Sustainability: Coffee and Produce

If you haven't had the chance to visit the Pawtucket/ Wintertime Farmers Market, I highly encourage you to check it out! It's filled with vendors dedicated to providing their communities with the highest quality and freshest products while remaining committed to sustainable practices.

New Harvest Coffee Roasters

Some of the best coffee in RI can be found right at the Pawtucket Farmer’s Market. New Harvest Coffee Roasters is dedicated to providing the highest quality coffee while practicing sustainable efforts. The entire coffee process from growing to harvesting to processing and roasting and ultimately brewing is acutely monitored with passion. What I found unique about New Harvest is their Source Direct program. They traveled to farms in Central and South America to connect directly with small farms producing coffee with greener efforts. This not only ensures a strong lasting relationship with farmers but also supports farmers taking good care of their land and paying their workers well. The strong relationship also ensures the highest quality for New Harvest’s expectations while benefitting coffee-growing communities at large.

Overall I learned there’s nothing easy about great coffee but New Harvest strives to provide the best and really takes each stage of the process a step further. If you can’t make it to the Farmer’s Market to try their coffee stop by their home Hope Artiste Village or look for their coffee supplied in cafés, restaurants, bakeries, groceries and households in all 50 states.

Freedom Food Farm

Freedom Food Farm was one of the many local farms at the market. Their mission is to provide healthy, nutritious food to members of the community throughout the socioeconomic spectrum. All of their produce, eggs, pork, and chickens are grown and raised with exclusively organic and biodynamic principles; their efforts are to mock a natural ecological cycle. All their hard work is just to provide healthy food for the community while reducing their foot print! I loved how they go beyond certified organic allowances. Even if it’s allowed they vow to never spray chemicals or pesticides on their fields and crops. They have endless practices with the compost and animal rotation to have the entire farm working as a natural ecosystem. Freedom Food Farm is a prime example of farming sustainable not just to provide healthy safe food to the community but to also preserve the farmland for future generation.

Freedom Food Farm was very knowledgeable about where they grow and raise their food and how it’s treated to arrive at the end results. I encourage you to buy local and direct from farmers with attempts to enhance food production overall, it will create a healthier world and a healthier you!

Learn more about sustainable practices as we head to Costa Rica! You can also follow us on Twitter! @BryantMKT421

-Krysia Syska

Sustainability in Providence

I have been to many local farmers markets before but I have never seen one with such a variety of products as I saw at the . I spoke with many local vendors and had the opportunity to try samples of fresh and local Pawtucket Wintertime Farmers Market products, such as the garlic dill pickles from Fox Point Pickles which were delicious! We also spent time with 20-year-old CEO Ava Anderson who educated us toxic chemicals that can be found in products we use everyday and introduced us to her brand of Ava Anderson Nontoxic personal care products. I spent some time with vendors from Narragansett Creamery and North Bakery learning about their products and how they are sustainable. While Narragansett Creamery and North Bakery may seem very different to a farmers market patron who sees their products, the two companies have more in common than meets the eye. In addition to both being located in Providence, both companies are committed to sustainability and put a large emphasis on buying local ingredients whenever possible while using very few ingredients in order to create fresh products for the consumer. They both sell products that are relatively inexpensive (under $10) and offer a variety of different types of products within their specialty market.

Narragansett Creamery

This Providence-based creamery began in 2007 and has grown to sell a variety of fresh products including yogurt, hard cheeses, and mozzarella. The cheese is sold in 8 ounce blocks and prices range from $5 to $8. While they sell primarily at farmers markets in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, their products can also be found in stores like Dave's Marketplace, Shaw's, and Whole Foods in RI and MA as well as Connecticut and New York. The cheese is made with very minimal ingredients, all of which are local and fresh, and are committed to avoiding growth hormones in their products. The variety of cheeses they are able to produce with such few ingredients was very surprising to me. They even had a few types of cheese of which I had never heard! I was able to sample the Salty Sea Feta as well as the fresh mozzarella. Both of them were so fresh and delicious; they practically melted in my mouth! Check them out online to find your closest retail location or farmers market!

North Bakery

Located in West Providence at 70 Battery Street North Bakery is a bakery and coffee shop unlike most others in the area. The coffee is the brand Counter Culture, which is based out of North Carolina, whose core values of sustainability and transparency can be seen through their compostable retail bags and carbon neutrality. Kelly, the manager of North Bakery with whom I spoke, told me all about the different initiatives North Bakery takes to be sustainable. All products are made from scratch, produce is fresh, and ingredients are purchased from local vendors. At the farmers markets they sold a variety of baked goods, from cookies to miniature chocolate cakes, all for less than $6 each. In addition to their coffee shop storefront and selling at local farmers markets, they also have a restaurant. Through this restaurant they have formed relationships with local farms and fishermen to constantly provide their customers with fresh and local ingredients. 

Fun Facts

- North Bakery buys their eggs from Baffoni's Poultry Farm, another Pawtucket Winter Farmers Market vendor.

- North Bakery serves a local ginger beer!

Kasey Mazza (@KaseyMazza)

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How Local Vendors are Sustainable

December 6, 2014 – I did not know I would rediscover my passion for sustainability practices from visiting this unique and fascinating Pawtucket Wintertime Market located at the Hope Artiste Village in Pawtucket RI. I have been to a handful of farmers market before and have volunteered at Thai Craft Organization, a non-profit organization that supports Thai local artisans to be self-sufficient. During my visit to the Pawtucket Wintertime Market, I talked to two vendors: Apponagansett Farm and BABS.

Apponagansett Farm

Apponagansett Farm is a family farm located in Dartmouth, MA. All their products are of high quality and sustainably grown. Their crops are grown without synthetic chemicals that can be harmful to the environment. Their pasture raised eggs come from hens that are raised on free-range and fed organic and GMO-free grain.

I was particularly interested in their pasture raised eggs because I have been to a farm where hens are raised in a coop. I wondered how this difference could make one egg better than the other egg. To test my hypothesis, I bought a dozen of eggs from the vendor and gave it a try. I can conclude that the eggs taste more delicious and the yolks are golden, making it perfect for a sunny side.     

On a supply chain, this vendor is also a producer. They grow their own crops and raise free-range hens. All their products are sold at their community supported agriculture, farm stand, farmers market and local natural food stores. Sustainability is communicated since the start of the supply chain since they are a producer themselves. As they sell their products, they inform their customers about how their products are sustainably grown.  

Interesting Fact:

The 150 hens on the farm are protected by a small number of roosters

BABS

BABS is a small retailer located in Hope Artiste Village in Pawtucket, RI. The owners, Gail Solomon and Barbara Materna, design and make handmade handbag collections in-store. The material used in these handbags come from Asia, Germany, Peru and Italy. 

During our conversation, Gail brought up an organization, Aide to Artisans. It is a non-profit organization that brings American designers and artisans to help artisans in third world countries to better market and bring their products back to the United States to be sold. They hope to help local artisans be economically sufficient. Within the local community, Gail and Barbara hope to offer jobs along the way by opening a place, because as of now, they outsource the handbag handles to be made by a third party.

On a supply chain, BABS is a retailer and a producer. Although the raw material used in the handbags are from other producers from around the world, Gail and Barbara make these handbags themselves. From the point of producing the bags up until the point of selling them, it is under the control of Gail and Barbara to communicate their passion for sustainability and handcrafts to customers through their amazing collections. 

Interesting Fact:

Barbara is a writer 

Gail is a graphic designer

Both vendors are producers and retailers. They have the advantage of relaying their passion and information on sustainability to their customers since they make and sell their own products. Based on the conversations I had with these two vendors, Apponagansett Farm has a higher commitment to sustainability than BABS. All in all, both vendors are committed to keeping their products local, giving back to the community and being sustainable.  

Written by Eaindra Aung

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