Farm Fresh Rhode Island blog

The snowy trek to the Wintertime Farmers’ Market this past Saturday made the experience all the more holiday themed. That and the few extra ingredients, gifts and treats on our holiday shopping list added a mix of generosity and indulgence, both necessary during these tough times. We’re happy that the market can support new farmers like Pete of Moonstone Farm, who still had many leeks and carrots (pictured right) in the ground after his South County CSA ended. Luckily, the ground was warm enough to harvest and the Wintertime Market customers hungry for great veggies. He sold out. Thank you also to everyone who gave to our toy drive for the Pawtucket Community Development Corp and St. Teresa’s in Olneyville. You’ve made for a very happy holiday for dozens of local children.

At Farm Fresh, we are thankful this year for the incredible community that gathers every week in every season around good food. Thank you to the hard-working Rhode Island farmers and producers whose food nourishes us each and every day, and to the Rhode Island eaters, whose commitment make it possible to grow this good food. We are lucky to live in such a place. May your holidays be flavorful and filled with good food and good people!

See you at the market this Saturday 12/27: Bring family and friends from out of town and show off what RI tastes like; stock up for a New Year’s dinner; get potatoes and onions for latkes; and thank your farmers, bakers and cheesemakers for a delicious 2008.

Looking ahead to 2009, here’s a snapshot of what we’re up to so far:

• Sat 1/3 – Farm-to-Chef “Taste Expo” at the Wintertime Farmers’ Market (12/20 and 12/27, too)
• Sat 1/10 – First Market Mobile delivery
• Fri 1/16 – NOFA-RI re-launch with lecture by Elizabeth Henderson, farmer and author
• Fri 1/30 – Vendor applications for Hope High vendors due
• Wed 2/4 – Local Food Forum
• Sat 2/14 – Valentine’s Day at the Wintertime Market
• Fri 4/3 – Vendor applications for all summer farmers’ markets due
• Sat 4/25 – Last day of Wintertime Market
• Sat 5/2 – First day of Hope High “Pre-Season” Market
• Thu 6/4 – Armory Farmers’ Market opens
• Fri 6/5 – Downtown Providence Farmers’ Market opens
• Sat 6/6 – Hope High Farmers’ Market opens
• Thu 6/11 – Armory Market Basket begins
• Fri 6/12 – Downtown Market Basket begins
• Tues 7/7 – Woonsocket Farmers’ Market opens
• Sun 7/12 – Pawtucket Farmers’ Market opens
• Tue 8/4 – Local Food Fest

Please make a gift today. Your year-end donation is tax-deductible and will support Rhode Island family farms and the community-building power of local food in 2009 and for generations to come.

Whether your holiday menu features potato latkes and apple sauce, or squash and ham and perhaps lobster (we are in New England!), you can find it from the 30 RI farmers and producers at the Wintertime Farmers’ Market, Saturdays 11-2 in Pawtucket. Friday is supposed to be snowy, but the parking lots will be plowed pronto.

If you’ve been coming each week, thank you for your help in creating one of the most vibrant markets we’ve seen to date. A lively string band, an inviting cooking Johnson and Wales cooking demonstration, and an array of salsas, pesto, chutneys and cheeses to sample all contributed to tasty Saturdays! But let’s not forget what we’re all pining for on a blustery and gray winter’s day, the humble heart of the market: vegetables! Colorful and fresh-from-the-farm winter squash, sweet carrots, scarlet turnips, heads of cabbage, fingerling potatoes, collard greens and spinach all played their part in creating a complete market. Skeptics may wonder, all this from RI in the winter? The only answer is to come and see it for yourself.

Actually, you can catch a glimpse online, too. Jen, our Buy Local Coordinator and host of the Jen’s Dish radio program, shot some holiday scenes at this past week’s market. Two days later, she had stitched it all together and suddenly the Wintertime Market is on YouTube! Take a look:

Still, this video is just a teaser. Experiencing the market in the flesh helps us all to visualize a year-round local food system right here in our small state.  What we’ve seen so far was more than just locally, honestly grown and produced foods. We’ve seen the result of farmers planning months in advance to grow enough food to last consumers through the winter. We’ve witnessed the building of trust between Rhode Island’s growers and eaters, the foundation of a fair food system.

Join us this Saturday 11-2, and make your holiday gatherings with honest ingredients and delicious gifts from Rhode Island’s family farms and producers. Chef Dave Rocheleau and his Johnson & Wales farmers’ market team will be cooking live from the market and Chef Toni Fiore of DeliciousTV on PBS will be there filming the sights, sounds and flavors of the bounty of local food in the wintertime.

By the way, the market will now also be open next Saturday 12/27 (and every week until the end of April). We were originally going to take the holiday weekend off but the farmers won’t let us! And they’re right, there’s still food growing and people eating.

We’re one day away from the second Wintertime Farmers’ Market. If you were there last Saturday, you were probably as blown away as we were. The market is perhaps what Boston’s Quincy Market used to be, or a taste of Philly’s Reading Terminal or Seattle’s Pike Place with the Wintertime Market’s emphasis on food sold directly from family farmers and artisan producers.

This type of market takes careful planning and is the result of years of building the local food community here in Rhode Island. The Wintertime Market is a victory for Rhode Island farmers and honest food. It’s a victory for all of us who eat here in the Ocean State. We’ve all made it possible and its success is possible through our shared commitment to local producers and their connection with local jobs, healthy communities, and RI land and waters.

4 things we’ve been working on for tomorrow’s market:

• Places to Sit. We’re bringing more chairs and have set aside more areas to sit.
• Places to Park. We heard it got a little backed up on Main Street as people tried to find a space. Here’s a map of parking.
• Better Flow. Wishing Stone Farm is now at the end of the market hall, which will open up room and traffic at the front of the market.
• More RI Farmers! Moonstone Farms will be there with carrots and leeks, Robin Hollow Farm with flowers and wreaths, Moosup River Farm with jams and pies, Earth Essence Herbal with lotions and soaps. The Wintertime Farmers’ Market is the only market of its kind between Providence, Boston, Worcester, and beyond. So we’re happy to include local farmers who want to participate!

See more photos and press bites from the market: Last Night’s Dinner, Projo Fitness, Providential Gardener, Providence Phoenix

See you tomorrow and every winter Saturday 11-2pm!

A few tidbits about the Saturday 12/6 opening (tomorrow!) of the second season of the Wintertime Farmers’ Market.

RI Public Market. This year’s market was layed out with the help of a RISD architecture class. Take a look at the map of the market to the right – better yet, come tomorrow – and you’ll share our vision of what a permanent RI Public Market could be. We know it will happen, because RI farmers, producers and eaters need a place to reconnect.

Directions to the Market. Use our map tool. The Hope Artiste Village location is just over the Providence/Pawtucket line on Main St. It’s also nestled just east of Rt. 95 between exits 25, 26 (northbound only) and 27 but it may be easier for some in Providence to get there via North Main St. and take the left fork at the Pawtucket border. You’ll see the signs!

Parking is Plentiful. The street and the inner courtyard have a lot of parking. There are even more spaces across Main St. as well as at the back of the Hope Artiste Village accessible via Warren Ave.

#99 RIPTA Bus. The bus runs every 40 minutes and goes from Kennedy Plaza along North Main St. past the Whole Foods and up to the Pawtucket border. At that point, the road forks and the bus continues up the left fork on Main St. four blocks to the market.

Holiday Toy Drive at the Market. December 6, 13, 20. Unwrapped new toys can be brought to the Farm Fresh RI table all month. In coordination with the Woodlawn Community Development Corp, the toys will be donated to children from low-income families in Pawtucket. E-mail Christie for more info.

Christmas Trees and Wreaths. Call our friends at The Good Earth at 401-826-3130 to reserve a tree for pickup at the market.

Cooking demos. Johnson & Wales University chefs will use ingredients right from the market!

See you tomorrow and every winter Saturday from 11 to 2!

Buying locally this holiday season will support healthy farms, recycle your dollars in Rhode Island communities, and taste delicious. Buying locally means a lot, especially during these tough times. Without further adieu, here are our holiday party and gift ideas:

Wine & Beer. We’re lucky to have locally produced wines here in RI that are both captivating in flavor and yet quite affordable. Newport Vineyards, Greenvale Vineyards, or Sakonnet Vineyards at most fine wine shops around the state for your holiday party. Also try Narragansett Beer, Newport Storm, Trinity for your beer brews.

Christmas Trees. Buy direct from a RI farm and fill your home with the warm scent of a fresh tree.

Explore the Wintertime Farmers’ Market. Every Saturday 11-2! It’s a great place to get holiday gifts and ingredients for your party.

• Honey for a sweetheart from Mello Family Farm.
• Cheese baskets and party dips from Narragansett Creamery.
• Jams and jellies from Marcia’s Chutneys.
• Oysters, littlenecks and lobster from Matunuck Oyster Farm.
• Chocolates from OceanState Chocolates’ local truffle collection.
• Pesto, creamy with the season’s basil preserved by Besto Pesto.
• Roasted pecans, gingery or buttery by Purple Pear.
• Coffees roasted daily by New Harvest at the market site.
• Teas specially blended by Farmacy.
• Marzipan from New Dawn.
• Breads and pastries baked fresh by Seven Stars, Olga’s, and gluten-free from Chris’s Gourmet Treats.
• Apple cider just pressed at Hill Orchards.
• Crudité (i.e. carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and other veggies!) for your party platter from the many Rhode Island farms at the market.
• Dog treats by Jack’s Snacks and herbal lotions from Earth Essence.
• Farm fresh ingredients for your entrées and appetizers whether it’s Beef Brisket, Pork Chops, Deviled Eggs or sea-fresh Scallop Ceviche.
• Farmers’ Market Gift Coins can be used with any farmer or food producer at any summer or wintertime Farm Fresh farmers’ market in Providence, Pawtucket and Woonsocket. 100% goes to the producer, and they come with gift tags.

Lobsters are at the lowest prices in years and New England lobstermen are hurting this season. If you can’t make it to the docks at Pt. Judith, add a stop to your local fish market. They’ll have local lobster and it will be delicious.

Local art. There are many holiday art sales this December. Complement a flavorful feast with a feast for the eyes, care of Rhode Island’s incredible community of craftmakers.

Caterers. These caterers can put together a classy menu with ingredients fresh from the farm. Just ask.

Make a Donation to Farm Fresh. All year we work to support local farmers and fresh food for all Rhode Islanders. Over the past year we’ve made great strides, increasing year-round opportunities for farmers and expanding access to fresh foods in low-income areas. But we can only continue these programs with your help. If you shop at the markets, if you appreciate good food from local farms, please make a tax-deductible gift today.

Other ideas for the holiday guide? Send them to us and we’ll update this page.