply of Free CREEMEEs, our smashingly attractive logo on a canvas tote bag, 20% off house made goods for the summer of 2021 and a Hinterland Market logo Trucker Hat or T-shirt and dinner for 4 hosted by Karin and Aaron at Hinterland Market (menu choices to be discussed at end of campaign).

$ THE WHOLE PRETZEL donation

Just about anything you want within reason!


Our sincerest gratitude to all those that participate in this fundraiser!

THANK YOU!
Karin & Aaron