Since 2021, Hope’s Harvest has had the privilege of partnering with farmer Charlotte Uwimpuhwe. Over the past two seasons, Charlotte and her crew have grown nearly 22,000 pounds (over 10 tons!) of fresh fruits and vegetables for Hope’s Harvest, all of which has been distributed to food pantries across Rhode Island.
This year alone, Hope’s Harvest contracted with Charlotte to purchase over 15,000 pounds of a variety of products including kale, collard greens, amaranth, spinach, eggplant, cabbage, squash, and beets. Our contracting program is funded through a variety of public and private sources, and helps to financially support farmers by giving them access to a whole new market: hunger relief agencies.
Charlotte was also a guest speaker at Hope’s Harvest’s screening of The Ants & The Grasshopper, a documentary showcasing the undeniable effects that the climate crisis has taken on land in Malawi in comparison to America. You can check out a recording of this event below!
Charlotte immigrated to Rhode Island from Rwanda in 2013. Since 2019, Charlotte has been a Fellow at Shewatuck Farm, a 91-acre organic vegetable, herb, mushroom, and flower farm in North Kingstown, RI. Shewatuck’s Fellows Program strives to “create an equitable and collaborative community of practitioners working to establish inventive and community beneficial financial relationships within the Rhode Island food system.” Charlotte also farms at Urban Edge Farm in Cranston.
You can find Charlotte’s delicious produce at farmers markets throughout Rhode Island, including Farm Fresh RI’s seasonal Armory Park Farmers Market on Thursdays, 3-7pm (or dusk), June through the end of October, and year-round at the Farm Fresh Providence Farmers Market every Saturday, 9am to 1pm.
Photo at top: Charlotte Uwimpuhwe, second from right, and her crew at Shewatuck Farm. Photo courtesy Shewatuck Farm.
