Day 2: New Lands Farm and The Daily Table

Today, Monday, we went to the New Lands Farm in Sutton.  This farm is interesting and unique in that it provides plots of land at a subsidized cost to “New Americans,” recent immigrants and refugees from around the world. These people farm produce native to their homelands, which lets them continue the activities that they relied on back home. They use the crops they harvest to sell as supplemental income, and to help feed their families. The farm also provides a sense of community for the families. They can get to know other recent immigrants and refugees, and adapt to their new lives together. We helped weed raspberry plants and mulch. We also got a chance to speak with some of the families with plots. The farmers were really helpful in answering our questions and we got some cool insight on what the farm means to them. Many of the people said that they were farmers in their homelands, and it was nice for them to be able to continue farming in Massachusetts, since it’s such an integral piece of their identities.

            After the farm, we drove to the Daily Table. The Daily Table is a grocery store in Worchester that is working to help serve communities facing food insecurity. It was an amazing place to visit. The store is so cool: it’s a nonprofit retail store, so they sell food but are also a nonprofit organization. The store was created by one of the founders of Trader Joes. The goal is to provide healthy and nutritious food at a low cost. We all thought this was such a cool concept, because unlike normal food banks they’re working to provide nutritional food.  Since it’s a store and the customers still pay for their food, they’re also trying to help people keep their dignity and reduce the stigma that they might feel at accepting charity. Because of this, the store encourages people from diverse backgrounds to shop there, so it does not feel like a “poor people’s store.” We asked a lot of questions about their plans to expand because we thought it seemed like such a great way to address food insecurity and the issue of junk food being cheaper than nutritional food. They said that they have plans to open another store soon.

            We’re excited about tomorrow, when we’ll be volunteering at the Greater Boston Food Bank and visiting a farm outside the city!

-Cole, Felisha, and Briony