About Ellie’s

Providing fresh vegetables, herbs and eggs to Rhode Islanders through farmer's markets, Consumer Supported Agriculture (CSA's) and wholesale. Managed by seasoned farmer Michele Kozloski, all vegetables are grown without the use of synthetic pesticides or fertilizers and the chickens are cage-free, rotated through pastures bi-weekly.

Wishing Stone Farm is nestled just in from the coast in Little Compton and grows certified organic and quality I.P.M. (Integrated Pest Management) produce. The farm’s growing methods mirror its commitment to sustainable agriculture and the protection of open space; while providing food for local communities.One of Rhode Island's largest USDA certified organic farms it markets through CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) programs, farmers markets and to wholesale buyers. “With experience as our guide we look forward to sharing the adventure of farming with our communities at large,” says Skip Paul, co-owner of Wishing Stone Farm. “For us, it is more of a spiritual journey than just a job; calling upon all our resources and sensibilities. At Wishing Stone Farm, we strive to explore new economic concepts to save family farms and provide a right livelihood for ourselves, our employees and the families who enjoy our food.”

White Barn Farm is a small family-run farm growing fresh vegetables and flowers for the local community in Wrentham, Massachusetts. Farmers Chris and Christy run a 100-member CSA and have a Roadside Stand at the farm, open five days a week. Each spring the farmers grow extra seedlings in their greenhouse and have a two-day Plant Sale event. The farm hosts a Harvest Week Market to end the regular season and a Thanksgiving Sale to provide for the feast. White Barn Farm is dedicated to using organic farming methods and believes in the importance of growing food for their community. They hope to inspire the locals to eat in season and take the extra moments to prepare wonderful meals for the people they love using ingredients grown with care.

Ward's Berry Farm is a 175-acre family run farm in Sharon, MA. One hundred and seventy eight acres of vegetables and fruit yield a tremendous variety of produce each season, from radishes and rhubarb to Brussels sprouts and bok choy. They supply their fresh produce to many highly regarded area restaurants, runs a CSA from June until late October, and have a bustling farm stand that stays open all year round.

Steve Ramos is one of RI’s first organic farmers. He earns his living on a small farm of less than 2 acres. Favorite crops: specialty vegetables, herbs and small fruits. Special skills: intensive growing, season extension, restaurant marketing

Father and son team Jim and John Steere are the third and fourth generation to run Steere Orchards, which has been a family-owned farm since Jim’s grandfather planted the first apple trees on his 30 acres of land in Greenville. Although the village is still referred to as “Apple Valley” from the days when it produced most of Rhode Island’s apples, Steere Orchards is the only working orchard remaining today. Jim modestly credits his grandfather’s choice of land for their long-term success, since the hilltop site is warmer and more consistently productive than other orchards in northern Rhode Island. In recent years, when late springs and early frosts hurt many other producers, Steere Orchards was not heavily affected. While their farm stand is only open from August to December, the barn is home to a large cold storage area which allows Steere Orchards apples to stay fresh throughout the year. Jim and John sell at least half of the apples that they produce to wholesalers, including many local school districts. Farm Fresh Rhode Island’s Market Mobile program has been extremely effective for their wholesale business. John says he likes the traceability of the farm-to-business model, which allows him to see which restaurants and grocery stores are purchasing his apples. Jim appreciates that he retains more of profit than he would if he sold to a wholesaler. “Market Mobile changed everything,” he says, increasing the orchards’ sales while also providing a clearer understanding of the supply chain. Growing interest in local agriculture has also brought customers from all over the state and even Massachusetts and Connecticut to the orchard in recent years. Steere Orchards has offered pick-your-own apples and peaches since the late 1950’s, but Jim says that it’s really taken off in the past few years. Families and school groups also come for hayrides, and they’ve begun hosting a two-day Applefest with live music, cider-making, and games over Columbus Day weekend. Thanks to the success of these agritourism efforts, they’re looking to expand and have more acres available for picking this fall. While Jim and John are eager to credit others for Steere Orchard’s success, it’s clear that the driving factor is the amount of work that they put into running the farm. While they hire seasonal help in the fall, during the rest of the year it’s just the two of them maintaining 30 acres of land. They are committed to spraying as little as possible, which means carefully monitoring insect populations in accordance with the Integrated Pest Management methods that they’ve been using since the late 1970’s. Although it’s not an easy job, Jim and John both say that they love being outside and enjoy the balance between the busy fall and the quiet spring. They’ve turned down past offers to sell any of the land, and plan to keep the family business growing and growing.

Shy Brothers Farm is run by the Santos brothers, two sets of fraternal twins! They are third-generation dairy farmers, milking 120 Holstein and Ayrshire cows on their farm in Westport, MA. The brothers launched the cheese company in 2006 to keep the farm in business. Their cows are never given hormones or preventative antibiotics. Cows are pastured 6-7 months a year, and receive feed grown right on the farm for the rest of the year. Shy Brothers Farm makes two cheeses, Hannahbells, tiny hand-made cheeses, and the new artisanal curd, Cloumage. Hannahbells won at the 2009 American Cheese Society and 2010 World Championship Cheese competitions, both unique accomplishments for a new cheese maker! Friends Barbara Hanley and Leo Brooks help the very shy Santos brothers sell their cheeses.

Along Route 2 in Exeter lies a plot of land that has been farmed by the Schartner family since the 1930s. Rich Schartner currently runs the farm, which is still very much a family operation, and is passionate about growing food. Schartner grows a huge diversity of fruits, vegetables, flowers, nursery stock, and even grains (check out their rye flour, ground at Kenyon’s Grist Mill). They farm using a variety of methods, including Integrated Pest Management (IPM), chemical free, and soon will be offering some certified organic products. Look for their amazing strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and one of a kind carrots. They also offer jams and relishes made from their own produce.

Rhode Island's own dairy cooperative is based out of Foster and works with nine dairy farms around the state, including Escobar's Highland, Wanton, Cottrell Homestead and Tomaquag Valley Farm. Rhody Fresh milk is processed at the Guida plant in Connecticut, one of the only independent dairy processing plants in the Northeast. Rhody Fresh milk is free of artificial growth hormones, supports local dairy farms, and preserves open space in our state. Feel good about your milk when you purchase Rhody Fresh!

Formed in January of 2013, the RI Mushroom Co., LLC is a growing and dynamic company that cultivates and distributes exotic mushrooms to restaurants and specialty markets in Rhode Island and beyond. In partnership with Sweet Berry Farm, our operation is located in Middletown, RI where our grow rooms create the ideal environment for mushroom propagation. We maintain a humidity level of over 95% and a constant, cool temperature that allow our crops to steadily grow into a commodity that is increasingly sought after by professional chef’s and home cooks alike. We currently offer several varieties including blue oyster, crimini, golden oyster, king oyster, maitake, portobello, and pioppino — each with its own texture and flavor profile. The RI Mushroom Co. is proud to call Rhode Island our home and we’re committed to the practice of sustainable farming. The by-products from our cultivation are composted and spread over the fields of Sweet Berry Farm.

Founded in 2002, Pat’s Pastured provides the highest quality pasture-raised and grass-fed meats. Our goal is to provide our livestock with a life that allows them to express their natural instincts fully in a pasture environment. That means that our pigs get to root, run and play; our chickens get to peck, scratch and crow; our turkeys gobble and strut; and our cows and lambs eat grass outside, NOT corn in confinement.

New Harvest is an artisan coffee roaster specializing in Certified Organic and Fair Trade coffee. They source the best quality beans from around the world, pay farmers a fair price, and roast them in their production facility at the Hope Artiste Village in Pawtucket. At their Training Center, they offer guidance and direction for brewing their exceptional beans. New Harvest Coffee can be found at restaurants and cafes across the state.

Rhode Island’s artisan cheese makers, Narragansett Creamery crafts an array of delicious cheese from fresh, local milk. Their ricotta has won national and world-wide awards, and their fresh mozzarella is like none other. They offer a number of hard cheeses, including Atwell's Gold and Divine Providence, softer cheeses such as their Queso Blanco and Salty Sea Feta, and spreads such as Angelito (cream cheese) and Pirate Spread (sun-dried tomato feta spread). Founded three years ago as a special division of Providence Specialty cheese by Farm Fresh RI co-founder Louella Hill, Narragansett Creamery’s cheese has become a staple of the local foods scene and can be found on menus across the state

Meggie's is a small family farm in Rehoboth, MA specializing in vegetables grown free of pesticides and herbicides.

Judy Carvalho inherited Maplewood Farm from her father some years ago, at a time when most of the land was used to raise potatoes. He owned 37 acres, but rented an additional 400. He sold all his potatoes to Cape Cod Potato Chips and was the first farmer that CCPC bought potatoes from. There is a large barn on the farm that used to be filled from floor to roof with potatoes at harvest time each year. Judy had no intention of becoming a farmer. She grew up, left home and moved away from Rhode Island but in 1988 her father died suddenly and unexpectedly. When Judy returned for the funeral there were fields and fields of potatoes ready to be picked and no one to do the job. So Judy stayed to harvest the potatoes and never left. The farm is considerably smaller now. Harvesting the potatoes each year was an enormous job, so in 1999 Judy decided to cut back and diversify. She converted several acres of land to growing sunflowers. She researched several possible crops and discovered that while a whole bag of potatoes might sell for $4, 4 or 5 sunflowers might sell for the same price, making it a much more profitable use of the land. Around this time Judy was joined by two old friends. Margaret Carey and Mary Bisson asked to lease a piece of Margaret's land, and now raise a rich variety of organic vegetables there. They grow zinnias, tomatoes, beans, squash, onions, celery, carrots, beets and watermelon, all without pesticides or chemical fertilizer. When problems occur they consult URI, which offers advice to farmers looking for organic solutions to bugs or disease. Judy's nephew also joined in at the farm at about the same time as Mary and Margaret. He did extensive research on what can be raised profitably on a small amount of land. He built several greenhouses and began to grow a variety of herbs, flowers, and bedding plants, all of which are sold individually in small pots. The flowers are sometimes arranged into hanging baskets. While each of them have their own specialties, the four work together to keep the farm going. There are still 15 acres of potatoes but the farm is much more diverse. This year for example an acre is devoted to pumpkins. The farm is very much a work in progress, always evolving. The city of Portsmouth has been helpful to the few farms still existing there. Maplewood Farm is surrounded by new housing developments. But with the help of the city, URI, and the work and creativity of Judy, her nephew, Mary and Margaret, they are doing well. They sell their flowers and produce directly from their farm as well as at several farmers' markets on Aquidneck Island, at the Armory in Providence and at Brown University.

Maine Grains is an inspiring partner in Skowhegan and Somerset County’s sustainable revitalization operating a successful business that provides healthful, stone-ground grains and other products to the greater New England market.Our mission at Maine Grains is to be a leading partner in building a regenerative economy in Central Maine by milling healthful, exceptional grains using a unique traditional stone process, sourcing grains locally to the greatest extent possible, and selling widely in order to support the growth of local food business and farms. Through a traditional stone milling process, we are able to preserve nutritional content and improve the performance of the flour for natural fermentation, baking and cooking. Our locally grown grains provide a variety of delicious hearty flavors. Our principal foundation is that Maine Grains will provide a strong, positive community impact by creating jobs, improving land utilization, focusing on a holistic food chain, enabling farm-to-table benefits and serving as a successful model of local economic growth. We aim to show that business can be used as a force for good.

The farm has been in the Hopkins family for over 100 years. They started raising sheep in 1970, and today five family members live on the farm, and three work with the sheep. Eight of their forty acres are in pasture, on which they keep 40 brood ewes and produce over 50 lambs a year. Their sheep are Southdowns and Southdown crosses. Southdowns are meat sheep, known for their tenderness and great flavor. The ewes are pastured during the summer and fed supplemental grain and hay during the winter months. No hormones are fed. The Hopkins family has been involved in the sheep industry locally and nationally for over 40 years. Farmers Don and Debra Hopkins say it has been and continues to be a great experience and lifestyle for all of them.

Chris Clegg and his family run this beloved 100 year-old farm, which lies at the intersection of Seekonk, Swansea, Barrington and East Providence (hence 4 town). Four Town uses Integrative Pest Management (IPM) techniques, and is well known for their pick-your-own strawberries, corn, and extensive farm stand. They grow a wide variety of vegetables, including multi-colored carrots, green beans, cabbage, winter squash and more.

Full Bloom Apiaries is a full-time honeybee farm producing local Connecticut honey that is unfiltered and unpasteurized. The honey is produced from hives located in our yards on farms located in Eastern Connecticut. Using best management practices, our business maintains strong healthy colonies of Northern raised bees, with high honey production in the summer and low mortality over the winter. The colonies are divided into two groups: honey production hives and nucleus hives. Thereby, annual colony expansion, winter loss replacements, surplus Spring bees, and new queens will be supplied from the stock of nucleus (support) colonies.Alan’s father, a hobbyist beekeeper, introduced Alan to beekeeping over 20 years ago, and in 2000 he gave Alan a gift of two hives when he bought his first house. Full Bloom Apiaries was established in 2004 with 100 colonies of honeybees, started from packages. Since becoming a full-time operation in 2007, Full Bloom Apiaries runs approximately 350 honey production colonies and 300-400 nucleus colonies year round in Eastern Connecticut. Our honey is produced locally by our hives located in farms throughout Eastern Connecticut. It is unfiltered and unpasteurized to preserve its natural enzymes. The color and taste of honey is dictated by the floral source. Traditionally, in Connecticut lighter honey is produced early in the season and as the season progresses, the honey is generally darker in color. Dark honey is also known to be high in antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals.

Lauri Roberts runs Farming Turtles in Exeter, growing the finest fresh-growing organic microgreens, baby salad, herb greens, mushrooms, sprouts and more. Their crop are grown in rich organic soil, so they are loaded with natural flavor and nutrition. They offer both cut and fresh-growing varieties.

The largest, juiciest, organic, sweetened dried cranberries on the market. Superior to what's available in the grocery stores.

With the help of our community, we created a line of charcuterie using pork raised on New England farms. Our New England inspired label was designed by students from the Rhode Island School of Design and we also worked with Chefs from Johnson and Wales University to develop new tasty recipes. We are excited to continue working with our community and support local farmers.

We make all of our cheese by hand with raw milk from our 45 cows, mostly Jerseys, on our small Connecticut farm. Our cows are free-range and enjoy more than six months of pasture each year. We name all of our "girls" and give them plenty of love and attention! We do not use growth hormones or sub-therapeutic antibiotics, and we manage our pastures organically (non-certified).

Confreda Greenhouses & Farms offers a large selection of high quality vegetables, including tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, kale, squash and corn. The 400+-acre farm, with locations in Hope (Western Cranston) and Warwick, RI, has been run by the Confreda family since 1922. They take conservation very seriously, working closely with the USDA on projects such as water conservation, irrigation and soil erosion reduction. They are also a GAP certified grower who participates in food safety initiatives and community enrichment programs. One of the largest vegetable growers in Rhode Island, Confreda Greenhouses & Farms supplies over a dozen schools, wholesalers, stores and restaurants across the state. At the Hope location, Confreda Greenhouses & Farms houses a farmers market, café, ice cream shop, bakery, nursery and garden center.

Founded in 1981, City Farm is a 1 acre farm run by Southside Community Land Trust in the heart of Providence's Southside. This working model of sustainable, hyper-local urban agriculture demonstrates bio-intensive growing methods. A cross between a backyard market garden and small family farm, City Farm demonstrates through workshops, tours, field trips, classes and practice possible solutions to problems with the current challenges of food security and conventional agriculture.

Baffoni’s Poultry Farm was started in 1935. Today, four generations of the family work on their 80 acre farm in Johnston, where they raise approximately 25,000 chickens and 1,200 turkeys. They raise leghorn and R.I. Red hens for egg production, and broad breasted cornish broilers and fryers. The feed for their poultry is a wholesome diet that is regimented, consistent, and absolutely free of any antibiotics, hormones, or meat by-products of any kind. The farm-to-table mentality has driven the family to provide the finest and freshest quality cage-free poultry. Currently, Baffoni's was awarded Rhode Island's first and only USDA certification for an on-site poultry slaughterhouse. The slaughterhouse allows them to sell, quite literally, the freshest poultry possible without it ever being previously frozen.

Blackbird Farm knows their Angus! Farmers Kevin and Ann Marie Bouthillette are passionate about quality, and can tell you the pedigree, when the animal was born, what it has been fed, how it was raised, when it was harvested and how the carcass was graded. Their farm started out as a project for their kids, and has now grown to over 100 acres and over 60 heads of cattle. Their cows have free range of the grasslands around their farm, and are fed an all-natural, highly regulated diet of grain including oats and hay. Steers are processed between the age of twelve and eighteen months, and are dry aged for 21 days.

Beltane Farm makes a variety of artisanal, farmstead goat milk cheese on our farm in Lebanon, Connecticut. Although our award winning fresh chevre is our most popular cheese, we also make a number of fine French style ripened cheeses as well as Feta. Our Oberhasli, La Mancha and Saanen goats are milked twice daily and provide the milk for our cheese

Jeffrey Kamminga grows delicious, organic baby greens, salad greens and herbs at his farm in Exeter. His baby greens feature a mix of spinach, lettuce, bull’s beet greens, mixed mustards, chervil and arugula. His crisp micro greens are a mix of baby mustard; bulls blood beets, purple salad amaranth, and work wonderfully in salads and as garnish.

Debbie Barret farms fifty scenic acres of land in Westport, MA. She grows organic greens, cut herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers and more. Her bright and tasty pea greens have become a regular fixture on the menu at Providence restaurants and have even made an appearance on Diners, Drive-Bys, and Dives on the Food Channel! Her organic herbs are available in pots or cut, and will help add flavor and character to any dish.