Farm Fresh RI blog

Since November, Farm Fresh has had the pleasure of running...

Tue, 08 May 2012 15:38:00 -0400

Since November, Farm Fresh has had the pleasure of running Farmers Market Tours for community groups in the Greater Providence area at the Indoor Pawtucket Market. Some of the groups included the Pawtucket YMCA and Boys & Girls Club, COZ After-School Program, Environmental Justice League, The Learning Community, Rhode Island for Community and Justice, New Urban Farmers, and more! For those new to farmers markets, we loved showing them around, introducing them to farmers, sharing shopping tips and hearing their recipe ideas. All of the groups tried delicious samples of freshly cooked farmers market food from the Johnson & Wales Cooking Crew. Last week we ran our last tour of the season with an after-school group from Baldwin Elementary. The school is right in our neighborhood, and they were able to walk to and from the market!

Thank you to all who came on tours this season. We loved having you visit the market, and we hope to see you again soon!

Volunteers of the Month

Mon, 07 May 2012 13:10:30 -0400

It’s been a little while since we last recognized the amazing work of our Farm Fresh RI volunteers, so this month we will be recognize two individuals who have contributed to the operation of our Wintertime Farmers Markets, among other things. Anna Foster and Nathan Johnson were indispensable over the past year, and we wanted to take this opportunity to thank them! Plus, we want you to get to know them a little better.

Q. How did you hear about Farm Fresh RI?

Anna Foster: I heard about Farm Fresh though word of mouth, having grown up in Providence. I had seen the outdoor Farmer’s Markets in the area of my home and was interested in doing an internship to complete my degree.

Nathan Johnson: I heard about Farm Fresh through a list Providence College gave me regarding potential companies that were available for student internships that focused on not only business aspects but also health and biology.

Q. What are some of the projects you’ve been working on at Farm Fresh RI?

A.F.: Some of the projects I’ve worked on have been Veggie Box and the running of the Wednesday market.

N.J.: At FF I’ve volunteered at the sales table each Wednesday, as well as working on a monthly sales analysis that measures any trends in product sales over each month. I also keep the net income sales spreadsheet up to date.

Q. Does your volunteering at FFRI connect to your academics or future plans?

A.F.: Volunteering at Farm Fresh RI absolutely connects to my future plans. I plan on eating local, because it tastes better and I hope to work in a similar office setting in the future.

N.J.: Though not directly, my time at FF definitely has shown me what the general atmosphere and goal of many non-profits, something I didn’t factor into my career plans prior to working here as much as I do now.

Q. What did (do) you study in college?

A.F.: I studied Philosophy, amongst other things, at the University of Rhode Island, where I just graduated from.

N.J.: Business Management and a Minor in Biology at Providence College. I am also graduating this month and going on to Graduate School for Marine Biology in Austin, Texas.

Q. What have you learned from volunteering?

A.F.: I have learned innumerable things volunteering at FFRI. I can manipulate some websites and databases, work copy and adding machines, and am less fearful communication with other humans.

N.J.: I have learned numerous sales tactics and strategies, as well as the benefits of supporting local farms and the nutritional benefits they can provide to many consumers.

Q. What has been your favorite time/moment at FFRI (so far)?

A.F.: My favorite moment at FFRI would have to be going to the beach in Dartsmouth, MA after completing a tour of Silverbrook Farm.

N.J.: Probably the 3rd of 4th week I volunteered was when I really got the hang of talking with customers about our products and felt comfortable with the entire operation, and once I wasn’t so nervous I really began enjoying my time at the market.

Q. What is your favorite vegetable?

A.F.: My favorite vegetable is the carrot

N.J.: jalapeno pepper

Stop by the last indoor Springtime Farmers Markets this Wednesday 4-7pm and this Saturday from 10am-1pm!

Also, a BIG THANK YOU to all of our volunteers who are graduating from high school and college this year: Sabine Desir (at right), Dan Preziose, Anna Jones, Molly Bledsoe, Leah Douglas, Nathan Johnson, and Anna Foster.

Tasting Providence: Find food heaven on the streets of Rhode Island's capital

Tue, 01 May 2012 10:47:02 -0400

Tasting Providence: Find food heaven on the streets of Rhode Island's capital:

An informative article about the food scene in PVD! Lots of local farmers markets, restaurants, and farms highlighted.

JWU Culinary Students Explore Local Foods

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 10:18:50 -0400

We’re lucky to have a world-class culinary institute right in our backyards here in Rhode Island. Johnson and Wales University (JWU) is training the next generation of inspiring chefs who are continuing to focus more and more on sourcing food from local farms in RI!

Farm Fresh Rhode Island is excited about a new initiative at JWU, the Wellness and Sustainability Concentration, that trains culinary graduates on issues of health, wellness, sustainability, agriculture and more.

Culinary Arts Department Chair Bill Idell has been instrumental in making this new concentration happen and getting the program connected with local farms and agriculture. Between farm field trips and presentations from Farm Fresh RI during the program curriculum, students have also been working with local farms directly through our Market Mobile distribution program.

We were invited along to the most recent “Chefs Table,” the final project for Chef Braden Lewis’s Plant-Based Cuisine class. The noontime meal featured a 7-course plated meal entitled “Near and Far” featuring items sourced from local farms and flavors from all around the globe. Culinary students Tariq Sheriff, Damiam Scardamaglia, Shannon Glazebrook, Hyunyong Jung and Sangjae Lee did a fantastic job preparing and presenting this mini-feast, featuring food from local growers and producers including Schartner Farms, Baby Greens, Narragansett Creamery, Aquidneck Honey and Farming Turtles. The four lucky guests at our table enjoyed a rich and creamy parsnip soup, barley risotto with fiddleheads and red onion jam, grapefruit granita, and citrus chiffon cake.

Farm Fresh RI is excited to continue building a relationship with this new program at Johnson and Wales, and the students in these classes. We look forward to JWU’s continued exploration of how food can be a powerful agent of change, and how farms can be a great partner in creating delicious menus.

“Yesterday, I bought bok choi, which I don’t normally get...

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:16:00 -0400

“Yesterday, I bought bok choi, which I don’t normally get because I don’t normally cook with it…with something like bonus bucks I don’t feel guilty going off and trying things like new vegetables.” -Wintertime Market SNAP customer

While the local food movement is gaining momentum, 14.5% of Americans are classified as food-insecure. Farm Fresh Rhode Island has made a commitment to use local food systems to address food security through various incentive programs. Brown University senior and Farm Fresh Market Manager Molly Bledsoe, has written a senior thesis assessing the efficacy of Farm Fresh RI’s programs to address food insecurity, and what obstacles stand in the way of their improvement. She will be presenting her research at a Thesis Poster Session in The Kasper Multipurpose Room 040, Faunce at Brown University - 75 Waterman Street. Friday April 27 from 1-3 PM. Congratulations Molly! Long time volunteer and intern, Molly will be joining the Farm Fresh Rhode Island staff full-time when she graduates this May.

A Letter from an Urban Farmer

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 12:02:10 -0400

Nathanial Wood is an urban farmer in Providence at Front Step Farm. He has written a letter outlining unexpected challenges that currently face his farm. While urban farming continues to gain momentum in cities around the country, this article reminds us of the urban farming plight in our backyard, and also the power of community.

April 10, 2012

Writing this letter is not something that I am undertaking with a light heart. If you know me, you know me as an urban farmer. Without this city I wouldn’t be who I am today. I wouldn’t have a community, friends or a place to draw strength from. To be straight forward- I need help.

I’m writing to you as a farmer, and someone who believes in this little city with all my heart.

For the past several years I’ve been working on building a life around urban farming. I started as a volunteer at City Farm and Scratch Farm and eventually got my dream job as a paid farm apprentice, learning how to grow a huge amount of food on a small amount of space. Clean, Healthy, Wonderful food. I learned to coax life out of a soil that provided for millions before me, and will outlast me and everyone I know.

After my time as an apprentice at City Farm ended I decided to try my own hand at making a living farming in the Providence. Fortunately, after years of working at coffee shops, movie theaters, parking cars and landscaping, I found that I could make it by with relatively little income so long as I had passion and food. I found a vacant lot- a site that contained a home decades ago that burnt down, and sat empty for half a century, worked out some rent with the owner and put myself to work cleaning soil, removing trash, getting to know my neighbors, learning to grow good salad and carrots, raising bees, starting a CSA, selling at farmers markets, chatting and educating any interested passers by. I felt a connection to land and life and time that is greater than anything I’ve ever felt in my life. I named it Front Step Farm, and it has been my life for two wonderful, fortunate years.

This leads me to my cry for help. Last week Front Step Farm was purchased by my neighbors without warning and they are asking me to vacate. I am allowed to stay until the end of the season or I can leave now.

If you are curious, I knew this day was coming. I was farming with only the hope that I, and others, could work out a model of urban farming that led to actual land tenure and incentives to land owners to keep their land as farms. We’ve made progress towards that, but nothing concrete. I’d hoped to be able to pass the farm off as a production area, or a community garden when I eventually leave. I’d even spent a good slice of the past winter looking for new land to move to, but all my options lead to dead ends.

My soil stained fingers can’t really communicate the turbulent mixture of emotions that I am having, but I still wanted to write to you- my friends and community, to put out a call for help. I need to try and land on my feet and find new farmland, quickly (1 month).

I am somewhat fortunate that this happened early in the season, and if I get lucky, a new piece of property may present itself for sale or rent, capped with concrete or with healthy soil, preferably something a little larger then what I have now! I’m looking in this city, or outside. If for rent, I am looking for a good landlord this time around, who understands the vision and is willing to sign a lease agreement. Not one who will throw me to the sharks without a warning. A new urban farm can be built in a day with enough compost and labor, so I am very hopeful.

I am also looking for ideas on how to move the soil. This is the soil that I have built with not only my own sweat and care, but also with the help of my community, the many who have saved their compostables for Front Step Farm. This is the most valuable aspect of the little urban farm and I’m thinking it can be moved with a bobcat and a dump truck. Let me know if you have any ideas or leads.

To my CSA members- you are covered. I didn’t have ALL my eggs in one basket, just most of them. I have a large backyard garden and access to a great small area in Olnyville with the best landlords ever. You’ll get your salad, greens and herbs from me. I also hope to harvest what I have planted already- Peas, carrots, radishes and spinach for you. Having the faith of a community is so gratifying…. I won’t let you down.

So please use your eyes, ears and voices for me. Talk to people, keep your eyes open and please forward this. We CAN have sustainable urban farms in this city. We CAN grow our own food and support local economies. We CAN sit in a garden around a mud oven, listening to banjos, eating fresh garden pizza at dusk, and watch woodpeckers and fire flies. That is the kind of city I want.

Much Love,

Nathaniel Wood

401-709-3659

timshel@riseup.net

A month ago we celebrated Michael Bove’s amazing volunteer...

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 15:36:41 -0400

A month ago we celebrated Michael Bove’s amazing volunteer time at Farm Fresh Rhode Island with a shout-out on the blog. Here is the text from his interview! Thanks again Michael.

Q: How did you hear about farm fresh?

M.B.: I am apart of a Group Called SLICE (Student Leaders in Community Engagement) and through this volunteer group of Johnson & Wales I was able to set up volunteer times.

Q: Does your volunteering at FFRI connect to your academics or future plans?

M.B.: Yes it does, Currently I am taking the science of Culinary Arts and Foodservice Management at Johnson & Wales. Volunteering here helps me be able to directly apply the uses of different products that I see while volunteering and cooking. It helps me better utilize different products and I am able to use more seasonal produce.

Q: What do you study in school?

M.B.: The science of Culinary Arts and Foodservice Management. Some Classes include: Business, Accounting, Meat cutting, Garde Manager, Beverage Service…

Q: What have you learned so far from volunteering here?

M.B.: Specifically learned parts of Purveying and shipping food. Also how food organically or fresh from the farm is produced.

Q: What has been your favorite time/moment at FFRI?

M.B.: I really enjoy the farmers markets and the first time that I saw the Wintertime market and learned how it runs, and the work that it takes to put it together.

Q: What’s your favorite vegetable?

M.B.: I believe it would be different types of Squashes, mainly because there is so many things that you can make with them!

Sakonnet Times: Buying a piece of the farm

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 11:30:00 -0400

Sakonnet Times: Buying a piece of the farm:

Yesterday’s Sakonnet Times featured a story about Community Support Agriculture (CSA) offerings at Wishing Stone Farm (Little Compton), Hilltop Farm (Westport), Roots Farm (Tiverton), Ocean State Fresh (Newport), and the challenges local fishermen face trying to use the CSA model tosell their catch directly to customers.

Time to sign up for a Summer 2012 CSA share!

The first Ship Street Farmers Market was a big success! And...

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 20:11:00 -0400

The first Ship Street Farmers Market was a big success! And quite an exciting moment for the city, with vibrant use of public spaces in the transformed Jewelry District. Hopefully, the market contributes to a vision of what this neighborhood can and will be.

The market runs for 5 Tuesdays in April, up until May 1st. If it’s successful, it will continue into the summer. So invite your friends and enjoy Brown University’s amazing new community space at Ship Street Square.

How USDA investments for winter growing benefit healthy food access

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 22:38:43 -0400

How USDA investments for winter growing benefit healthy food access:

Cranston farmer, Christina Dedora of Blue Skys Farm, featured on the Wholesome Wave Foundation blog!

Introducing the Ship Street Farmers Market - this April!

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 11:57:09 -0400

On Tuesdays starting April 3^rd, Farm Fresh Rhode Island is partnering with Brown University to bring a farmers market to Ship Street Square in the Jewelry District. Stop by the Ship Street Farmers Market from 11am-2pm and find: fruits and veggies from local farms including Schartner Farms and Hill Orchards; lunch from the Mama Kim’s food truck; a mid-day pick-me-up from The Coffee Guy; or a treat from Olga’s Cup & Saucer. The market will run 5 Tuesdays from April 3^rd through May 1^st.

Customers may use cash, credit, debit, EBT cards, and WIC Fruit and Vegetable checks at this market. Those wanting to use a credit, debit or EBT card can purchase Fresh Bucks – farmers’ market tokens – at the Farm Fresh RI table. If you have questions about the market please contact sarah@farmfreshri.org.

Ship Street Square is public park located on the corners of Ship Street and Richmond Street. The space is managed and maintained by Brown University and the University welcomes community-oriented programming. If you would like more information or would like to apply for space for events, performances, celebrations, etc, contact Jennifer_Braga@brown.edu.

Farms and Food Job Fair - TODAY!

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 08:49:00 -0400

If you want to get your hands dirty this summer working on a farm, now’s the time to start looking for those jobs and volunteer opportunities! Tomorrow, Wednesday March 28th, from 4-7pm, we will be hosting a Farms and Food Job Fair in conjunction with the Springtime Farmers Market. The event will take place in the Greenhouse, off of the market, with over 20 farms, non-profits, farmers markets, producers represented. Contact sarah@farmfreshri.org with questions.

Preliminary list of attendees:

Arcadian Fields, Baffoni’s Poultry Farm, Barden Orchard, Blue Skys, Burrillville Farmers Market, Confreda Farm, Farming Turtles, Mello’s Farm and Flower Center, Narragansett Creamery, North Star Farm, Pippin Orchard, Pine View Farm, Silverbrook Farm, Simmons Farm, Stirring Spoon, The Good Earth, The Local Catch, Urban Greens, Ward’s Berry Farm, Wicked Natural

Additional printed materials from the following:

Blazing Star Farm, Holcomb Farm, New Lands, Woodstock Farm, Wright’s Dairy Farm

Hope Artiste Village - 1005 Main Street - Pawtucket, RI 02860

See you at the market!

Check out this awesome time-lapse video of the Wintertime...

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 15:23:22 -0400

Check out this awesome time-lapse video of the Wintertime Pawtucket Farmers Market, shot by Peter Gengler, a friend of Farm Fresh. Can you find yourself in the video…?

Thanks for shooting this Peter!

A successful event last Wednesday at the Wintertime Farmers...

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 15:58:00 -0400

Mead!

Thanks to our volunteer Charlotte!

A successful event last Wednesday at the Wintertime Farmers Market! The Local Beer, Wine, and Mead Tasting was a big hit! Thanks to all of the participants: Sakonnet Vineyards, Trinity Brewery, Grey Sail, Greenvale Vineyards, Basement Brewhaus, and Diamond Hill Vineyards.

A few pictures from our Market Tour with the Boys & Girls Club that evening as well.

This week get ready for the Welcome Spring! Art Show featuring several works by youth artists across RI. Stop by between 4-7pm on Wednesday, March 21st.

RI General Assembly considers Local Food bills

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 08:57:00 -0400

Spring is practically here and local food is on the agenda (or at least being discussed) at the RI General Assembly over the next few days…

The Rhode Island Local Agriculture and Seafood Act (H7701/S2611)

Allows the RI DEM Division of Agriculture to set up a grant program for new farmers and organizations that support the growth, development, and marketing of our agricultural and commercial fishing sectors. The funding for this program is to be provided by foundation and federal grant programs, and does not use any state dollars.
Provides DEM the authority and responsibility to engage in marketing and outreach efforts to support both local agriculture and local seafood products
Establishes an Inter-Agency Food Council between the Department of Administration, the DEM, and the Department of Health to provide the framework to engage in meaningful new initiatives around food safety, marketing, nutrition, purchasing, and more generally to think critically about how the agencies can better align efforts to encourage safe production, distribution, and processing of local foods for both local and national markets.

Will be heard by the RI General Assembly on Wednesday 3/14 and Thursday 3/15. Call your state senator and representative to voice your opinion.

2012 Farmland Protection Bond (Ballot Question #4)

Provides $4.5 million for Farmland Protection, in addition to funding for other conservation and public recreation projects. According to the RI Land Trust Council, every $1 of these funds leverages an additional $3.28 of private and federal funds for local farmland protection.

Will be heard by the House Finance Committee on Tuesday, March 20th at the Rise. Representatives are also interested in hearing your opinion.

“The phrase ‘eating with the ecosystem’ means planning our meal choices around whatever...

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 08:31:00 -0500

“The phrase ‘eating with the ecosystem’ means planning our meal choices around whatever the sea has to offer,” said Sarah Schumann, organizer of the series. Schumann has organized 6 RI restaurants to introduce diners to a new approach to eating seafood - one that is both ecologically sensitive and good for the local fishing economy. Eating with the Ecosystems will be at the Wintertime Market on March 10, 24 and April 21 promoting the series and providing tickets in advance.

Many of the items served have never graced a restaurant table before. With imaginative dishes like “periwinkle etouffée”, “cream of Phragmites soup,” and “sculpin a la plancha,” the dinner series highlights two local assets: the cornucopia of our waters and the creativity of our chefs.

“With seafood products now coming from closer to home, we can get creative about softening the impacts of our meal choices on our blue planet,” said Chef Derek Wagner of Nick’s on Broadway, which kicks off the series on March 20. “By bringing together science and dining, this project gives chefs and diners a behind-the-scenes look at what sustainable seafood can mean here in New England.”

Schedule of events: Eating with the Ecosystem Dinner Series 2012

March 20: Southern New England waters: Nick’s on Broadway, 500 Broadway, Providence

April 2: Gulf of Maine: Julian’s, 318 Broadway, Providence

April 30: Georges Bank: The Dorrance, 60 Dorrance St., Providence

September 10: Southern New England Waters: Cook & Brown, 959 Hope St., Providence

October 9: Gulf of Maine: Hourglass Brasserie, 82 Thames St., Bristol

November 5: Georges Bank: Tallulah on Thames, 464 Thames Street, Newport

For more information visit www.eatingwiththeecosystem.org. Or for tickets call(401) 297-6273.

Healthy Food Hub Pioneers Gather To Jump Start Food System Change

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 10:10:00 -0500

Healthy Food Hub Pioneers Gather To Jump Start Food System Change

The RI CSA Fair is back! Meet 18 Farms and Fisheries

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 11:25:03 -0500

On Wednesday March 7th from 4-6pm, the Rhode Island CSA Fair will provide consumers with all they need to know about CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) subscriptions in RI! The Fair will take place off of the main hallway at the Wintertime Farmers Market - 1005 Main St, Pawtucket, RI.

CSAs are prepaid subscriptions to a farm’s produce or a fishery’s catch for the harvest season. Most CSAs give shareholders a weekly supply of veggies, herbs, and fruits, while some offer eggs and meat. CSF programs offer customers the fresh weekly catch. There are CSA pickups in over 20 towns in Rhode Island, and these towns will be represented at the CSA Fair: Providence; Cranston; East Bay: Barrington, Bristol, Little Compton; Northern RI: Johnston, North Scituate, Harrisville; South County: East Greenwich, Narragansett, Wakefield.

The Rhode Island CSA Fair will feature over ten local farms including Backyard Farms CSA, Barden Orchard, Big Train Farm, Blue Skys Farm, Four Friends Farm, Freedom Food Farm, Hickory Hill Farm, The Local Catch, Luckyfoot Ranch, New Urban Farmers, Oakdale Farm, Ocean State Fresh, Runaway Farm, Red Planet Vegetables, Rosasharn Farm, Scratch Farm, Walrus and Carpenter Oysters, Wishing Stone Farm, and Zephyr Farm. All of their CSA information (prices, drop-off locations, items offered etc.) will be available. Some farms offer half-size shares, which are perfect for individuals or first-time CSA buyers. If you’ve never participated in a CSA before, the fair is the perfect chance to ask lots of questions and shop around for the CSA that is right for you.

The CSA model provides many benefits. As a consumer, you know the food you’re getting is fresh and you get to meet the people who grow your food! As a farmer, the prepaid CSA arrangement creates a source of financial security, and CSAs generate almost $1 million in additional business for RI farms every year.

To find out more about the Rhode Island CSA Fair or to search for a CSA farm near you, visit www.farmfreshri.org/csa

Since Fall of 2011, Pawtucket has been doing great work looking...

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 11:35:35 -0500

Since Fall of 2011, Pawtucket has been doing great work looking at how the design of their city affects their community’s health, as part of the Healthy Places By Design grant. We’ve been delighted to be part of the discussions! Last Friday, with the help of Jo-Ann Martin of the Pawtucket Housing Authority, Karla Vigil of Pawtucket Citizens Development Corporation, and Kids First RI, a great workshop was put on at Prospect Housing. Chef Stephen Menyhart, part of the Kids First network of chef educators, provided a healthy fruit smoothie cooking demo along with a “Think Your Drink” activity at the workshop, looking at the contents of sugary drinks and letting kids taste healthy alternatives. Way to go Pawtucket!

Johnson & Wales rocks the Wednesday Markets

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 09:19:00 -0500

We had a group from the YMCA send us feedback about their Farmers Market Tour experience: “I don’t know what happened on Wednesday but my kids came back with the hugest smiles on their faces. I assume it was an amazing trip.”

We wanted to give a shout-out to (Chef) Dave about what an awesome service Johnson & Wales University adds to the farmers market experience on Wednesdays. Thank you for bringing your students every week and cooking up such amazing food. Chef Dave and co. will be on vacation this week and will resume their demonstrations and delicious samples on Wednesday, March 7th at the Wintertime Farmers Market.