Gabe,
I agree. Although I admire the attempts locals have made at Beaver Brook and, previously, at the plaza in front of Foothills years ago, Worcester, with its diverse cultures (and threrefore, food) is really deserving of a space that embraces all that. I've been to cities much smaller than ours with really cool produce, meat and fish stands. That being said, however, I'd just settle for a place to get good, local heirloom tomatoes, fresh peppers and some herbs not wrapped in plastic.

I go up the road from my house to Howe's Farm and Garden, right over the Worcester line in Paxton on Pleasant St. They don't have a huge selection but I picked up some delicious corn, potatoes and pears there this weekend.

What would really interest me is having a weekly box of locally grow random vegetables delivered to me. Whenever I hear of these types of programs I mean to find one near me.

My wife and I joined a CSA farm (Many Hands Organic Farm) near Barre this year. We paid ahead of time and receive a bag of produce weekly for 20 weeks (from mid-June to end of October). Produce has to be picked up at the farm, but there's a group of Worcester folks that share pickup duties on Fridays. Anyway, the farm still has a few shares left for the remainder of the season. The price now is just over $400 I think, so it's not cheap, but it is quite a lot of fresh, organic food. We decided to join the CSA this year because we weren't overly impressed with the offerings at the Beaver Brook farmer's market and found we weren't going to it often enough, especially since it's during the workday. I'll have to check out Howe's Farm and Garden sometime.

If anyone's interested, go to the farm's website, http://www.mhof.net/ for more information on what's included in a share and more info on the farm.

Wow! Just went to the farm's website. Thanks.

Foppema's Farm, Hill Street in Northbridge just over the Grafton line.

You can pick your own blueberries and strawberries. Pretty tasty.

i also am a member of the many hands organic farm csa and i can't recommend it enough. we love the veggies we get every week and it has really changed our eating habits for the better. when you're paying a premium for organic locally grown vegetables you become very open-minded about eating every morsel that's in that bag, and for us that means eating a whole lot more fresh vegetables than we ever did before. and everything is so fresh and delicious...

i also like the the tuesday afternoon farmer's market in holden center - they have fruits, cheese (goat and cow), breads from 5 loaves bakery in spencer, soap, flowers, plants, gelato - some crafts. worth a trip

my husband swears that the sunday farmers market in hardwick is the best thing in the world...he doesn't go out every sunday, but he goes often enough to keep us stocked in berries, assorted veggies and organic/sustainably raised beef, lamb, pork. if you're in the mood for a sunday drive, i say go check it out

That's pretty close to me...where in Hardwick?

Yep. Saturday mornings is when they should be.

Hey everyone! I have this great idea, let's have a farmer's market and have it when no one can go to it!

The Worcester one (I don't think anyone's posted the times?) is 9-2 on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at Beaver Brook park. The Friday one is usually downtown, but it's gotten bumped by the Common construction. I'm disappointed that the City didn't push to find another place for it downtown. The Beaver Brook site is a pain to get to if you don't live on the West Side, and/or don't have a car. Downtown is really where it ought to be.

That's not bad. 1-8. What is with having them during the week though? I find this very odd.

I've always figured that most of the larger sellers want to go to more affluent/bigger markets in Boston and suburbs for the weekends where there are larger crowds and deeper pockets.

Hey...
I haven't been to any of the farmer's markets this year but last year I'd go to whatever one was going on where I was. There's on in Marlboro that I'd hit after work. Not bad. Small, though.

Check this site out. It lists all farmer's markets in the state (outdated re: the Worcester downtown one).
http://www.massfarmersmarkets.org/t-search_markets.aspx

All the talk about the Holden one makes me wish I'd read this thread earlier this week!