Farm Fresh Rhode Island blog

Soaring food prices, obesity and diabetes epidemics, record recalls of spinach, lettuce and beef. Just in case you didn’t doubt the ability of the industrial food system to feed us well, today brought this headline:

Florida tomato industry in “complete collapse”

Supermarkets and restaurants nationwide have thrown away their fresh tomatoes after the FDA warned about potential salmonella contamination. Work has stopped across thousands of acres of tomato farms in Florida (just two weeks after the Coalition of Immokalee Workers reached a deal with Burger King to pay workers 1.5 cents more per pound). But did the rotten tomatoes originate in Florida? at a farm? or a processing plant? or none of the above? Unfortunately and as usual no one seems to know, “the FDA has said it does not know where the contaminated tomatoes originated”.

Our advice? We suggest going local for your tomatoes! Expect an early season crop this week from Moosup River Farm at the Armory on Thursday and from Wishing Stone Farm and Woodstock Farm at Hope High on Saturday. Direct from the farmer to you, it’s about flavor, community and food safety, too.

Dogs, soccer, babies, bikes and some very tasty greens. That’s right, the Armory Farmers’ Market kicks off in Providence this Thursday 4 to 7pm! The market brings folks from across the lively West End neighborhood together under one tent for good food. In fact, Red Planet Vegetables and City Farm grow their veggies and herbs mere blocks away.

You’ll be able to tell who’s already been to the tents of Maplewood Farm and Moosup River Farm – their fingers will be stained red with strawberry juice! New Dawn Catering will have peppery Pakistani curries and samosas filled with market-fresh veggies. Also expect fresh eggs by the dozen or half-dozen from Whispering Elms Farm, a new farm at our markets. Michael and Helen’s brood of happy hens first made an impression at the Providence Wintertime Farmers’ Market. Now they’re back for the summer at the Armory and Downtown markets with eggs that will make your omelets taste like a million bucks.

Do some shopping, cook some dinner, set up your picnic blanket under a tree and enjoy an evening in the park beside the market. This Thursday at the Armory is the start to a flavorful summer!

Join us for the kick-off of the 2008 season at Hope High School, tomorrow June 7 from 9:30am to 12:30pm. Be sure to stop by the Farm Fresh table for a market map, and get to know your farmers!

This year, Arcadian Fields is back from sabbatical with a bounty of greens. Wishing Stone Farm will be there with garlic scapes, plants and a line around the block. Plus Hill Orchard, Woodstock Farms, City Farm, Robin Hollow Farm, Cooks Valley Farm, and Bettencourt Farm.

Grab a coffee from the New Harvest Coffee Roasters tent and a scone from the folks at Seven Stars Bakery. Sample cheese at from the experts at Farmstead, and pick up scallops from Bomster Scallops for dinner. My favorite lady Marcia of Marcia’s Chutneys will be sampling her Rhode Island made jams, jellies, and chutneys.

Also joining the regular roster is Narragansett Creamery, with feta, ricotta and sharper, harder flavors. Pat’s Pastured Poultry will have a selection of his organic, free range meats and Matunuck Oyster Farm is the go-to tent for Rhode Island’s best oysters, littlenecks, and lobster. Later in the season Barden Family Orchards will herald in their new crop of apples, peaches, plums, and raspberries.

Come tomorrow, come each week, and come late July we’ll be knee deep in Brandywines and Green Zebras!

Hope High School Farmers’ Market is Rhode Island’s signature market, drawing thousands of food lovers at the height of the season. Its opening this Saturday, June 7 kicks off a week of market openings for us.

You can be sure the Farm Fresh office is abuzz, but this year there’s some extra excitement. The season brings 3 new farmers and a cheesemaker to Hope High, and that means a bigger bounty of Rhode Island seafood, cheese, meats, veggies and fruit every Saturday morning!

Also opening this week:

• Middletown on Saturdays – Aquidneck Growers
• Westerly on Thursdays
• Monday (Providence), Tuesday (Cranston), Wednesday (Providence) markets at all 3 Whole Foods

Stay tuned: next week we’re kicking off the Armory and Downtown Providence markets and our first year of Market CSAs! The first half of the summer CSA at the Armory is now full, but there’s still a few spots left for the second half and for both halves of the summer CSA at Downtown. If you haven’t ever joined a CSA or make dinners for one or two, these $200 shares are a great way to try Community Support Agriculture out. You get a selection of fresh food from the market every week and all of the money goes to your farmers and producers.

Everyone deserves access to good food! In partnership with the RI Department of Health and the MA Department of Agriculture Resources, our Local Food Guide now maps which Rhode Island and Massachusetts farmers’ markets accept:

• WIC
• Seniors’ Coupons
• EBT /Food Stamps
• Credit Cards

Learn about how to sign up for WIC (Woman, Infants, and Children) and EBT / Food Stamps in RI, and how to use EBT at RI farmers’ markets. Note that RIers cannot use their WIC coupons in MA, or vice versa, but EBT can be used across state borders.

We’re also excited to announce a new farmers’ market will open this Saturday, May 24 in Richmond. Western Rhode Island is one of the least food secure areas of our state, meaning that there are few groceries and not much public transportation to help people get to them. We hope this new market will put fresh foods within reach for more Rhode Islanders!

Farm Fresh tries to make it easy to buy locally grown. No matter what day it is or where in Rhode Island you are, always know where to find fresh food! Our pocket-sized guides to RI farmers’ markets are hot off the press, in 6 regional editions:

• Blackstone Valley
• East Bay + Aquidneck + Sakonnet
• Providence
• Providence en Español
• South County
• West Bay

In addition to a list of markets by day of the week, the back side features a harvest calendar so you know what to expect. The bookmarks easily fold to fit in your wallet, or stick one on your fridge!

We’ll be distributing them to local libraries, bookstores, restaurants and grocers in the next few weeks.

Two more markets opened up this weekend: Burrillville and Coastal Growers (Saunderstown)

Mother’s Day Saturday kicks off a “pre-season” at Hope High School, May 10 from 9:30am to 12:30pm. You’ll find a mix of your favorite Hope High School farmers with a few tasty selections from the Wintertime Farmers’ Market at AS220, now ended. Here’s who to expect this week:

• Hill Orchards apples, cider, applesauce, cider vinegar, potatoes
• Marcia’s Chutneys jams, chutneys
• Matunuck Oyster Farm oysters, littlenecks, steamers, lobster
  
• Narragansett Creamery cheese
• Robin Hollow Farm flowers
• Southside Community Land Trust seedlings, gift certificates for May 17-18 plant sale
• Wishing Stone Farm seedlings (update: due to winds will be here 5/17)
  

Special during the May pre-season only:

• Cutie Pies pies, tarts
• OceanState Chocolates truffles, chocolate bars, biscotti
• Simmons Farm eggs, meat, greens, asparagus (update: due to winds will be here 5/17)
• Whispering Elms Farm eggs

The pre-season market runs every Saturday until the Hope High School Farmers’ Market’s grand opening on June 7. We expect more and more farmers to join in the Saturdays leading up to the opening celebration.

Markets in state parks (Barrington, Bristol, Narragansett, Warwick), at URI, in Pawtuxet Village, Scituate and Wakefield are also open this early in May, with mostly plant starts. Other markets open later this month and throughout June and July. See our always-updated list of markets open in the coming week.

Not counting the summery days we’ve already had this year, the one true sign of the end of winter is the rise of the asparagus stalks across otherwise empty fields. Whether you’re an all-time fan or not, asparagus means rhubarb, radishes, lettuces, spinach, chives, parsley and peas can’t be far behind. And you’ve got to be a fan of that! (See who’s growing asparagus)

But back to asparagus. Besides the crowns and stalks, all of an asparagus plant is underground. At some point you’ve encountered white asparagus and perhaps wondered, so where’s the phchlorophyll on these albino asparagus? Well, you may have noticed that the bottom of many green asparagus stalks are light in color. It’s because stalks and crowns are white until they rise from the ground and sense sunlight. Some clever farmers pile up extra layers of dirt on their asparagus so they grow to full size before ever touching sunlight. That’s the story behind white asparagus, though we don’t know any growers in Rhode Island.

The green/purple asparagus from Four Town Farm in Seekonk sold out in 40 minutes at the Wintertime Farmers’ Market. We’ll bring much more next week, May 3, which is sadly the last week of the indoor market. After that, May 10-31, some farmers and artisans will be at Hope High School on the intervening Saturdays 9:30-12:30pm until the official market kick-off on June 7.

There’s not actually much “new” about the commitment of this crop of grocers and food retailers to Rhode Island’s farmers. Most have been sourcing local foods since they opened their doors. A zesty welcome to the Buy Local RI campaign!

• Alternative Food Coop in Wakefield. Rhode Island’s only cooperatively-run natural foods grocery has established ties with many nearby farms and even hosts a weekly CSA pick up during the summer months.
• The Market at Cutler Mills in Warren. A treasure of local and organic foods in a reenvisioned mill. You’ll find the produce section stocked with freshly cut greens and favorites like Rhody Fresh in the dairy aisle.
• The Green Grocer in Portsmouth. Not even a year old and already an institution on the island, filled with fresh foods from Aquidneck and Sakonnet farms and other nutritious eats.
• Munroe Dairy in East Providence. A retailer on the moo-ve. In addition to their own milk, Munroe offers a grocery’s selection of food made at local area businesses, and this year they’re expanding their selection to include local produce. Order online and a spotted cow truck delivers to your doorstep.
• Urban Greens Food Coop in Providence. RI’s second coop is scheduled to open this fall, and will occupy the first floor of a brand new green building on Westminster Street in the West End. They’re now taking members.
• Farmstead Downcity in Providence. Good things come in tiny spaces. Just like at the Wayland Square sibling shop, their love of cheese flows floor-to-ceiling and into the delicious prepared foods awaiting the downtown lunch crowd.

Between 1972 and 2003, the number of dairies in Rhode Island dropped from 90 to 22. (It was a couple hundred in the early twentieth century.)

Fast forward to 2005, when five dairy farmers pooled their milk into the first batches of Rhody Fresh. Their milk quickly found a place on the shelves of groceries big and small. That was no small feat given major grocers’ slotting fees, and due in large part to Rhode Islanders’ phone calls and letters. Now Rhoda the Rhody Fresh cow is a familiar face found gracing cartons of half & half, coffee milk and chocolate milk across the state. And a Rhody Fresh ice cream may not be so far away!

Here are a couple of small producers that are big in the world of Rhode Island dairy. We’re happy to say that all of these Rhode Island dairies’ milk are certified free of artificial growth hormones (rBST) and happily graze in the sunshine.

• Rhody Fresh. A cooperative of 5 RI dairy farms that shares processing and sales. Beyond the grocery aisle, RI colleges have been very receptive: Brown, Roger Williams and soon RISD.
• Arruda Dairy. Family-run farm since 1917 in Tiverton.
• Wright’s Dairy. Family-run farm since 1900 in North Smithfield.
• Munroe Dairy. You’ve probably seen their cow trucks delivering fresh milk. Family-run for four generations, Munroe buys its milk from local dairies. If you’ve enjoyed Bliss Ice Cream, you’ve tasted Munroe’s cream. We’re also thrilled to announce that Munroe is joining the Buy Local RI campaign. In the coming season, you’ll be able to buy local fruits and vegetables through their online ordering system and have it delivered by cow truck.

But wait, there’s more exciting news! Following on the heels of a renewal in artisan cheesemaking, 2008 will see 3 new RI dairies. There will be cows a’milking in Cranston, Foster and West Greenwich. Now that’s something to celebrate this Earth Day!