Tag Archives: Organic

F is for Farm, Food and Fun!

Say yes, to fresh local produce!

An enthusiastic hard working group of Medway, Massachusetts Memorial School fourth grade classes certainly does say, “YES!”, especially when they worked so hard growing their very own produce at Medway Community Farm!

As a registered dietitian, Medway resident and Medway Community Farm Community Supported Agriculture member, I was thrilled to visit with the children of the fourth grade classes of Mrs. Nash, Mrs. Rice, Mrs. Hickman and Mrs. Butler as they worked, sold their produce, dug in the dirt and planted vegetables on the farm. These fantastic fourth graders have been tending their veggies so they could in turn sell their harvest to raise funds to support the Medway Community Farm and provide their farm fresh produce for the Medway Food Pantry.

What a wonderful Community Service Learning (CSL) project which allows the kids to put their science, mathematics, language, writing and newly found farming skills to good work! This is the third spring growing season for the project, one that is a sustainable CSL project in partnership with the farm.

This year the kids designed a farm museum, which highlighted facts about farming in Medway.

They also had a taste-testing table! YUM!

Of course, homemade scrumptious lemonade was available.  Delicious!

Here is Dominic  juicing a lemon!

Meet John another hard-working lemonade stand worker!

To prepare the produce for sale, the veggies are rinsed.

Here’s Mitch giving the cilantro a quick bath.

Max, Hanna, Mackenzie, Andrew, Danny, and Sam harvest spinach and lettuce with Brittany, the farm manager.

Cashiers Rory, Kylie, Lauren and Tessa collect the money from sales of their beautiful farm fresh produce.

Look at that great kohlrabi I am purchasing! Last year I purchase kohlrabi and baked up some kohlrabi chips.  Check out my recipe and last years post here!

Olivia and Christa ‘man’ the recipe table, which is filled with many creative  ways to prepare the farm fresh harvest.

What a wonderful learning experience for children!  The kids truly beamed with pride explaining what types of produce they had available for purchase.

In a time where American’s waistlines have never been bigger…exposing children to all the wonderful, nourishing farm fresh food offers them a fighting chance to get back to the healthy basics and enjoy food the way nature intended for them.

I hope you say, “YES!” to locally grown farm fresh produce!

If you are local to Medway, Massachusetts you are in luck!

The Medway Community Farm farmer’s market will be open to the public Thursdays starting July 5 from 3-6 PM at the Medway Garden Center … if you live in the area, you can enjoy farm fresh produce, fresh baked artisan breads from Proofed Artisan and Traditional Breads and Julie Z’s Breads (including some gluten free), Lawton family farm’s grass fed beef, cheese and eggs and Fior D’Italia’s freshly made pasta!

The farmer’s market will also have a rotating community booth showcasing a different community organization each week.
I hope to see you at the farmer’s market!

Farm Love.

I have to admit, I am somewhat addicted to visiting farms.  I’m not sure I would like to work on one 24/7 but I love walking around, checking out the animals, looking at the plants grow, and just the general vibe.

It’s peaceful on the farm.  At least in my little farm world.  I come and go, cut some lettuce, kale, herbs and head home.  I know the lettuce just didn’t pop out of the ground untended.  I know it took lots of hard work, love, sun, water and the weather to cooperate for the plants to grow. [Not to mention some pest control!]

I am grateful for the hard working farmers that work tirelessly so that I can drop on by and pick produce for my family.

This year I joined Tangerini farm’s CSA (community supported agriculture) spring share  in Millis, Massachusetts.  A CSA is when consumer’s buy “shares” in the farm and in return the farm provides produce for the consumer.  The money you provide for your share helps fund seeds and materials in advance for the farm to grow wonderful fresh produce.  To learn more about CSAs, check out localharvest.org.  I have joined Tangerini’s CSA before, but this was my first try at their spring share…and I like it.

My first week on the farm I ran into the field, cut arugula and headed right on home. I do love arugula!

We had the most amazing fresh arugula salad that evening.  I especially appreciated seeing my son, Brennan munch the arugula leaves like he was eating a bowl of potato chips.  Pure nutritionist heaven.

I dress my arugula with lemon, good quality Parmesan cheese, and olive oil.  Here’s a quick recipe for you from a past post.

This week, my daughter  Chelsea, Brennan and I headed to the farm to grab some fresh cilantro, kale and lettuce.  I had chicken tacos on the menu and some fresh cilantro and lettuce would definitely dress it up.  Laura Tangerini pointed out the tasty kale, lettuce and cilantro and away I went chopping and bagging. Here I am in my glory…

And chopping down a big head of lettuce!

We came home with this absolutely beautiful Russian Kale too!

Brennan requested Kale chips to be made immediately upon returning from home…so Chelsea and I whipped them up and Brennan devoured 95% of them with a little help from Chelsea and I.  YUMMMMM….{FODMAP followers….Kale hasn’t been checked for FODMAP content yet}

If you haven’t joined a CSA before, I highly recommend it! I have found joining a local CSA  has provided new experiences for me and my family.  We have  tried produce we had never eaten before, harvested corn and other vegetables by hand, and simply eat more vegetables!  Farm fresh produce weekly for you and your family…you can’t go wrong!