The last Saturday in June proved to be a glorious day for a bike ride. Sunny skies and pleasantly warm temperatures provided the perfect conditions for the South Coast’s first Tour de Farms, a collaboration between Slow Food Boston and the Culinary Guild of New England. More than 30 locavores spent the afternoon riding their bikes and touring three local farms as well as a brewery and a winery. Marianne Mortara, a Slow Food Boston board member and overseer of the group’s membership, said the event was inspired by a similar ride that had taken place in the Concord/Carlisle area the previous September. “We wanted to highlight farms on the South Coast this time since they don’t always get as much publicity as those closer to Boston do,” she added.
The ride kicked off at Silverbrook Farm in Dartmouth. Andy Pollock explained to the group how everything—from soil maintenance to planting to harvesting—is done by hand. This level of sustainability requires more workers to provide quality crops that are clean and fair, but the rewards for the community and environment justify the extra staff. Just down the road, Eva Sommaripa of Eva’s Garden shared a bit of her 50 years of farming expertise with the riders on the subject of cilantro (the flowers of the cilantro plant have a super-concentrated cilantro flavor; the round brown seeds that develop if the flowers are left intact are what is commonly known as coriander). Round the Bend Farm was the last stop on the bike tour, and it did not disappoint: the group was lucky enough to witness piglets being born! After a short ride back to Silverbrook, many riders continued the South Coast culinary tour by car by visiting Buzzards Bay Brewery and Westport Rivers Winery, both in Westport.
Slow Food Boston www.SlowFoodBoston.org
Culinary Guild of New England www.CGNE.org
Eva’s Garden
105 Jordan Road
Dartmouth, MA 02747
(508) 636-5869
Buzzards Bay Brewery
98 Horseneck Road
Westport, MA 02790
(508) 636-2288
www.BuzzardsBrew.com
Silverbrook Farm
592 Chase Road
Dartmouth, MA 02747
(508) 264-9064
www.SilverbrookDartmouth.com
Round The Bend Farm
92 Allen’s Neck Road
South Dartmouth, MA 02748
(508) 748-0816 x210
www.MarionInstitutue.org
Westport Rivers Winery
417 Hixbridge Road
Westport, MA 02790
(508) 636-3423
www.WestportRiverscom
Kate Strassel is a freelance food writer for whom writing comes much more naturally than riding a bike. She lives in East Bridgewater with her husband and two kids.