The Greater Fall River summer produce crop is in!

The Greater Fall River summer produce crop is in!  Summer is here and it is time for local fresh grown fruits and vegetables from local farm stands and farmers markets. As they say buy local and buy fresh. Supporting these farmers has all kinds of benefits for you, and the community overall.

First, buying local benefits you by providing you with the freshest, healthiest, most delicious fruits and vegetables you can get. These tomatoes or heads of lettuce weren't picked, packaged and shipped for a few days before reaching your grocery store. Often times these have been in the garden only hours before lining the sunny shelves of a roadside stand. Nothing is more delicious than the taste of local sweet corn steamed, boiled or grilled just hours after plucked from the field. Buying local is more economical for you also. These products have not been shipped across the country or from overseas saving transportation costs and reducing the carbon footprint required to bring them to market.
 
Secondly supporting local farms and farmers keeps your dollars here in the greater Fall River community. This support helps maintain family farms in the area providing  employment opportunities for many and sustaining a valuable industry which not only provides healthy food alternatives to the community, but continues the New England tradition of small farms and open spaces. In only minutes you can drive in any direction from the hectic pace of city life in downtown Fall River and find yourself on a country road in Swansea, Tiverton, Little Compton, Westport, Dartmouth, Dighton or Berkley and the reinvigorate your senses to the sights, sounds and smells of a local farm.

The City of Fall River provides three Farmers Markets easily available to pedestrians and those using public transportation. Located at  Kennedy Park, Ruggles Park and downtown near the Government center they are available not miles away, but minutes away.

Here is a list of some Farmers Markets in the area now thru the fall 2011:

• Kennedy Park Farmers Market - at Broadway and Bradford Ave. Saturdays 7 AM -1:30 PM
• Ruggles Park Farmers Market - Locust and Seabury Street Wednesday 9 AM -3PM
• Downtown Fall Rive at Lou Sevin Promenade "a wide brick walkway that runs parallel to South Main Street, just to the east of the Bella Restaurant behind the Academy Building at the corner of South Main Street and South Frontage Road next to Government Center" Thursdays 9AM -2PM.
• Westport Farmers Market 870 Main Rd. Westport Saturdays 8:30 AM -1 PM
• Sakonnet Growers Market Rt.77 at East Road, Tiverton 4 Corners. Saturdays 9AM - 1PM

 
And here is a list of Farm Stands:

• Adirondack Farm 1046 Blossom Road, Fall River, MA
• Wild Dogwood Farm 148 Sanford Road Westport, MA
• Sampson Farm 222 Old Bedford Road Westport, MA
• Orr's Farm 187 Adamsville Road Westport, MA
• Almeida;s Vegatable Patch 110 GAR Highway Rt 6 Swansea, MA
• Simcock Farm 361 Marvel Street, Swansea, MA ( Great Ice Cream also!)
• Kettle Pond Farm 181 Bayview Ave. Berkley, MA
• Tavares Hillside Farm 164 Slades Corner Road, Dartmouth, MA
• Pocasset Orchards 1427 Old Fall River Road, Dartmouth, MA

These are just a sampling of farms in the area. Find more in your neighborhood and this season support our farmers by buying local!
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Steve Waddicor is a Realtor© with SB&A Realty Group serving the Greater Fall River area. Visit me at http://www.stevew-homes.com/ .