There always needs to be a silver lining, a break in the clouds, a knight in shining armor when things get bad. The farmers of our South Florida agricultural community are proving to be just that. About a week ago when social distancing became a necessity, and farmers markets around town were ordered to shut down, an idea was formulated. It was to make sure that our local farming community’s products didn’t go to waste, farmers didn’t lose revenue and our community in general had the option to buy locally Redland raised produce. Thus the drive-thru market was born as a direct collaboration with Dade County Farm Bureau, Baptist Health, and the South Dade Chamber of Commerce.
At the Redland Community Farm & Market (RCFAM), located at 12690 Southwest 280 Street in Homestead, Florida they are providing curbside pickup for locals to purchase fresh produce without having to leave the confines of their car. This non-profit run market provides a variety of organic produce from their farm which is located an 1/8 of a mile down the road. Arrangements to purchase from other local farmers who are finding it difficult to sell their produce have been made. Nothing is better than our Redland raised produce and some of the farms contributing are: Michael Borek Farms LLC, 5 Brothers Produce, V & B Farm, Kern Carpenter Farm, Paradise Farms, Quality First Produce, Inc. and Redland’s Best PFM. The variety and quality of produce each farm has is exceptional. Looking for local honey? They carry that too. J&P Apiary sells honey in different sizes, pollen, Royal Jelly and propolis tincture as well.
As the growing season winds down here, Redland Community Farm & Market (RCFAM) will continue to get local “Fresh from Florida” produce from our farming families around the lake area. If you have product and have no place to sell it, they would like to hear from you. If you have a need to buy local product for your business, they would like to hear from you. Supporting each other during this time is essential. For more information, please contact either Tyra Phillips, Executive Director of Dade County Farm Bureau (tyra.phillips@ffbf.org) or Ocean Hamilton, Program Director of Redland Community Farm & Market (ocean.rcfam@gmail.com).
RCFAM hopes to have an on-line service up an running by the end of the week so they will be able to take pre-orders.
