Local farmers market keeps the winter green

PAWTUCKET — Leafy spinach, dark green kale and fresh Swiss chard greets visitors at Christina Dedora’s stall at the indoor wintertime farmers market at Hope Artiste Village in Pawtucket where crowds of shoppers spent a wind-swept rainy morning Saturday checking out what Rhode Island’s bounty looks like in the dead of winter.

This is Dedora’s third year selling her winter greens and vegetables at the market, which on a typical Saturday can bring in more than 2,000 people.

“It’s the largest indoor farmers market in New England,” says Dedora, who started her Blue Sky’s Farm in Cranston in 2006.

Farm Fresh Rhode Island’s indoor winter market features more than 70 vendors offering everything from fresh baked pies to locally-produced eggs and dairy.

The market opened for its eighth season in November and runs every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. through May 14.

And you’d be amazed at what the market has to offer in the dead of winter — lettuces, arugula, bok choi, kale, collards, cabbage, chard, apples, cider, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, leeks, garlic, radishes, fresh herbs, beets, carrots, parsnips, turnips, winter squash, oysters, beef, pork, lamb, cheese, eggs, honey, and maple syrup are just some of the items you’re likely to see on any given day at the market.

All of the leafy veggies Dedora and her assistant, Jared Cagno, are selling at the market are chemical-free and grown in high tunnel greenhouses, also known as hoop houses, which are simple polyethylene-covered unheated structures that typically do not use fans for ventilation. They can be covered with two sheets of plastic, which have an air layer in between and offer better insulation and protection from the cold.

While they are often used to extend the growing season earlier into spring and later into fall, high tunnels can be used for winter production of a wide variety of leafy greens and herbs.

“It really allows us to extend our growing season well into the winter,” says Dedora, who began her farming career working on a farm in France.

Dedora says what had originally begun as a way to extend her visa, had become a passion that would shape her life going forward. While living in Massachusetts she continued for several years to work for other farmers but knew that she wanted the opportunity to do it on her own. In 2006 she got that opportunity, and Blue Sky’s Farm was created.

Currently, the farmland that Blue Sky’s rents is owned and protected by the state Department of Environmental Management and managed by Southside Community Land. Six other farmers also farm at this location, and the group collaboratively manages the 50-acre property.

Dedora and her crew farm two acres of chemical-free flowers, herbs and vegetables, which she sells at farmers markets throughout the year, including the indoor wintertime market at Hope Artiste Village.

Founded in 2004, Pawtucket-based Farm Fresh Rhode Island, a non-profit local food hub whose goal is to create a local food system that values the environment, health and quality of life of Rhode Island farmers and eaters, has been working for the past eight years to connect local growers to local eaters, promoting farm viability and healthy food choices. Their work has focused primarily on low-income, urban populations, whose access to fresh fruits and vegetables is limited by both cost and proximity.

Programs include managing local farmers markets, a local-only wholesale and distribution system, nutrition education for multiple populations, a comprehensive web-based local food guide to Rhode Island and Massachusetts and a youth training processing kitchen.

All of the vegetables, fruit, meat and fish sold by Farm Fresh vendors are grown within Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts, and all of the non-farm products contain local ingredients. For example, Providence-based pie maker Humble Pie buys all its eggs, dairy, and fruit locally, while New Harvest Coffee roasts their beans right in the building and uses Rhody Fresh milk in their bar drinks.

Since its debut in 2007, the market — which at the time was the first and only winter farmers market in the state — has grown from about a dozen vendors that first year to more than 70 on any given week.

As the market grew, it was moved in 2008 from AS220 in Providence to Hope Artiste Village, which is home to Farm Fresh Rhode Island’s home offices.

All of the Farm Fresh farmers markets — both summer and winter — operate through a market coin system where customers can use their credit, debit, or EBT cards, which are swiped at welcome tables. Customers who use their EBT cards are eligible for a bonus program in which for every $5 they swipe they get a bonus of $2 for fresh fruits and vegetables.