Farm Fresh Rhode Island blog

Most of Rhode Island’s 30 or so markets have already packed it up for the season. And this week we’ll bid farewell to all but one of the holdouts, as they sprint to a Thanksgiving-timed finish. Brown wraps up Wednesday (tomorrow); Pawtuxet Village and Aquidneck Growers on Saturday.

Hope High School, also a Saturday market, is open through the end of the month, when it segues into the indoor Providence Wintertime Farmers’ Market on December 1. When and if it gets cold this winter we – farmers and eaters alike – will appreciate the warmth.

It’s the season of dark greens and root veggies, and sure enough they were on full display at last Tuesday’s Southern RI Conservation District annual dinner. The buffet was a culinary tour of what’s possible when you mix and mingle the bounty of 16 family farms. We were lucky to try over a dozen dishes (flint corn johnnycakes, oysters, slow-roasted ham, squash ratatouille, …see the menu) and had the farmers and chefs right there to thank.

Also on display was a trailer for “The Making of a Meal,” a film shot by the Green Collaborative student group at Johnson & Wales that explores the farms and faces behind the night’s dinner. Screenings are set for December.

Barbara Cohen of Chartwells has been busy working with Kids First and the RI Division of Ag to put together a local lunch in the East Providence school cafeterias.  The resulting RI Harvest Day was this Thursday, November 8 and featured potatoes and squash from Young Family Farm in Little Compton, apples from Steere Orchard, and apple cider from Jaswell’s Farm both located in Smithfield. A healthful autumn-inspired, kid-friendly menu awaited the district’s 4,000 students. Whiteknact Elementary and Martin Middle School also had Kids First staff and one of the farmers on hand to talk about the meal.

A delicious Organic Harvest Dinner at Up River Café in Westerly last night. Kudos to Dan, Terrence and the team for the simple, delicious and purposeful meal. We were lucky to have Terrence to speak at last year’s Local Food Forum and their commitment to sustainable food production has only grown since.

Besides a enlivening conversation with Will of East West Farm in Charlestown, whose veggies featured prominently on the menu, we discovered two new New England vodkas. They’re now on FarmFresh.org: General John Stark made with NH apples and Vermont White made with milk sugar. Hurrah for local spirits.

It’s our job to be in constant contact with farmers, chefs, schools, groceries, farmers and of course eaters. And it’s our goal to connect you — as someone who sets your Rhode Island dinnertable for two, for four or for four hundred — to the farms, people and places who grow your food.

A typical day at Farm Fresh includes a few tidbits about local food so juicy, so inspiring that they need to be shared. So we’re trying a blog. Expect mostly morsel-sized updates and maybe an occasional in-depth musing. A potpourri for sure. A better way to keep our small state connected and help communicate the many projects we juggle.