Farm Fresh Rhode Island blogMusings and locally grown discoveries
Somehow we fit in 30 farms and almost 20 other Rhode Island artisan food producers! It adds up to a delicious bounty of local food inside where it’s warm, all winter long. See you tomorrow and every Saturday 11-2 for the ever full-of-flavor Wintertime Farmers’ Market:
SATURDAY 11-2.
Wintertime Farmers’ Market. 47 local farmers and producers inside Hope Artiste Village, 1005 Main St., Pawtucket. Incredible flavors await… we’ve been waiting all summer for this. We’ll post a map of the market later today!
Come to opening day of the market to find:
Veggies: beets, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, fingerlings, garlic, lettuce, onions, pea greens, pumpkins, radishes, spinach, sweet potatoes, winter squash…
Apples, cider, applesauce, apple butter.Chicken, grass-fed beef, lamb, pork.
Clams, mussels, oysters, scallops.
Eggs, milk, cheese, yogurt.
Breads, cupcakes, pies, baked goods.
Salsas, sauces, jams, jellies, pesto.
Herbal tea, honey, salves, natural bath care.
Chocolates and ice cream and vegan sorbet.
Locally roasted coffee.
Lunch time! Curries, salads, grilled cheese, veggie patties and more.
SUNDAY.
Apple picking. We just found out from always-wonderful Heather at URI Cooperative Extension that there are many RI orchards still brimming with apples in the trees. It seems that the rainy October kept Pick Your Own crowds away. But since we’re in for a nice dose of sun this weekend — Sunday will be in the 60s! — sounds like a fun last chance for Pick Your Own apples (and the pies and crisps that are sure to follow). Here are the orchards that will be open:
IN THE EVENINGS.
It’s Restaurant Week in Newport (see who’s putting local food on the menu) and we’re also celebrating two re-openings of local-loving Providence restaurants:
Leaf peeping along the Blackstone River Bikeway this past Friday evening, the twists and turns up to Woonsocket were enveloped with stunning reds, golden yellows, regal oranges and stubborn greens. It’s a palette of colors that can only be fall in New England and always provides a new, exciting view of landscapes we thought we already knew too well.
That’s kind of like the weekly indoor Wintertime Farmers Market:
Just as the season has supposedly run its course, there is a burst of new flavors and possibilities. Rhode Island farms are now producing more than ever for the winter months, offering up a tasty cornucopia of stunning reds, golden yellows, regal oranges. We’ve even got stubborn greens that just keep growing, from spicy arugula, juicy broccoli, tender pea tendrils, fragrant rosemary, crisp cabbage and zesty leeks.
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With 47 farmers and producers under one roof (up from 38 last year!), there are actually a wider variety of local foods available at the Wintertime Farmers Market than at any single market during the summer. What a change from when we began the Wintertime Market two years ago with 10 vendors inside AS220! Before the Wintertime, few farms produced for the winter months, because there were so few places to sell. But we all still need to eat. And the opportunity of the Wintertime Market has propelled more and more farmers to grow year-round. Happily, we found more space to include 8 farmers who are joining us for the first time this winter. Welcome:
Even as the colorful New England fall gives way to the quieter palette of New England winter, the Wintertime Farmers Market remains lively and bright. As the mild weather of this Halloween gives way to chilly, windy, even icy days, we’re dazzled each week by how the market transforms a long hallway inside an old mill building into a cozy, cheery and flavorful space.
See you Saturday 11-2 for the start of a new, delicious Wintertime landscape. Just 5 days to go!
For one more week, outdoor farmers markets will be bustling with gorgeous winter squashes, crisp apples and fresh garlic (to be followed by the opening of the indoor Wintertime Farmers’ Market in Pawtucket on November 7). But Farm Fresh is already looking back at what has been one of the highlights of the past summer for us: our Healthy Foods, Healthy Families program.
This season, if you shopped at the Armory, Broad St., Pawtucket, or Woonsocket Farmers Markets you may have noticed a tent bustling with kids of all ages eating, learning, and talking about fruits and veggies. Those kids were part of Healthy Foods, Healthy Families, a family nutrition education program run by Farm Fresh RI and URI and funded by Blue Cross Blue Shield of RI.
The Healthy Foods, Healthy Families program began at the Armory Park Farmers’ Market as a pilot site in 2008. In 2009 it ran at four farmers markets, offering a curriculum of nutrition education through fun, interactive activities for both parent and child. The curriculum also included cooking demonstrations featuring healthy recipes and weekly tastings of fresh produce found at the markets. Low-income families, identified through their participation in the WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) program, signed up for the 3-week program at the market and received a new item each week to help them use more fruits and veggies:
In all, there were 195 families who signed up for the program and 106 families who completed all three weeks. Each week children were engaged in various lessons with a take-home message about the variety and amounts of fruits and veggies kids should eat. Some popular lessons were:
Healthy Foods, Healthy Families helped to make the farmers market an accessible and inviting to place for families who may otherwise have only come once a season with their WIC coupons. All materials were available in both English and Spanish. Kids sampled fresh foods they’d never had before, and parents had individual attention and support from a nutritionist who could help them plan affordable, healthy meals. Next year we are hoping to continue to grow the Healthy Foods, Healthy Families program so that it can reach more Rhode Island families.
There are many varieties of vegetables and fruits rooted in New England’s climates and soils, but simply no longer grown. Their disappearance happened as our food supply became increasingly homogeneous. The marketplace favored varieties – think Red Delicious apples and tomatoes that bounce – that can produce large harvests (often with lots of fertilizer) and that can travel long, bumpy distances (often with lots of fungicide) to then sit on supermarket produce shelves. Many varieties with out-of-this-world flavor did not fit this mold and without a market, they became became rarer to find in seed catalogs and were rarely grown.
Among these rare heirlooms are Boothby’s Blond Cucumber, Boston Marrow Squash, Early Blood-rooted Turnip Beet, Forellenschuss or Speckled Lettuce, Gilfeather Turnip, Jimmy Nardello’s Sweet Italian Frying Pepper, Long Pie Pumpkin, Marafax Bean, Siberian Sweet Watermelon, Sibley’s/Pike’s Peak Squash, Stowell’s Evergreen Sweet Corn, Student Parsnip, Trophy Tomato, Wethersfield (Red) Onion, and Winningstadt Cabbage.
They boast such incredible, interesting flavors and they grow so well here, that now with the rebirth of farmers’ markets and farm-to-chef connections based around flavor and quality, there is again a viable marketplace to grow these heirloom varieties.
That was the thinking at Slow Food and the Chefs Collaborative when they designated October 12 to 18th as Heirloom Harvest Week. Early this year, 13 RI farmers were given the seeds to grow the aforementioned 16 heirloom varieties. And this week chefs at 16 Rhode Island restaurants will be creating menus to highlight these uniquely New England flavors. (Not surprisingly a majority of the Heirloom Harvest chefs also participate in Market Mobile, a new program that has already this year resulted in an additional $150,000 in farm-to-chef sales. That’s a lot of local food!) Here’s who is participating:
You can read up on the Heirloom Harvest Week varieties and if you’d like to try them in your own kitchen, most of the farmers have a few of the varieties for sale at farmers markets they attend. Click on a farm name to see which markets:
Guess who else is talking about Sustainable Food these days?
Providence students in an Environmental Justice 101 class put together a video this summer about Food Justice issues in Rhode Island. Thanks to Ellie and the Environmental Justice League’s Community Environmental College for passing it along!
The second Perfect Pickle contest is coming up Saturday, November 7 at opening day of the Wintertime Farmers’ Market in Pawtucket.
November might still seem worlds away – or not given the quick turn to fall and the coinciding cravings for roasted potatoes and warm soups – but in truth it will be upon us in just 6 weeks. And when pickling or fermenting, time is of the essence. Good pickles are slow food.
So get pickling, while there is still an abundance of harvest vegetables and enough time for the veggies to be infused by your special dilly (or spicy) brine. Or perhaps you want to try your hands at lacto-fermentation. Slice up some cabbage and show us your best kimchee or sauerkraut on November 7! Here’s the scoop:
Ever find yourself with an empty afternoon and an empty fridge, craving wholesome fruits and vegetables and wholesome good times?
Or, maybe you want to escape into the countryside for an afternoon with your friends or family. Maybe you need massive amounts of apples, peaches, or raspberries for your own personal reasons.
Whatever your particular circumstances, visiting one of the many local farms with pick-your-own (PYO) fruits, veggies and flowers is sure to satisfy. Rhode Island is dotted with PYO farms which offer you not just a way to visit their fields but truly the freshest produce you can get. It’s a kid- and parent-approved way to spend the day. By searching the Pick Your Own list on our website, you can easily locate the farm nearest to you with the particular crop or experience you want. Here are some tips:
Fun times, good food, gorgeous surrounds. It’s late summer in Rhode Island and no matter which corner of our state you’re in, you can escape and enjoy a delicious day in the fields!
It’s a clear and sunny day in mid-July, and John Harkins of Heritage Farm is teaching half a dozen high schoolers how to use a hoe. Others are nearby weeding long rows of ever-lasting strawberries, delighting in the taste of the ripe juicy berries as they pull up various grasses between the rows. The students are part of the Brown Environmental Leadership Lab (BELL) Sustainable Development course, a two-week long summer course for 30 high school students from around the U.S. and the world. The field trip to Heritage Farm, an ecological farm in Portsmouth, is part of their unit on Sustainable Agriculture. For this unit, BELL teamed up with Farm Fresh RI to teach students about environmental and social issues unaddressed by the mainstream food system, and about how alternative models such as organic farming and locally produced foods can benefit the health of our land, economies, and communities.
Heritage Farm is an ideal site for students to explore sustainable agriculture. From seed saving, raising heritage animal breeds, and promoting regenerative ecosystems, this farm is integrating ecological concepts into its everyday farm operation. As he takes students on a tour of his 50-acre farm, John’s enthusiasm and commitment to principals of biodiveristy and conservation is clear. He talks to students about water conservation, biodiversity, soil erosion, and nitrogen fixers. Harkins points out over a dozen different types of vegetables in the one-acre biointensive market garden that sits in the middle of the farm. As we stop by the his mobile chicken and duck coops, he passes around the blue and brown eggs that are sold at farmers markets in Providence, Newport, Portsmouth and Tiverton.
For many students this is their first visit to a working farm. For others, it’s a reminder of their own backyard gardens. For all, the issues that Harkins brings up, such as water, energy, and conservation, relate to the way we experience our world and our quality of life. These themes are also core concepts students have been discussing during the course. The farm trip provides an opportunity for students to see sustainability in action, and learn about the real life challenges and successes of such an operation. It’s also a lesson in the power of food and agriculture as a teaching tool, and the opportunity to engage young people in meaningful change.
Ahhh, August. Actually, it’s been anything but a slow month. After all, we’re getting into the heart of the harvest season. Here’s a look at 7 days in the life of Farm Fresh:
TUESDAY 8/4 - LOCAL FOOD FEST RAISES $25K
Tickets sold out again in our third year, with 450 guests enjoying the Local Food Fest at Castle Hill. We raised a record $25,000 for Farm Fresh’s efforts to connect more Rhode Islanders with fresh, locally grown food. So many thanks to the 12 incredibly generous chefs, 22 farmers and 9 producers whose gift of time and food, made the Local Food Fest a delicious way for guests to give back to Farm Fresh.
Guests were able to enjoy the bounty that is local agriculture, including the first RI artisan goat cheese, honey bees on location and a tour of the Castle Hill kitchen garden. It was also nice to see that, in addition to the sneak peak for guests, the Preview Hour provided a quiet time for farmers and chefs to meet and chat.
See photos and stories: RI Monthy recap, Jennifer’s photos and recap, Mike’s photos, David’s recap & photos
THURSDAY 8/6 - MARKET MOBILE DELIVERY
Knowing we had the Local Food Fest on Tuesday, we purposely made no Market Mobile sales calls on Monday and were joking that we hoped for a small $4,000 order. But despite our efforts, 24 of our favorite chefs and grocers ordered $6,300 of produce, meat, dairy and seafood. No matter, with the incredible Market Mobile team at FFRI, it was our smoothest delivery day yet. We implemented a new system that cut our sorting and delivery time down dramatically. And that was with a stop at the Boathouse in Tiverton, on top of Newport, Providence and Narragansett.
Market Mobile is offering restaurants and schools that already buy local an easy way to buy more, and it’s now attracting new customers that are buying local for the first time. The pooled delivery system is also working out well for farmers, many of whom previously didn’t have the means to sell food to chefs, grocers and schools. The harvest season is just getting started, and this week Market Mobile promises plenty of tomatoes, plums and corn. We are looking into selling to more schools, hospitals and cornerstores as a priority for later this year.
SATURDAY 8/8 - DOUBLE VALUE EBT AT FARMERS MARKETS
Press conference at the Broad St. Farmers’ Market in South Providence. Wholesome Wave gave Farm Fresh $10,000 to double the buying power of Food Stamps customers at our markets. Harvard Pilgrim Health Care gave an additional mini-grant of $500 for the program. As a result of the program, we’ve already seen a 10x year-over-year increase in Food Stamps usage at our markets in 2009. Wholesome Wave runs this program in cities across the country but was thoroughly impressed today by just how successful our Food Stamps program is and the many organizational partnerships Farm Fresh has formed to get more low-income customers to the farmers’ markets.
We were joined by Mayor David Cicilline, former Undersecretary at the USDA Gus Schumacher, Wholesome Wave Foundation’s chef Michel Nischan, Harvard Pilgrim’s Sarah O’Neil, and Southside Community Land Trust’s Katherine Brown.
Watch ABC 6 News coverage, listen to an earlier WRNI story on markets.
MONDAY 8/10 - MARKET MOBILE ORDER ALMOST $10K
Tomatoes and peaches have definitely arrived! Other big sellers were blueberries, onions, cheese, rib roast, oysters and scallops. This week’s Market Mobile order was $9,828 from 18 farms to 30 chefs, grocers, schools and farmstands. See who’s buying local. There’s going to be a lot of sorting this Thursday! If you ever want to volunteer, contact Christie.