March Farm to Table Event Held in Millis

On the first day of spring, March 20, about a hundred or so people gathered for the first Farm to Table event in Millis at Tangerini’s Spring Street Farm in Millis. The event drew those who wanted to celebrate truly eating local.
“The farm to table concept takes a lot of energy to do,” says Laura Tangerini, who explains that if a food “is not local, it doesn’t get served. It’s not just about corn and tomatoes. Even canola oil they get is from a local producer. Everything is sourced within 65 miles for the dinner.”
Tangerini’s teamed up with Lettuce Be Local, run by Lynn Stromberg (lettucebelocal.com). Stromberg plans these dinners regularly, and each year runs one called “Farmstalk,” which this year will take place at Lilac Hedge Farm on July 24.
“The idea is to show people what’s available to them locally,” says Tangerini. “People don’t know what’s available locally in the winter, such as dried beans, flour, spelt, barley, vegetables, apples, cheeses, dairy and fish. Some of us pretty much hardly ever go to (the supermarket).”
The event, says Tangerini, was a way of “bringing together like-minded people to see what can be done at certain times of the year.” People attended from all over Massachusetts.
This was Stromberg’s first Farm to Table event in March.
Tangerini has seen growth in area consumers who want to eat local. Her CSA program has now grown to 350, and she’s recently added the firm Biogen to those she supplies with fresh produce. She even has 125 members signed up for her winter CSA program, and about 80 who committed to the deep winter share (which includes potatoes, onions, carrots, beets, butternut squash and parsnips).
“People are always asking, ‘Where do I get grass fed meat? Where do I get this, where do I get that? How do I get stuff in the winter?’” says Tangerini “There’s a whole community created about sourcing good, wholesome, local food.”
The CSAs give people who live locally a way to support their local farm, and in turn, that local farm produces food for them. Recently, Tangerini added a market share card, which people can purchase for $100 increments. They can use the cards to buy about $110 or $115 in items from the farm.
“That works for people who have really small families or are single, and it’s a reminder that they want to support the farm. If they have that card in their wallet, they are more likely to support the farm than don’t.”
Tangerini says there are all sorts of ways to support local farms, but she likes the CSA concept, because it, too, encourages people to make an effort to get to that farm.
“When you’re buying something up front, you put money into it and you are going to make an effort to get there,” she says. “When you go to the farmer’s market, you don’t have to go. You can go occasionally. You don’t develop those habits that encourage doing every week.”
For farmers, she says, trucking all their products out to a market “takes a lot of enjoyment out of the process. We would prefer to be on our farms, growing your food.”