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Get real (food)!

By Karyn
One of my favorite things about summer and fall is the food! Not just eating the food but visiting local places where food is grown and sold. My family and I spend countless hours shopping at farmers' markets, listening to music on farms, picking our own fruits and vegetables and meeting up with friends at food events and festivals.

If you're wondering how to improve your family's connection to real food and the people who grow and produce it, here are a few tips.

Left to right: Strawberry picking at Verrill Farm, Buying veggies at the
SomervilleMobile Market, Attending the SomerStrEATS event
 
Visit a farm!
See goats, chickens, sheep, cows and pigs! Learn about the fruits and vegetables that grow in and around Somerville! Chat with a farmer! Listen to live music! Pick your own food directly from the farm! For lists of farms and farmers' markets visit the MDAR (Massachusetts Department of Agriculture) and Mass Farmers' Markets websites.

Feeding goats while listening to music at "Lettuce turnip the beet" Wright-Locke Farm,Winchester.
There is no better way to create a connection to food then to visit a farm. Where else can you see "green lanterns" growing, chickens frolicking, and goats grazing?

Tomatillos growing at Wright-Locke Farm, Winchester

 
Visit a farmers' market!
Where can you buy those "green lanterns" also known as tomatillos? Why at a farm stand or farmers' market of course!

Take your family on a farmers' market scavenger hunt. Invite you family to eat a rainbow as you peruse the mounds of red tomatoes, purple carrots, golden beets, and yellow peppers.

In Somerville we are fortunate to have four markets during the summer and fall and one during the winter. For specific details about each market follow the links below.

Assembly Square: Sunday, 10:30am - 2:30pm

Davis Square: Wednesday, 12:00pm - 6:00pm

Union Square: Saturday, 9:00am - 1:00pm

Somerville Mobile Markets - various locations throughout the city. See flyers in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Haitian-Creole.



Winter Market: Saturday, 9:30am-2:00pm


Visit a local food event!
If you want to celebrate the local bounty visit a food festival in and around Somerville!

Each week in Powderhouse square, local food trucks gather for Somerville StrEATS on Tuesdays at 5pm.

Bon Me tofu sandwich

Interested in connecting with more local food vendors? Visit the 2015 Boston Local Food Festival on September 20, 11am-5pm on The Greenway in Boston. My family and I will be there!

Content provided by Karyn Novakowski, PEP Nutrition Education Coordinator and Somerville Farm to School Project Director.
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