Tuesday Market Ends for Season

The Harvard Farmers’ Market concluded its four-month season in front of the Science Center yesterday with a tour of the 18 stands for students and local community members.

The market, open every Tuesday afternoon since June, was founded in 2007 to promote local healthy foods to the Harvard and Cambridge communities.

“It’s been great, people really get it here,” said Ward’s Berry Farm representative Steven Catanese, who was selling fresh produce including squash and carrots yesterday. “[Community members] like the idea of supporting farms.”

Harvard University Hospitality and Dining Services’ Food Literacy Project Administrator Dara B. Olmsted ’00 led five undergraduates and one Divinity School student through the market, explaining the origins of the local products on the stands.

The squash served in the College’s dining halls all come from Ward’s Berry Farm, Olmsted said.

During the tour, Olmsted shared her personal experiences working at Plato’s Harvest Organic Farm, the only certified organic farm with a stand at the market.

“We harvested potatoes,” Olmsted said. “[It] was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Dale Wentworth, another farmer and a former professional motorcycle racer who co-owns The Warren Farm and Sugarhouse with his wife, introduced visitors to his maple syrup, noting its versatility as a good.

“It’s not in every single product I make,” he said, “but it’s damn close.”

That and other goods were available for sampling and purchase at the booths throughout the market, which boasted vendors including Somerville-based Taza Chocolate, which sold stone-ground organic chocolate, and Flower Folk, an herbal skin care vendor.

Visitors had the opportunity to try Taza’s chocalate and other products for themselves.

For some of the students on the tour, it was their first interaction with the market’s vendors.

Gary D.J. Gerbrandt ’14, a Food Literacy representative, marveled at the array of different locally grown foods.

“I haven’t really explored all the different farms,” Gerbrandt said, “I didn’t know so much food was made so close to Harvard.”

The market will re-open next June.

-Staff writer Derrick Asiedu can be reached at dasiedu@fas.harvard.edu.