Native Strawberry Picking (at Work)

Photo by Eric Ballhaussen on 6/4/12

Dzen Farm Strawberry Picking

I have an internship with Red Tomato this summer. Their mission is to get local farms' produce into grocery stores. They strive to find a balance between competitive prices in grocery stores against larger farms and a a fair price for farmers. I find the organization to be really interesting because they are working in food systems and the local food movement on a regional scale. For example, right now is strawberry season. I take all of the orders from Whole Food Market in MA, RI, and CT for strawberries from Dzen Farm in South Windsor CT. This contrasts to other local food organizations I've worked for who only worked at a state level, for example, farmers markets in RI featuring growers in RI.

My bosses at Red Tomato thought Eric, the other intern, and I should visit Dzen Farm so we could see the product we were selling. So on Monday, we got to spend the whole work day on a strawberry farm. It's pretty far away so between the transportation, the tour, the strawberry picking, and the diner stop, it really did take up a whole day. I thought you all may enjoy these photos that Eric took.

Oh! And most importantly, if you are in the RI, MA, CT area, stop by any Whole Foods Market and pick up your quart of delicious, native strawberries from Dzen Farm under the Red Tomato (Plainville, MA) signs.

25 acres of strawberries... miam! (Photo by Eric Ballhaussen on 6/4/12)

Just in case you wanted proof that they are edible (Photo by Eric Ballhaussen on 6/4/12)

Jewel strawberries. An up close shot of what Eric and I ate (Photo by Eric Ballhaussen on 6/4/12)