Search Results for: farmers market

Wellesley farmers market update

February 13, 2011 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

The Globe reports on different views being taken by Wellesley and Needham toward allowing a farmers market into their towns.

Wellesley Town Meeting members will be voting next month on whether to allow a farmers market next to the new Whole Foods on Washington Street, an arrangement Whole Foods has set up in at least a few other communities in New England.

Needham, on the other hand, has had its plan for a farmers market resisted by Volante Farms, which says hey, we don’t fear competition, it’s just that the tax situation wouldn’t be fair to local businesses.

Wellesley actually did have a modest farmers market last year on Mondays at Wellesley College, with students growing produce over on Weston Road on Wellesley College farmland.

RELATED:

Mass Farmers Markets

Will Work for Food Project

Your Ad Here

Obituary: David Wallace’s interests ranged from genomics to Wellesley farmers’ market to cycling

December 4, 2019 by admin 1 Comment

David H. Wallace, 82, passed away at his Wellesley home on Nov. 25. According to his obituary, this Harvard and MIT grad worked at Lincoln Labs developing food technologies for NASA and worked on genomics research while at New England Biolabs.

He was known to bike all the way from Wellesley to Ipswich to get to work, and to walk all over Wellesley. His contributions to Wellesley included co-founding the Farmers’ Market, and volunteering at the Recycling & Disposal Facility and Wellesley Free Library.

Wellesley Farmers’ Market relaunched

September 9, 2017 by admin Leave a Comment

Wellesley Farmers Market Relaunches — Wellesley Farmers Market relaunched on Thursday, Sept. 7, partnering with Vermont-based Farmers-to-You with a new model for bringing farm products to Wellesley. (Photo by Kim Maire, Harvard Extension School Journalism student.)

Special to Swellesley by Kim Maire

After taking the summer off, Wellesley Farmers’ Market relaunched operations on Thursday in the parking lot at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Wellesley Hills on Washington Street. The relaunch brings with it a new partnership with Vermont-based Farmers To You (FTY), which has a stable of about sixty New England farms providing a variety of food products.

One of the organizers, Phyllis Theermann, said the Wellesley Farmers’ Market was held in the Whole Foods parking lot for the first two years, and then moved to the UU church. “I thought it worked ….I think all the vendors were reasonably happy in Wellesley but the three or four of us volunteers making it happen, we just knew we could do something better, try something different.”

That something different became the connection to Farmers to You. FTY has built an innovative model that may be more akin to the Amazon part of the new Whole Foods alliance, bringing new technology to buying farm fresh food.

According to the FTY website, the group offers online ordering of food direct from local farmers, coupled with a delivery/drop-off service. Food products include organic and specialty meats, Jasper Hill and Grafton Village cheeses and other dairy products, baked items as well as fruits and vegetables direct from their partner farms.

Emails are sent out to customers, or “partner families,” as FTY calls them, on Friday to let them know what products are available. Orders are then placed by partner families by Sunday, farms receive orders on Monday, food is packed on Tuesday to be delivered to the Boston area on Wednesday and Thursday. There are over 20 drop-off locations in the metropolitan area.

Twelve partner families signed up for groceries this week in Wellesley. But Greg Georgaklis, founder of FTY, said that Lexington Waldorf School is their largest group right now with roughly 80 partner families, and he is optimistic that Wellesley can grow significantly from the modest start.

POSSIBLE CHANGES AHEAD

Also looking to the future, John Spencer, one of the Wellesley Farmers’ Market organizers, and president of the Weston Road community gardens, said, “The plan is to see how this model works, and then bring in other vendors who could use this model and add in outside sales” and other things.

Theermann said the group has maintained good relationships with the farmers who participated in earlier years, and they could go back to them in a couple of months. The market is currently online, pre-order only, but that could change later.

Another big change is the fall startup. Theermann said, “Wellesley is pretty quiet in the summer, when a lot of these markets are running, so we thought, what if we could do it all year round – or at least, do it in the fall or winter when there’s still stuff available.”

She said, “And for those people who are working and can’t pick up their orders, there’s also this delivery service from this cool company that’s a female-owned company. They deliver everything by bicycle, no matter what weather. So they pay a small surcharge to have the food delivered to their homes.”

Spencer is working with Town zoning and planning department officials to continue the farmers’ market next year. Their current permit allows them to run until Dec. 31, and they expect to be at the UU church every Thursday up to the holidays from 12:30-2:30pm.

“So that’s our goal, to continue to bring local, fresh, mostly pesticide-free food to our community,” said Theermann.

Wellesley Farmers’ Market to return with a twist

July 23, 2017 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

The Wellesley Farmers’ Market, starting on Thursday, Sept. 7, will be making its return through a new online ordering and in-person pick-up model from 12:30-2:30pm. Pre-orders are already available.

Items available from dozens of providers will include farm fresh and organic products, including vegetables, fruits, meats, fish, dairy and bakery goods. You can pick up items at UU Church at 309 Washington St. or arrange for home delivery via a pedal-powered business.

Sponsors are also being sought for a Food Pantry Program. For more information, please email [email protected]com.

In past years, the Wellesley Farmers’ Market has set up on Saturdays at the UU Church.

MORE: 8 summer Farmers’ Markets and farm stands near Wellesley

8 summer Farmers’ Markets and farm stands near Wellesley

June 16, 2017 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Over the past several summers, Wellesley has sometimes had a weekly Farmers’ Market, and sometimes not. This summer is one of those sometimes not summers, but there’s still amazingly fresh produce, beautiful flowers, and other farm products to be found at many nearby farm stands and outdoor markets. Here are eight of our favorites:

The Natick Community Organic Farm

Where: 117 Eliot St., Natick
When: The Barnside Stand at the Farm is open seven days a week, spring, summer and fall during daylight hours.
The Farmstand on Route 16, run by youth in the Farm’s summer programs, is open Monday through Friday, 10am to 4pm, from July 1 through August 1.
Founded in 1975, The Natick Community Organic Farm is a nonprofit, certified-organic farm providing productive open space, farm products, and hands-on education for all ages, year-round. Committed to farming methods that are ecologically healthy and sustainable, the Farm places special emphasis on service to youth through year-round classes, work-experience programs and volunteer opportunities for working the land.

The Natick Farmers’ Market

Natick Commons, at the intersection of Rts. 27 and 135
When: Saturdays, 9am – 1pm
The mission of the market is to bring locally grown or made foods to the community as well as provide an opportunity for music, crafts and community gatherings to occur.

The Needham Farmers’ Market

When: Sundays, noon – 4pm, through November 19
Where: Garrity Way at Town Hall
Their Market Calendar page lets you know which vendors will be there

NEWTON Farmers’ Markets, 2 locations:

New Cold Spring Park, 1200 Beacon St.
When: Tuesdays, July 11 – Oct 31, 1:30pm-6pm

Elm St., West Newton
When: June 24 – October 7, 10am – 2pm
Farm-fresh fruits and vegetables, turkey, beef, fresh fish, goat cheese, gouda, eggs, olive oil, baked goods, popovers, jams, jellies, plants, and flowers.

Sherborn, Dowse Orchards Farm Stand

Where: 98 North Main St., Route 27
Hours: 9am – 6pm, daily

Dowse Orchards is a Massachusetts Century Farm with a 200-year history of family production in apples, vegetables, greenhouse crops, flowers, christmas trees and pumpkins, to name just a few. The roadside farm stand has been in operation for more than 60 years, selling the products raised on the farm on a seasonal basis.

Wayland Summer Farmers’ Market at Russel’s Garden Center

Where: 397 Boston Post Rd.
When: Wednesdays, noon – 5pm, through October 11
The Farmers’ Market at Russell’s features Massachusetts-grown vegetables, fruit, bread, baked goods (including pies), eggs, locally made pasta and cheese, fresh pork, lamb, fish and lobster, and more. Plus, you can wander Russell’s garden center for everything you could possibly need to make your yard beautiful.

WESTON: Land’s Sake Farm, Farmstand

Where: 90 Wellesley St., Weston
When: Tuesday – Friday, 11am – 7pm; Saturday – Sunday, 11am – 4pm; Closed Mondays
Open through October 29
The Land’s Sake Farm Stand features in season produce grown using organic methods from its own farm. Located in the center of Weston, it’s easy to swing by and stock up for the week or pick up a few things for dinner. In addition to a diverse selection of vegetable crops, the small-scale farm offers other local produce and artisan products.

No Wellesley Farmers’ Market this summer — stay tuned for a September opening

June 13, 2017 by Deborah Brown 1 Comment

Wellesley has always had a complicated relationship with the concept and execution of a Farmers’ Market. On paper, the town’s demographics of an affluent population concerned about health and wellness make it an ideal spot for farmers to sell their arugula and heirloom tomatoes. The reality, however, is that the town has a well-deserved reputation for clearing out in the summer as residents de-camp to their Cape houses or travel to more exotic locales (or a little bit of both).

When I reached out to the Wellesley Farmers’ market team, asking whether Summer 2017 would include a Farmers’ market in town, I received this response:

“To continue with our mission of supporting local food growers and producers, while serving our community and complementing Wellesley’s sustainability movement, the Wellesley Farmers’ Market team is proud to announce that we are working on a new model. This model will enable us to bring you more variety and extend our season, while we also continue to serve the Wellesley Food Pantry clientele. The new model requires town approvals. Once we receive the go-ahead, we hope to open for business in September.”

OK, so the answer is no to a Summer 2017 Farmers’ Market.

A Farmers’ Market has struggled over the years to gain a real foothold in town. There was a small one in 2012 and 2013 in the Whole Foods parking lot, which then went on hiatus in 2014. In 2015 it came roaring back at a very pretty and much roomier location on the grounds of the Unitarian Church at 309 Washington St, where the usual healthy stuff was on hand: fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as meats, eggs and cheeses from local farms, and food from speciality providers. That one came back again for the 2016 season.

Now, however, Wellesley is faced with a Farmers’ Market desert for the Summer of 2017.

If you can’t just wait around until the new model hopefully opens in September, keep in mind that Natick has the most lovely Farmers’ market on the Natick Green that runs every Saturday, 9am – noon. Spend some time exploring this town, contiguous to Wellesley but somehow ignored and even scoffed at as “too far” by many Wellesley-ites. Here at The Swellesley Report, we love Natick Center’s Common Kitchen Cafe, the beautiful Morse Institute Library, and the many interesting indie shops, all within walking distance of each other. And of course, their Farmers’ Market.

Wellesley Farmers’ Market will be buzzing with electric vehicles on Saturday

September 16, 2016 by admin Leave a Comment

Wellesley Whole Foods electric charging station

A variety of all-electric and plug-in hybrid cars, including Teslas and BMWs, will be on display at Wellesley Farmers’ Market on Saturday at 309 Washington St. The farmers’ market runs from 9am-1pm, while the cars will be there from 9-11am, according to Sustainable Wellesley.

Those who already drive electric vehicles are welcome to swing by, show them off and talk them up. (And don’t forget to get those cars washed on Linden Street on Sunday, where Wellesley High cross country runners will be standing by.)

MORE: Wellesley family gets plugged in with electric car (2011)