Dinner with Neighbors at Atlas Farm

 

It was the perfect evening, still in the 80s, but cooling off, as we headed down a dusty farm road to a big tent you could see in the distance.  The occasion was a customer and vendor appreciation dinner at Atlas Farm, the farm store where we buy lots of our vegetables throughout the year.  The store was started in 2013 and has grown and added many more items as time has moved along.

Sometimes I complain that I can’t buy California broccoli there, but they stick to their local-only philosophy, so I bite my tongue and buy more local kale!

The path was dusty but the anticipation was fun–we made our way down the long path over the railroad tracks and out to the big tent and as we approached, a fiddler and guitar duo played for us.

Gideon Porth, Atlas Farm’s owner, got up to speak and expressed his gratitude for his team of burly farm workers from Jamaica, as well as the many staff at the store and the dozens of vendors who were gathered under the tent.

He said that Atlas farms 95 organic acres and that they produce over two million pounds of vegetables and plants every year. They also donate more than 200,000 pounds to the Food Bank and other charities.

Gideon had a good reason to be proud!

The dinner was a perfect combination of delicious food, a pretty setting, and a chance to get to know some of our neighbors.

We sat with a couple about our age who live on Graves Street and two other younger couples from Florence. It was fun getting to know them and finding out about their lives in Deerfield.

I hope that Atlas decides to have more of these dinners…since they are a wonderful combination of great food, pretty setting, and especially since people love big round tables where you never know who you’re going to be chatting with all evening.