This commentary is by Nicola Millness. She is a counter-terrorism and conflict advisor and founder of a children's supplement brand called Little Boosties.
When my husband and I moved to Vermont seven years ago with our three little boys, it wasn't just the mountains and the close community that drew us. It was a provincial culture that ate with the seasons, got to know the farmers, and respected the natural rhythms of the land. These were not trends here – they were traditions.
Raised by a natural therapy doctor, I grew up before “wellness” became an industry. Dining organically locally was not about marketing. It was about practicality, wit and respect for the land. However, over the years the food landscape has changed. What used to be a lifestyle has become a booming industry, and recently something else has become completely other.
Recently, I have seen food as disappointingly basic enough to have been dragged into partisan debate. Prioritizing healthy, organic local foods should be considered too basic to be a political statement. This is not left or right – it's about feeding our family well. And in Vermont, it has always been a core value.
As an advisor to the US Agency for International Development (USAID), over the past few weeks, I have had a front row seating on how the political sector can derail real progress. We also saw what happens when the community keeps focused on what really matters. In Vermont, it's clear that it's important. Family health, local farm strength, food system sustainability.
Last year I remembered this year. It reminded me of the wildfires spreading throughout the country. It wasn't a political argument – it was a fundamental issue of health and resilience.
That moment reinforced what Vermonter always knew. What we put in our bodies is important. That's why I started a small boost, a child's all-food-based supplement brand rooted in the same values that have long defined this condition – clean ingredients, transparency, respect for nature. Advocating for real food should not be a political statement. Don't let politics eat at the edge of what was always the Vermont way.
