Produce

All the info you need regarding our fruits & veggies...

PRODUCE: We use dozens and dozens of local farms all year round. For those of you new to New England, the winter is full of things like of
rutabagas, parsnips, potatoes, and turnips. Because people want a little more variety during those long months, we do get staples from around the
world. We also carry exotic fruits that cannot be grown in the Northeast corridor like lemons, oranges, grapefruits, pineapples, and bananas. We
also carry out of season produce flown in from the west coast or the south. We try to buy the basics, such as asparagus, broccoli, tomatoes, etc..
Other things, like heirloom tomatoes, hot peppers, squash, and kohlrabi, to name a few, we generally only get when in season locally.

We get a mix of industrial organic and conventional on out of season and exotic produce. Everyone has lost the tradition of seasonal eating. We
always try to focus on what is local and seasonal, but, again, we are not perfect, and you can find a Sunkist orange, or Driscol Organic strawberries
on our shelves. Strawberry season was less than three weeks this year, and people want strawberries year round. Tomatoes are used year round.
It is not a matter of not having tomatoes in February only, it means no tomatoes for up to eight months of the year. So yes, for some things we buy
produce flown in from around the world, which were produced in industrial settings. But when we can, we get wonderful treats from small family
farms out west or down south. January and February can be brightened up with the delicious cara cara oranges, kumquats, meyer lemons, ruby
grapefruits and more from a couple of biodynamic farms in the pacific northwest. It is usually about a five week season when we get these.

We try to keep all local seasonal produce coming off of local sustainable farms. This applies to both Lionette’s Market and The Garden of Eden.

We are not convinced that something is necessarily good, or sustainable because it has a USDA organic claim on it. Fruit and vegetables that are
mass-produced (I don’t mean Massachusetts produce) will always have the potential to be environmentally damaging, the possibility to be potentially
dangerous to us, and are just as much a part of destroying small family farms as large conventional produce manufacturers. Thousands of acres of
monoculture produce set up on a model of profit, does nothing for the land, with or without chemicals. With industrial farms, corners need to be cut,
it is impossible to effectively oversee all that is happening from the farm to the warehouse to the packaging plant to the next warehouse to the
airplane to the next warehouse etc… So much energy, transportation, storage, and movement, and yet it is usually cheaper than locally grown
produce. How can you trust it?

This is a partial list of the local farms we use. As we are always finding new farms to work with, the list is always growing. I hope to have further
details, and more farms on the webpage this winter. We use a lot more farms than this.

Pete's Greens - Greensborough, VT. Year round produce. They studied a northern Italian steppe farming process which allows them to harvest,
beets, rutabagas, shallots, carrots, parsnips etc even throughout the winter. It involves layers of hay under the top layer of soil, and ripping out the
top layer when it freezes. So year round we get seasonal fresh produce. NOFA certified organic, and on the forefront of modern sustainable
farming. Every week (as in 52 weeks a year) we get a delivery from Pete’s.

Stillman Farm - New Braintree MA. From spring through fall, the Stillmans pick their produce in the morning and bring it to us by noon (depending
on traffic of course!) We get deliveries every Monday and Thursday. Probably some of the best native berries I have ever eaten that I did not pick
myself. Eating a berry with nothing sprayed on it is a wonderful experience. They are not certified organic. They do not have enough land to do
adhere to the organic rule on letting your land sit. They also may spray a little on their corn if the weather has been unkind. Also, they do use some
fungicide on their peaches. This is to protect from rot more than anything else. Apparently in the northeast it is very difficult to grow stone fruit on
the USDA organic model.

Atlas Farm- Deerfield, MA. Like Stillman’s, we get fresh picked organic produce twice a week (Tuesdays & Fridays) in the summer and autumn.
Great greens and tomatoes. USDA certified organic.

Grateful Farm - Franklin, MA. They supply us with all kinds of herbs and fresh produce. Their harvest season is usually only from May through
November. People might know them from the Farmers Market in Harvard Square, they have been there forever.

Also we receive produce from dozens of New York, Western Massachusetts and Vermont farms from spring through fall, and during the winter from a
few excellent biodynamic farms in Quebec. Here are some of the farms (we will try to tag them as they come in on the produce signs, but it can be at
times an overwhelming process, so bear with us.)

Hepworth Farm - Milton, NY
Another truly amazing farm. I think they are seventh generation Hudson Valley farmers. Amy and Gerry are as clean as they come. Some things,
like the stone fruit and apples and pears will not have an organic stamp, as they feel they are better than organic. Something about how organic
sprays kill their earthworms. Some of the best nectarines I have ever eaten.

Lucky Dog Farms - Hamden, NY
Farm at Millers Crossing - Claverack, NY
Taliaferro Farms - New Paltz, NY
Markristo Farms - Hillside, NY
Westminster Organics - Westminster, NY
Nine-Jay Nursery - Stuyvesant, NY
Flying Rabbit Farm - Otego, NY
LeFarm - Germantown, NY
Fellgarth Farm, Hatley, Quebec

And also, during spring/summer/fall depending on produce availability from Massachusetts:

Happy Valley Cooperative Farms - Hadley, MA
The New York farmers have a set up with similar organic farmers in the Pacific northwest (Oregon and Washington) where we get biodynamic
grapes, melons, citrus, apples, pears, nectarines, and other treats. During the depressing months of February and March, when you can’t stomach
another rutabaga, and are fed up with all the industrial organic stuff being flown out from California, try the biodynamic citrus fruits. The cara cara
orange is probably the best orange I have ever eaten. Kumquats that make your face cringe in some sort of paradox between extreme tartness and
sweetness.

And come tomato & apple season, we have a ridiculous amount of organic local tomatoes and apples from northeast farms. We always find new
ones, so check the farm names on the price tags to identify the source.
The rest of or produce comes locally and organic when it is season or from west coast, south east coast or Central and South America when it is
organic and available (especially with products like apples, grapes, and pears, where there is a distinct season). When all else fails, yes,
unfortunately, we will bring on conventional produce (the nice way of saying not organic, and thus full of God knows what.). So most of the fruit in
the fruit salad & fruit side on brunch plates is organic.

Lionette’s Pickled Treats: We do some pickling too. When a crop is in abundance we will buy extra, pickle it, and put it in the market during the
winter. Pickled beans, cherry peppers, cabbage, all sorts of things.