By : Sister Anna Gilbert-Muhammed, NOFA/Mass Food Equity Director
Orchard Citizen’s Council sets up the multi-purpose room at the Indian Orchard Citizen’s Council. The setup is to receive farm fresh produce delivered every week by Jen Salinetti of Woven Roots Farm.
“We look forward to this program every week, ” one of the volunteers said enthusiastically. The rest of the volunteers smile and show sheer excitement at the beautiful tomatoes, Swiss chard, and bright yellow and green summer squash. The Indian Orchard Citizen’s Council and Woven Roots Farm are important partnerships within NOFA/Mass’s Farm Share Program. Each week during the CSA season, four distribution sites in key areas of Massachusetts partner with BIPOC farmers to deliver 150 shares. This partnership, sponsored by MDAR’s LFPA program grant, fuels greater access to healthy food and increases customer bases for BIPOC farmers.
Lively conversation, funny jokes, and vibrant laughter fills the multi-purpose room as the volunteer fills each bag. Maria lovingly refers to her team as an “efficient assembly line”. Each of the six members takes a place around the tables at various points with a different box of vegetables. Bags are packed from the station for each team member to place their item in the bag before it lands at its final destination; the pick-up table.
The Farm Share Program not only brings farm fresh vegetables to areas that would not always have access to them, but it is also a community builder. Maria, the volunteer coordinator for the Farm Share’s weekly distribution, ensures that recipes are shared with participating families and interesting conversations take place at the pickup location around how each family prepares the items in the share. “I love to eat the beets raw with dip,” exclaimed Maria. She brought in a homemade dip and vegetable tray made from produce from last week’s farm share pick-up. The golden beets were the fan favorite for the volunteers. The veggie tray and dip were a nice snack after packing (in the record time of 20 minutes), 55 farm share bags.
The volunteers see this program and their work as a labor of love – love of farm fresh food and love of their neighbors.
If you want to donate to the Farm Share Program or any of the Food Access Programs, please use this link:
For more information on the Farm Share Program and the Food Access Program in general, please contact Anna Gilbert-Muhammad, Food Access Director at [email protected].
