It may be hard to believe, but our farmers are already starting to think about spring. It’s still much too early to start planting, but seed catalogs are almost guaranteed to be on our farmers’ snow day reading lists.
Photo credit: Livin in the Green
Most New England farmers we work with have greenhouses that allow them to start planting seeds a few weeks before the ground thaws. And while the first seedlings are still a few weeks away, we’re beginning to talk with our local farm partners so that we know what produce they’ll have available for the Boston Organics Community once the weather warms up!
Our farmers know their soil better than anyone. We try not to tell our farmers what they should grow because it’s important that they rotate crops based on what’s most sustainable for the farm and not simply on our belly’s cravings. But if you have any special requests for spring or summer produce, we can pass that interest on to our farmers. Now is one of the best times to let us know.
Fresh collard greens and Lacinato kale fill many of the boxes this week to the delight of dark leafy green aficionados. Lacinato kale was originally cultivated in Italy, but it grows particularly well down the Eastern seaboard and was listed among the plants Thomas Jefferson grew at Monticello.
This recipe for Winter Greens with Roasted Pears and Pecorino is a delicious way to enjoy whatever greens come in your box this week. If you’re planning to make a big batch, you can always order extra kale or Olivia’s Organics Saute Blend in our produce add-on section.
The 2/3-vegetable and all-veggie boxes are getting a big dose of broccoli this week and we have a deliciously creamy soup recipe to help get you through the next arctic blast. This Broccoli Cheddar Soup takes only 15 minutes to make and just about 30 seconds to scarf down; it’s that good.
But you might want to slow it down and be careful you don’t burn your tongue!
Enjoy your box and have a delicious week!
Boston Organics works with several community groups in the towns and neighborhoods we serve throughout the year. During the holiday season we encourage the whole Boston Organics Community to get involved, too.
Through our Thanksgiving Give-A-Box Program, members of the Boston Organics Community were able to donate boxes of fresh, organic fruits and vegetables to the Greater Boston Food Bank.
As a result, on #GivingTuesday2014, the Boston Organics Community donated a truckload of locally grown organic beets, apples and butternut squash to the Greater Boston Food Bank. In total, 1,760 pounds of fresh, healthy, organic produce helped provide nourishment to hungry people in the greater Boston area!
About the Greater Boston Food Bank
The mission of the Greater Boston Food Bank resonates strongly within the Boston Organics Community, which is made up of individuals who understand the value of eating fresh, healthy food.
Through donations and contributions from people like you, the Greater Boston Food Bank supplies 500 food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters in eastern Massachusetts where 1 in 9 residents are at risk of hunger.
Last year, the Greater Boston Food Bank distributed 48 million pounds of food and groceries, but only a fraction of that was fresh produce. The Give-A-Box donation will have a major impact in helping families and individuals have a happier and healthier holiday season.
Thank you for your donations and for all of your continued support!
The Greater Boston Food Bank is still raising money to provide 45,000 holiday meals to those in need this holiday season. If you’d like to make an additional donation to the Greater Boston Food Bank, please visit www.GBFB.org/holidaymeals.
Earlier this week, Amazon.com revealed that in addition to helping the CIA with networked computer technology, the company is developing the technology to deliver packages to your homes using unmanned, autonomous drones. Sure, that’s cool and all, but we’ve got a secret weapon of our own…the Boston Organics Driver!
Here are 5 ways that Boston Organics Drivers are better than Amazon’s Drones:
1. A drone couldn’t help the Warren-Prescott School build a garden:
John helped the Warren-Prescott School (K-8) in Charlestown set up a school garden. These kids were excited to get their hands dirty!
2. A drone wouldn’t dress up like a banana for Halloween while making deliveries on a cargo bike:
Larry delivered bananas while dressed as a banana…that’s bananas!
3. A drone wouldn’t help a stranger jump start her car when the battery dies:
Tyler used his van to help a woman jump start her car earlier this month. Now they’re friends.
4. A drone couldn’t entertain you with expert cabbage juggling:
Don’t worry folks, your cabbages are safe. Andy only juggles with his own fruits and vegetables.
5. A drone couldn’t shoot the breeze with you or offer you great produce tips!
Sean is one of our newest drivers, but his smile is infectious.
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Have you ever seen our drivers do something extraordinary, amazing, spectacular, or simply plain better than a drone?! We’d love to hear about it!
Share your story through email, Facebook, or Twitter (#NotADrone).
“Take that, you drones!”
We want to thank everyone for their generous contribution to the One Fund Boston Marathon relief organization. Due to overwhelming response from you all, we are happy to say we were able to match $1,000 of your donations! Together, our Boston Organics community raised $2,120 over the course of just a few days.
Through thoughtful donations like yours, One Fund Boston has raised $21 Million to date. These proceeds will greatly benefit the victims and their families affected by the tragic events at the marathon.
Given the time-sensitive nature of the One Fund donations, we have discontinued our Marathon Donation add-on and encourage you to make future donations to the One Fund Boston directly through their website.
Thank you again for your compassion, patience, resilience, and generosity. We are Boston Organics Strong!
Thanksgiving: 5 ways to share the holiday with those in need
The smell of fall in the air, old jack-o-lanterns being hauled off and a crisp breeze can only mean Thanksgiving is around the corner. The holiday’s arrival brings friends and loved ones together to share a warm meal. However, there are still many folks in our communities in need during the holidays. We’ve put together a list of 5 ways to give people in need a happy holiday.
5 ways to give back this Thanksgiving:
1. Greater Boston Food Bank is the largest hunger-relief organization in New England and among the largest food banks in the country.
Their Fall Turkey Drive is a great way to help out the local community. A $17 donation provides a 12-14lb turkey dinner for those in need. You can make a single donation, become an individual fundraiser or get your company involved with a corporate team.
2. Food For Free located in Cambridge, MA, rescues fresh food—food that might otherwise go to waste—and distributes it within the local emergency food system where it can reach those in need.
Food For Free accepts donations and welcome volunteers year round for home delivery, weekend truck routes, and office support. A fun way to support Food For Free and satisfy your appetite is to attend a luncheon at Rendezvous Restaurant on Nov 17. All proceeds directly support Food For Free.
In 2011, Boston Organics donated over 25,000 pounds of organic produce to Food For Free.
3. Community Servings is a not-for-profit food and nutrition program providing services throughout Massachusetts to individuals and families living with critical and chronic illnesses.
Their Pie in the Sky fundraiser has been running each November since 1993. Boston’s best restaurants, bakeries, caterers and hotels donate thousands of pies that over 500 volunteers then sell to family, friends and colleagues. Each pie costs $25, providing a week’s worth of hearty home-delivered meals to a Community Servings’ client and a tasty Thanksgiving treat to the buyer.
4. bostonCANshare is an annual food drive sponsored by Mayor Menino, the Mayor’s Office of Food Initiatives, FedEx, and The Greater Boston Food Bank.
Get involved by donating cans, cash and spreading the word about the can drive. All food items donated will go to local food panties to stock the shelves. Any cash donations support Boston Bounty Bucks which provide low income families with access to health fresh fruits and vegetables that they would otherwise struggle to afford.
5. In our local community – Harvest on Vine is a food pantry in Charlestown.
Your donation of $35 will provide a local family in need with a Thanksgiving dinner. They will be feeding 600 families this Thanksgiving and could use your support!
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In your own community, be on the lookout for a way to support those in need this holiday season through a food or clothing drive, or by volunteering with a local support group.
~From your friends at Boston Organics, have a very happy Thanksgiving holiday!
A large part of our mission at Boston Organics is to provide better access to fresh, healthy foods. In honor of Food Day, we want to highlight a key local partnership that helps make this possible.
For roughly 7 years, we have worked with Food For Free to bridge the gap between our leftover produce and hungry people in our neighboring communities.
This morning we had the honor of having Sasha Purpura, the new Executive Director of Food For Free, come by our warehouse to explain what they do and where our produce donations go each week.
What is Food For Free?
The folks at Food For Free rescue fresh food that might otherwise go to waste and distribute it to the greater Boston community’s most vulnerable populations. They distribute this leftover food to 82 programs including food pantries, meal programs, emergency shelters, hospitals and clinics, and youth programs in Cambridge, Somerville, and Boston.
In 2011, their produce rescue program collected and distributed over 1 million pounds of food! That’s 1 million pounds of food – food that would otherwise go to waste – feeding 25,000 people in the greater Boston community.
Approximately 70% of the food Food For Free distributes is fresh produce. By focusing on providing fresh, nutritious foods rather than junk foods, they are addressing not only short-term hunger, but diet-related disease and other long-term effects of food insecurity and poor nutrition.
Our partnership with Food For Free
Every Monday, Dennis from Food For Free comes by our warehouse to pick up whatever produce we have left over from the previous week. In 2011, these weekly donations added up to a total donation of 26,235 pounds of produce to Food For Free.
Where does our leftover produce go each week?
After Dennis picks up leftover produce from our warehouse in Charlestown on Mondays, the produce then makes its way to some of the following organizations:
- Haven from Hunger (Peabody) – A large percentage of our leftover produce goes to Haven from Hunger, an organization in Peabody that provides food to nearly 200 people a week.
- Youth on Fire (Cambridge) – The Youth On Fire drop-in center was established in the fall of 2000 to provide a welcoming and non-judgmental environment for homeless and street-involved youth. YOF has onsite hot meals, clothing, showers, and laundry facilities, as well as weekly medical care, mental health counseling, and referrals to community resources.
- Breakthrough Cambridge (Cambridge) – Some of our fruit donations are set aside for youth programs, including Breakthrough Cambridge. Through six years of intensive, tuition-free, out of school time programming, Breakthrough changes students’ academic trajectories and supports them along the path to four-year college.
- Gately Youth Center (Cambridge) – The Gately Youth Center offers homework assistance, healthy snacks, leadership development opportunities, sports leagues, arts, community service, and enrichment activities for Cambridge youth. Produce is often used for their cooking classes.
- Outside the Lines (Medford) – Outside the Lines Studio is an arts-based alternative day program, collectively run by artists, for individuals with developmental and physical disabilities.
We’re so thankful for the hard work that Food For Free and these other community programs are doing to bring healthy foods to the people in our communities who need it most. They are truly creating a more responsible and fair food system by ‘bridging the gap between waste and want.’
To learn more about Food For Free and ways you can help, visit their website.