Jamaica Plain Farmers Market

this is really more like a farm-​share pick up than a farmer’s market. I’ve never seen more than 4 stalls, and it’s always awkward and uncomfortable because it’s tiny and in the back corner of a parking lot.
honestly? jump on the orange line and go to haymarket. it’s way more interesting, and much cheaper.

This is a very tiny farmers’ market. I love Stillman’s Farms and their produce and meat (5 stars for them!), but it would be great to have a larger market in JP with more diversity. It’s pretty much just Stillman’s and one other small booth with greens on Tuesdays, plus a bakery and a honey stand on Saturdays. It’s very convenient, but I still make the trek down to Copley now and then for a bigger selection and the joy of browsing through many booths.

This farmer’s market is hit or miss. It’s not as big as some of the other ones in town, but the produced tends to be really fresh and is local, so that’s pretty great.
The local meats are pretty good. I recommend the bacon.
The major downside to this market is that it has really stupid hours. It doesn’t open until noon on Saturday, and then is only open for a few hours, so it cannot be integrated into morning errand runs. The only other day is from 12 – 3 on Tuesday, at which point I, and most other people, have jobs. I may be wrong, but I think it used to have longer hours, and changed this year. It also seems smaller than it used to be.
At any case, if you can work it into your schedule, definitely make the stop, but if not, Harvest and Allendale Farms have a lot of the same stuff.

I’m a yuppie. No, no. It’s true. It’s alright. A better term might be dink or, if you are feeling extreme, you can use the nickname my father has given me: commie pinko treehugger. Whatever. Part of being a morally superior (smug), non-​meat eating, liberal yuppie scumbag is shopping at farmer’s markets. So on Saturday I laced up my boots, folded up my reusable grocery bag and headed to the back of the Bank of America on Centre street. I bought:
— a pretty bouquet of flowers
— heirloom tomatoes
— cucumbers
— a bag of mesclun greens
— a bag of bibb lettuce
— a purple pepper (I love these– why don’t they have them at regular grocery stores?)
— green beans
— some other veggie I’m forgetting
— cow that was locally grown and fed grass or something (Husband’s pick, not mine)
That’s a good haul. They also had numerous types of squashes, herbs, berries and other fruits, lots of corn and other meat products, if you are so inclined. After you pick up your groceries you can head over to JP Licks for some ice cream and call it a good afternoon. (But go early– we got there at noon and it was already hopping– I imagine pickings might be slim at closing time– 3 pm on Saturday)

I don’t like vegetables. But I do want to buy locally. So I’ve gone to the farmer’s market a number of times. I have no complaints about the produce offered by Stillman Farm, but the BofA parking lot is just an awful venue for a farm stand. That parking lot is a madhouse all the time, especially on the weekend. And then you add the cars trying to get to the farm stand, plus the people walking around with their produce and it’s a wonder no one has been run over!
I’m sure it’s a perfectly fine place to pick up your farm share, and the staff at the stand are always friendly and helpful. It just gets so busy that it can get hard to navigate, and the cars aren’t exactly soothing. With a change of venue (maybe one of the green spaces on the Southwest Corridor or Emerald Necklace?) I’d give it a 5 for sure.

I actually had no idea this was a general farmers market until I received today’s Unilocal e-​mail. A friend of mine owns a share of the farm, so she has a box of fresh veggies and flowers waiting for her each Sat.
The first time I went was a little less organized. You were given a bag, told the amount of each item you can select and sent on your way. Since then, the market has started to provide pre-​filled waxed boxes (which patrons must return each week) to those who own a share of the farm. I’m not sure how you sign up, but I’m sure you can ask them.
Pre-​filled or not, the selection is always lush, fresh and in good shape.