Getting Ready for the Bounty of the Season
As the winter breaks, spring welcomes beautiful flowers and budding trees. Spring also ushers in planting time for farmers and gardens and the opening of many farm shares, farm stands, and farmer’s markets throughout the area. (Check this link to find a farmer’s market near you!)
Soon, an abundance of farm-fresh produce will be appearing in gardens, farms, and markets throughout the state and it can be a challenge (a rather wonderful challenge!) to find ways to make the best use of what’s in season and learn to prepare, preserve and cook all the great crops you can find in New England during the growing season.
Join us for our upcoming Cooking and Food Preservation Demonstrations
Nutrition Workshop Series: What To Do With All This Food!?!
The NOFA/Mass Food Access team, with sponsorship from the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture Resources, MDAR, will be offering multiple workshops demonstrating a few easy recipes featuring produce from local gardens and farms. These workshops will happen over the summer and fall at the Indian Orchard Citizens’ Council in Springfield, and the Dorchester Food Co-op and Codman Square Community Center in Boston. Next year, this program will expand to include workshops in the Berkshires.
During each workshop, we’ll demonstrate how to use in-season ingredients to make a healthy nutritious meal in partnership with a local farmer. Participants will receive recipe cards and will have the opportunity to meet the farmers in person to buy the ingredients featured in the recipe (SNAP/HIP accepted!) or sign up for a farm share.
We’re super fortunate to partner with Agric Organics for our Springfield workshops and Farming is Life for our Roxbury workshops. All of the workshops will be recorded and made available to those who cannot attend in person. This workshop series is open to all ages – children, youth, and grown-ups alike. If you are interested in learning how to incorporate more local ingredients, you would be most welcome to join the fun.
For questions on the Nutrition Workshops Series or other Food Access programs, please feel free to email foodaccess@nofamass.org. And stay tuned to see some of these recipe cards, alongside information on how to grow these crops to try it at home!
Photo credit: Open fArms Retreat Website
Program Spotlight:
Farm to School Integration for Beginner BIPOC Farmers
In 2025, NOFA/Mass’s Food Access team joined forces with the Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust (PPLT) to launch a two-year program to create stronger connections between farms and schools. This initiative links local students and families to BIPOC farmers who supply locally grown ingredients to school kitchens. The Kendall Food Prize provided funding to launch Farm to School Integration for Beginner BIPOC Farmers.
By connecting local farmers with food districts, this program provides nutrient-rich food and teaches students about growing crops important to the meals they love. It will also highlight the importance of building healthy soils. This benefits farmers, students, and the school district and builds a stronger local food system for everyone involved.
In this effort, NOFA/Mass partnered with Andraly Horn of Open Farms Retreat in Cumberland, RI. Open fArms Retreat is a teaching farm and sanctuary space for those seeking healing within the natural world. They will grow produce for the cafeteria’s nutrition program.
NOFA/Mass’ role, led by Food Access Director Sister Anna Gilbert-Muhammad in this project, is to meet with students, staff and parents to identify ways to integrate local produce into their regular meals, to offer soil health advice and to draw connections between healthy soil and healthy selves. This will boost production and help Open fArms with crop planning based on community needs. Once the “ingredients” are ready, NOFA/Mass will host demonstrations to show students, staff, and parents how to make traditional recipes using fresh produce.
