I work for Trader Joe’s, the coolest grocery store chain in the world and one of the best employers.* That being said, there’s room for improvement in any enterprise, and one quibble with Trader Joe’s is that the produce section mainly offers packaged fruits and vegetables from California or farther. While this approach allows the company to present a wide variety of produce at great prices, Trader Joe’s (like so many national chains) has yet to embrace the local foods movement.
Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, and I’m proud to work at the exception. At Trader Joe’s in Hadley, MA, we carry seasonal produce from Czajkowski Farm, located four miles from our store. Joe Czajkowski, by all accounts a shrewd businessman as well as a capable farmer, had been a supplier of organic butternut squash for the company. A few years ago, he arranged to sell a larger assortment of produce directly to the Hadley location, and the program was an immediate hit with our customers.
Sometime in May, Farmer Joe lets us know that we can start ordering strawberries, raspberries, and English peas. Briefly, tart cherries are available; then the bestselling blueberries come into season, along with organic green beans, carrots, zucchini and summer squash, peaches, and organic sweet corn.
On an overcast afternoon this week, I visited Czajkowski Farm to see where and how the produce is grown. As it had been a rainy morning, berry picking had been delayed until after lunch. Farmer Joe sent me on a tour of the farm’s fields with Solomon, the gentleman pictured above.
We first visit a field planted with fall-variety strawberries and feed corn, where Solomon spotted a moose on a recent morning. The strawberry patch is irrigated with buried, rubber tubing, though there hasn’t been much need for it during this wet summer. The strawberries we pick are a little firmer than the softer varieties of May and June, but are much more luscious and flavorful than the waxy berries from Florida and California.
Our next stop is a low-lying field where summer squash and tomatoes are grown, but I’m more interested in seeing Solomon’s own garden, which he tends after his long hours at Joe’s farm. His tomato and bell pepper plants are tall and healthy, with fruit daring to turn bright red at any moment. Solomon makes extra money by selling his produce to Farmer Joe. There’s another tall, dark green plant, as well: callalou, a leafy green used in Jamaican cuisine. Solomon breaks off a handful of thin stalks for me, with instructions chop the callalou and steam it for ten minutes with sautéed onion. (I cooked it for dinner that evening, and Charles and I loved the dish: it tastes similar to spinach, but is more tender and has no grittiness).
We drive down a wide boulevard lined with Cape Cods and farmhouses with attached barns to reach the fruit orchard. The cherry trees are fruitless, their season over for the year, but the peach trees are in their prime. As with the strawberries, there are several varieties of peach trees, raspberry bushes, and blueberry bushes, to adapt to changing growing conditions through the year. The rain has passed, and we see workers picking berries at the other end of the blueberry rows.
I’d like to thank Farmer Joe, Solomon, and the workers at Czajkowski Farm for providing our community with fresh, delicious fruits and vegetables. Though it isn’t set up to sell to the public, Czajkowski Farm supplies a broad range of businesses, from farm stands to institutions like UMass (and of course, retailers like Trader Joe’s!).
I hope that the popularity of local produce at Trader Joe’s in Hadley, MA, will lead the company to develop such programs at other stores (I’ve heard that one other location does this so far, but am not sure where it’s located). Until that day comes, visit your local Trader Joe’s to stock up on produce, especially organic produce, for much lower prices than at Whole Foods.*
*According to me. Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment.
Tags: Food culture, Massachusetts, Organic Food, Small Farms, Sustainability, Trader Joe's
