Farm Fresh Rhode Island blog

12 talented chefs paired with 12 local farms. The tastiest event of the summer is only three weeks away. Join us for a ramble through the flavors of Rhode Island:

RI Local Food Fest
to benefit Farm Fresh Rhode Island
at Castle Hill Inn & Resort, Newport
Tuesday, August 3, 2010 from 5-8pm
Preview Hour at 4pm

Regular and Preview Hour tickets are now available. We encourage you to buy tickets now because they usually sell out before the event.

The annual Local Food Fest showcases the flavors of Rhode Island summer at its peak. RI chefs and farmers are joined by local vineyards, brewers, bakers and cheeseheads.

Our Farmers & Producers are the people who provide our daily bread (plus our tomatoes, basil and mozzarella).

· Aquidneck Farms · Aquidneck Honey · Allen Farms · Arcadian Fields · Bally Machree · Blackbird Farm · Barden Family Orchard · Blue Skys Flower Farm · Blue State Coffee · Bomster Scallops · Cupcakerie · Four Town Farm · Lydon Family Tomatoes · Matunuck Oyster Farm · Narragansett Creamery · New Harvest Coffee · Olga’s Cup and Saucer ·
· Rhody Fresh Milk · Red Planet Vegetables · Robin Hollow Farm · Schartner Farms · Simmons Farm · Sweet Berry Farm · Seven Stars Bakery · Wishing Stone Farm ·

Our Chefs support the mission of Farm Fresh RI at the Local Food Fest and every evening. They work with local farmers to excite, inspire and nourish us:

· Castle Hill · Newport Restaurant Group ·
· Blackstone Caterers · Chez Pascal ·
· Tallulah on Thames  · Sunnyside Daytime ·
· Little Farm Catering · Local 121 ·
· New Rivers · Nick’s on Broadway ·
· Persimmon · Vanderbilt Hall · La Laiterie

Wine & Beer Tastings from Rhode Island vineyards and breweries are included with full glasses also available for purchase.
· Greenvale Vineyards · Newport Vineyards · Sakonnet Vineyards · Narragansett Brewery · Newport Storm · Trinity Brewhouse · Langworthy Farm Winery

The Preview Hour is a unique experience with the chefs and farmers. Preview Hour guests are also treated to complimentary champagne, passed plates from Vanderbilt Hall, and a Matunuck Oyster raw bar.

The Silent Auction includes exclusive tours of farms, dinner and theatre packages, and cheesemaking classes, to name a few.

Live Music from Brown Bird, a wonderful (and local) bluesy-gypsy, folk rock treat.

Buy your tickets online today. Don’t miss your chance to enjoy the beautiful views from Castle Hill and the delicious flavors of Rhode Island at the Local Food Fest.
We hope you’ll come out, enjoy the fresh flavors and ocean air, and support the critical work of Farm Fresh.

Thank you to our generous supporters:

A new warehouse holds the key to linking farms with institutions responsible for feeding thousands of Rhode Islanders every day. We need your help to make it a reality.

Yes! I’d like to contribute now.

Only 1% of what we eat comes from RI farms.
The other 99%? We see it as a huge opportunity for strengthening our family farms and addressing community health issues like childhood obesity and diabetes.

We have the farms. We have the food. We have the trucks, drivers and delivery routes. We have the people on the inside at places like schools, hospitals, grocers and restaurants championing fresher, healthier food.

What are we waiting for? Farm Fresh RI needs an upgraded warehouse - the critical infrastructure - to handle the large quantities of produce needed by schools, hospitals and other big food buyers.

But with the unexpected loss of grant funding, we’re in a tough situation. There’s simply no way we can continue to meet the new demand from school and hospital customers without the right warehouse equipment.

We’re hoping to raise $10,000 from the community in the next 30 days as part of the necessary $75,000 investment we’re making this summer in our warehouse space in Pawtucket (by our Wintertime Market site). It will help us grow from last year’s $225,000 in local farm sales to a yearly $2.5 million in 2013. That’s a lot of local food, local jobs and a lot of healthy school lunches.

Please donate today. A contribution of any amount will help. We have some donors lined up, but that won’t yet cover it. A new walk-in cooler, freezer and cold packing room are simple, but they will yield an abundant harvest on dinner tables across Rhode Island for many years to come.

If you care about changing the way we eat… If you want a future where local farms, fresher flavors and healthier communities are the default, not just the 1%… Your donation can make it a reality!

Summer doesn’t officially start for another few days, but you wouldn’t know it based on the tables overflowing with peas and strawberries at farmers markets across Rhode Island. 31of the 45 markets are already open for the season, and what a harvest for early June! There hasn’t been any “downtime” between the winter and summer this year, with temps reaching 80 degrees in April. Though it’s left farmers without any chance of catching up on sleep, it’s a wonderful treat for everyone who eats.

Last week, we saw beets and asparagus at the Armory Market, broccoli and garlic scapes at the Downtown Providence Market, and cherries and basil at the Hope Street Market. We’ve even heard that the very first raspberries are already ready to harvest.

If you’re looking for an excuse to get out to a RI farm, now is the moment to do it. There’s nothing quite like a local strawberry, fresh from the fields. You can pick your own strawberries at a dozen nearby farms, and three farms let you pick sugar snap peas too.

Enjoy the sweet taste, and cheers to a local, delicious summer!

The Springtime Farmers Market in Pawtucket is lively with young greens, herbs, cheese, bread, eggs and meats. With only two weeks to go – Saturdays 11-2 through the end of May – naturally our thoughts are turning to summer.

On farms all around Rhode Island, farmers are busy laying the groundwork for a delicious summer. Asparagus is springing up and peas that were directly seeded in the ground are weaving along trellises. Kale and lettuce seedlings are making the journey from greenhouses to the field. Basil and tomato seedlings will wait inside for a bit longer. We’ve been extraordinarily lucky to escape frosts so far this May, but it’s still a little cool for their liking.

While farmers having been busy planting food, we’ve been busy planting EBT machines at more farmers market across RI. With more than 1 out of every 8 Americans relying on SNAP to feed their families in this tough economy, we’re thrilled that SNAP customers can now shop for fresh, healthy foods at 18 markets across the Ocean States. When SNAP dollars get spent at local farmers markets, it’s a big win for both farmers and eaters.

Thanks to our partnership with Wholesome Wave and your generous donations, Farm Fresh RI will continue doubling SNAP up to $5 Bonus Bucks per day at our markets in Providence, Pawtucket and Woonsocket this summer.

Some RI summer markets open in May, but we wait for the weather and harvest to ripen a bit more. Here are the Farm Fresh RI markets that will be popping up in Providence in June and beyond:

• Armory – Thursday 6/3
  welcome to new vendors: Farmacy Herbs, Mixed Grille Catering, Nonquit Salad Farm
• Downtown – Friday 6/4
  welcome to new vendors: Absalona Greenhouse, Blue State Coffee, Stirring Spoon, Virginia & Spanish Peanut Co.
• Hope St. / Lippitt Park – Saturday 6/5
  welcome to new vendors: Aquidneck Farms, Cupcakerie, Harmony Hill Farm, Olga’s Cup & Saucer, Purple Pear, Xiong Farm
• Coming in July: Broad St., Pawtucket / Slater Mill, Woonsocket
• Coming in September: Brown

Our 2010 RI Farmers Market bookmarks are arriving from the printer this week. Pictured above, we have 4 editions this year: Northern RI; West Bay + South County; East Bay + Aquidneck + Sakonnet; and the Providence area (English and Spanish). They’re good for your wallet or the fridge and are an easy way to keep track of farmers markets in your area throughout the summer. Find the bookmarks at farmers markets, restaurants that buy local, visitor centers and other community spots.

There’s also still time to sign up for a CSA, a weekly subscription to a farm’s veggies. Try it out!

Help us get an Incubator Kitchen off the Ground in RI!
Go back a few decades and RI had many certified food processing sites for food harvested from RI farms and waters. There were places for, well, you name it: canning tomatoes, pickling cucumbers, preserving fruits, making cheese and yogurt, baking and roasting, butchering meat, shucking oysters, and filleting fish. But today’s reality is much spottier. As bigger-is-better policies pushed the national and global consolidation of our food supply, there was reduced support for local farms and food processing sites and many closed.

With a reawakening today to the economic, environmental and basic social value of local food production, RI entrepreneurs are rising to the opportunity. Farm Fresh routinely offers guidance and support to folks interested in creating or building upon their food business. Through our Open Kitchen initiative we aim to expand the diversity of foods produced in RI using ingredients grown in RI, thereby providing a livelihood for more Rhode Islanders. But the obstacles associated with starting a food business are staggering. There are start-up costs for ingredients, equipment, and licensing, plus the trouble of finding a certified kitchen and a consistent customer base. Because there are so many obstacles, there are also few success-story mentors who can help.

Enter Hope & Main
In order to build a robust local food system we need more infrastructure, like dedicated kitchens for processing local foods. We are thrilled that RI’s first fully dedicated incubator kitchen, Hope & Main, is now being planned for the former Main Street School site in Warren, RI. Based on incubator models across the nation, this shared-use facility will be rented out by the hour or month to provide kitchen equipment and storage, along with professional services, mentoring and education to ensure that local businesses mature and are eventually prepared to stand alone.

Lisa Raiola, Executive Director of the new not-for-profit organization that hopes to create the kitchen, tells Farm Fresh, “Hope & Main is intent to build upon the Farm Fresh mission through a series of cooperative partnerships. We aim to work with Farm Fresh to supply the members of our kitchen incubator with fresh local ingredients and to expand the reach of Farm Fresh’s educational and nutrition programs to more Rhode Islanders.”

If you might be interested in sharing a kitchen or know someone else who would, then please fill out the Hope & Main Needs Assessment Survey. Help this proposed incubator kitchen get off the ground!

Farm Fresh knows there is a serious need for a dedicated incubator kitchen space in the state. Please pass this information to others who may be interested in the kitchen, your feedback is valuable in planning for this venture! Email Christie with questions.

THIS IS NO ORDINARY BREAD: from rye seed to rye flour to rye bread, it’s the first produced 100% in Rhode Island in decades. And if Schartner Farms, Kenyon’s Grist Mill, Seven Stars Bakery and the non-profit Farm Fresh RI have their way, it will be the first of many loaves. To celebrate this “Buy Local RI” small business success, Lt. Governor Elizabeth Roberts and RI DEM Division of Agriculture Chief Ken Ayars will break bread with the three partnering businesses.

Official Breadbreaking: Monday, April 12th at 10am at Seven Stars Bakery on Hope Street in Providence. Come taste!

This spring, Seven Stars Bakery will begin serving rye breads on Saturdays at its cafés and farmers market locations made exclusively with Rhode Island flour. The flour will first be featured in a Volkenbrot, an especially dense loaf that is a new addition at the bakery. The rye flour will be used in additional loaves as the season progresses, with plans for 100% of the rye flour in Seven Stars breads to come from RI farms by year’s end. Schartner Farms will also begin growing wheat for the bakery this summer for use in additional loaves.

“Thousands of Rhode Islanders will have the chance to eat locally grown bread that is incredibly fresh and supports the local economy through every step of its production,” said Hannah Mellion, the AmeriCorps VISTA at Farm Fresh RI who brokered the RI Rye partnership. “This story, which began at a Rhode Island farm and ends on a Rhode Island plate, was created by simply linking neighboring small businesses. There are so many opportunities for local partnerships like this one. We see this as just the beginning of our Local Grains Initiative, and as usual with Farm Fresh projects, success tastes great!”

“The RI Rye Project is an outstanding example of local businesses working together to create an all-Rhode Island, all-local product from start to finish,” said Lt. Gov. Roberts. “I‘d like to thank Rich of Schartner’s Farm, Paul at Kenyon’s Grist Mill, Jim at Seven Stars and Hannah at Farm Fresh RI for partnering in an innovative way to bring Rhode Islanders the first locally-grown, locally-ground, locally-baked and locally sold bread we’ve seen in generations. This is a great Buy Local RI success story.”

WHO’S WHO: THE FARMER, THE MILLER, THE BAKER

Rich Schartner, farmer/owner at Schartner Farms in Exeter, has been growing rye for years on the family’s 85 acre farm. Rye is planted as a cover crop to add nutrients to soil and prevent erosion. When life hands you thousands of pounds of rye seed, why not make flour and bread? In the fall of 2009 Farm Fresh RI reached out to Rich Schartner to explore this opportunity, and so the Rhode Island Rye project began.

Paul Drumm, miller/owner of Kenyon’s Grist Mill in Usquepaug, grinds flour in roughly 400 pounds batches and is located just six miles down the road from Schartner Farm. Over one hundred years old, they are best known for their johnnycakes and cornmeal mixes. Kenyon’s has always ground grains into meal or flour for local farmers, and has worked hard to source local grains whenever possible. The RI Rye project was an opportunity to honor that tradition.

Jim Williams, baker/owner of Seven Stars Bakery in Pawtucket, crafts a wide variety of artisan breads. The new availability of Rhode Island Rye flour offered an opportunity to source fresh-ground ingredients, support local agriculture and introduce new products into their bakery. To start, Seven Stars Bakery will be buying hundreds of pounds of RI Rye flour each month to create a special 100% RI Rye loaf. The loaf is now available for sale at Farm Fresh RI’s Springtime Farmers Market in Pawtucket, the bakery’s Providence and Rumford cafés, and its 5 other farmers market locations. Plans are to use RI Rye and wheat flour in more loaves starting this fall.

Farm Fresh RI’s Local Grains Initiative activates the Rhode Island food system and economy in new and exciting ways. The availability of RI Rye further links producers and consumers and provides valuable community-based economic development. The RI Rye, from harvest to loaf, traveled a mere 40 miles, provided income for three businesses and is only local bread flour currently available in Rhode Island. And the result is delicious! Other businesses and bakeries interested in purchasing the RI Rye Flour can find it online through Farm Fresh RI’s Market Mobile.

As a Rhode Islander who stays in the loop with our newsletter, you probably know about the growing number of places across our state where you can expect to find local food. There are now over 45 farmers markets and 3 winter markets in RI, plus dozens of restaurants, colleges, and every public school district sourcing fresh from local farms.

But would you believe that it’s only 1% of our food? And that’s not for lack of supply.

The other 99% of our food — including grocers, hospitals, senior care facilities, daycares, workplaces cafeterias and food distributors — haven’t yet shown a commitment to RI’s local farmers and small business economy.

We are trying to change that.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of RI is leading the way by working with Farm Fresh to serve healthful, fresh, locally grown products in their employee cafeteria. Jenn Baumstein, an AmeriCorp VISTA at Farm Fresh, helped Chef Mike Mooney get started purchasing from the Market Mobile in February 2010. They buy frozen berries from Schartner Farms for a fruit and yogurt parfait. Local winter squashes are roasted with very little oil or steamed with apple juice and topped with fresh herbs. They do the same with local red potatoes. Signs let Blue Cross’s 1,100 employees know where the produce is coming from, and Mooney was surprised by the number of people who were interested and excited by the fact that they get to eat local produce every day. So far, feedback from employees has been tremendously positive.

“Blue Cross is really pushing this initiative at all levels of the organization, supporting the local farmers, local community and good nutrition. They realize that local fresh vegetables are healthier than fresh veggies coming from California because vegetables start to lose their nutrients once they’ve been picked,” said Mooney.

Want your workplace to buy local produce? Have questions or comments? Email Jenn.

What unites a cupcakerie, a dog bakery, and a pesto makerie? Their common-thread is their shared kitchen space in Cranston, RI. The road to the retail shop was long, but it all began with a farmers market!

Marni MacLean Karro took her love of dogs and love of baking, and created Jack’s Snacks, a dog bakery, in 2004. She started selling her dog biscuits made with fresh, human-grade ingredients at farmers’ markets, festivals, and online. She has been selling at Farm Fresh markets two years ago.

Kristin Brennan got her bachelor’s degree in costume design, then headed to Florida to work for the Ringling Brothers Circus. After realizing that the entertainment business wasn’t for her she decided to move on. She wanted to combine her design talents with her love of cooking, and her mother suggested that she start making cupcakes. In June 2009 she launched her own cupcake business, The Cupcakerie, at the Downtown Providence Farmers Market.

Michelle Kozloski has been farming for 12 years, 6 years in Rhode Island. In 2008 she started her own farm, Zephyr Farm, where she grows organic veggies and raises chickens. She also co-founded Besto Pesto, made with her own garlic and basil, and created a pesto-loving fan base at area farmers markets.

All three of these women were renting space in kitchens, but wanted to grow their business and were looking for their own commercial kitchen and retail location. They met at a gathering for Farm Fresh RI’s Open Kitchen project that brought a group of small food business-owners together to look at a potential kitchen space in Central Falls. Although that space didn’t work out, Marni, Michelle and Kristin kept in touch about other ideas. After lots of searching, they finally found the space in Cranston! Stop in sometime for a cup of New Harvest Coffee, and a treat for you and your dog.

You can find all three of these women-owned local food businesses under one roof at their new shop, 1860 Broad St. in Cranston, and at the Pawtucket Wintertime Farmers Market.

New at the market just in time for Valentine’s Day!

• Aquidneck Honey will be joining the market.
• Port Clyde Fresh Catch will have sustainably-caught shrimp for sale outside by the Chez Pascal hot dog truck.
• Farmacy Herbs herbalist Mary Blue will be doing a free demo of making herbal fire cider at noon in the Greenhouse.
• Huckleberries Pies are back with apple  tartlets and a few sweet potato too!

Celebrate Valentine’s a day early with a date at the Wintertime Farmers Market. So much love goes into the food delicately grown by our farmers and freshly crafted by our producers, right here by the Ocean State.  While tracking down ingredients for the perfect dinner for two, or perhaps sneaking away to buy a surprise hunk of cheese, treat your Valentine to a few bites for lunch:

• Start with a hot cup of freshly roasted New Harvest Coffee.
• Try the Creperie’s Nutella hazelnut chocolate & strawberry crepes.
• Get a scoop of Kafe’ Lila bittersweet chocolate ice cream.
• Sit by the café tables, sip and nibble, and enjoy the string band.

… or pick up a gift for your lovely:

• Fragrant herbs and flowers from Pezza or Allen Farms
  
• Farmacy Herbs Sweetheart Tea or bath salts scented with rose or lavender.
• Seven Stars heart cookies and Olga’s tarts or cakes.
• Cupcakerie cupcakes- they taste as good as they look!
• Spice things up with chipotle salsa from Poblano Farm or hot pepper jelly from Hickory Hill.
• Jack’s Snacks dog treats for the furry friends that you love!
• Local honey for your honey.
• Taza chocolates for sale at the Farmstead booth.

Valentine’s Day Recipe Ideas!
Pick up all the fresh + local ingredients you need for a romantic meal at home! The Winter Market has everything you need, from seafood to sweets, for a meal to share with those you love:

• Oysters speak the language of love. Try raw oysters, baked oysters, or poached oysters.
• Combine local cheeses for a luscious cheese fondue. Try dipping brussel sprouts, apple slices, roasted squash and potato.
• Try a to-die-for seafood ragu with local clams, mussels, scallops and shrimp!
• Make an simple yet impressive entree, like shrimp risotto.
• Cocoa-dusted scallops with sweet potatoes and a citrus sauce will wow anyone.

And of course, there’s dessert!
You can leave it to the ice cream-making, cupcake + pie-baking experts! Or try your hand at:

• Caramelized oranges with ricotta cheese.
• Apple cinnamon creme brulée with local eggs, apples and cream!
• Pick up your favorite local jam for these easy jam bars. Top with local yogurt or ice cream.

The chart above shows EBT (aka Food Stamps aka SNAP) sales at our farmers markets for every month of the year between 2007, 2008 and 2009. Not counted in the graph is an additional $11,000 in 2009 from the Bonus Bucks program described below, bringing the 2009 total to over $32,000.

Fresh for All is the theme of this year’s Local Food Forum. At a time when our local farms are growing and the local food economy is enjoying great success, we are taking this day to examine how to make sure every Rhode Islander is able to participate in our (Rhode Is)land of plenty.

If we look back, one of the reasons why agriculture stagnated for so many decades is because farms and fresh food became increasingly irrelevant to people’s lives. So, going forward, how can we ensure that RI agriculture reaches every Rhode Islander? How can we ensure that every Rhode Islander feels invested in our farms and our food, and likewise that Rhode Island farmers have a stake in our cities and towns?

Farmers markets are one way that rural and urban Rhode Island can connect. By running farmers markets in Providence, Pawtucket and Woonsocket, Farm Fresh RI provides ways for city folks to participate in local agriculture, and for local agriculture to play a role in the city. These markets provide an important source of fresh fruits and vegetables in many neighborhoods and a key source of income for many farms. This win-win is helped by innovative programs that make these foods even more affordable at a time when a record number of Rhode Islanders are using SNAP, the new name for Food Stamps.

In 2007, we began accepting SNAP at our farmers markets and in summer 2009, we partnered with the Wholesome Wave Foundation to offer Bonus Bucks to SNAP customers at our markets. Every SNAP customer could receive up to $10 extra to shop at the market per day. The Bonus Bucks program allows people to stretch their food budgets farther and still provide healthy foods for their family. The Bonus Bucks program also increases the buying power of communities that may be otherwise be perceived by farmers as less lucrative. Farmers, after all, have to make a buck too.

Bonus Bucks was a runaway success, so much so that SNAP customer participation in the 2009 markets increased seven-fold vs. 2008. We’re excited to announce that we’re able to extend the program to the 2010 Wintertime Farmers Market thanks to generous funding from The Rhode Island Foundation. (If you’d like to help get the word out, there’s a double-sided flier you can print out and pass around.)

The keynote speaker at this year’s Local Food Forum is Gus Schumacher, chairman of the Wholesome Wave Foundation. Before tackling Bonus Bucks for SNAP, Gus pioneered the WIC Farmers Market Nutrition Program, which is a federal program providing low-income mothers and children with $15 coupons each year for farmers market produce. The program has brought fresh foods within reach for hundreds of thousands and has provided millions of dollars for thousands of family farms. Now Bonus Bucks, which is operating as a pilot in over a dozen cities across the country, has the potential to do the same for thousands more in Rhode Island, and millions of Americans.

What other Fresh for All ideas are out there? Among them, the incredible farm-to-school work of KidsFirst; our Healthy Foods, Healthy Families nutrition education program at neighborhood farmers markets and similar programs from URI and Johnson & Wales; CSAs and farmers markets that accept SNAP; the community gardens of Southside Community Land Trust; the school gardens of the Children’s Garden Network; school trips to orchards and working farms; and in 2010, the WIC program will expand to offer mothers monthly coupons for fruits and veggies.

We look forward to continuing the conversation at the Local Food Forum!