From Sprouts To Support: Inn Farm Partnership Feeds The Hungry

BREWSTER – Sprouts have sprung across the Cape, and while seeds are started, not everyone has the acreage for gardening. 

With that in mind, the Family Pantry of Cape Cod has its own garden to provide fresh produce over the summer for its many clients as the nonprofit works to reduce hunger on the peninsula. Those seedlings are getting a head start at the Chatham Bars Inn Farm on Route 6A in Brewster.

 “It’s wonderful,” said David Simmons, the interim executive director at the Family Pantry. “They’re great partners. We’re thankful for their support. We should be getting kale and Swiss chard in a week or so. AmeriCorps was out here a week ago and they did bed preparation.” 

Chatham Bars Inn purchased the 10-acre farm property along Route 6A a decade or so ago when it was a greenhouse/nursery. Currently it has a dozen greenhouses along with extensive outdoor garden beds. The farm grows fresh veggies for the inn and also serves as a retail outlet for the public.

 “Our big seller is, we’re known for our tomatoes. Eight of those greenhouses are filled with tomatoes,” said Shane Chambers, the CBI farm manager. “We do a lot of special things, microgreens are part of our mix. We do farm-to-table dinners that start in June that happen here and are open to the public.” Those sought-after dinners run every Wednesday into September over 13 weeks. Tickets are available now.

The tomatoes, along with lots of Persian cucumbers, are grown hydroponically in the greenhouse, trellised in individual pots. Over the summer over 100,000 pounds of 125 varieties of vegetables will be produced for inn guests and the general public. The farm stand is open now Wednesday through Sundays and sells seedlings, produce and other products. 

The seed starts for the pantry – 1,200 of them – are growing now; they include several kinds of tomatoes and peppers, eggplants, kale and lettuce. The inn works with other local groups such as Sustainable Cape and Ground Swell landscaping. Other seedlings are sold to the public.

 “We’ve done this for several years, since pre-COVID; I don’t know when they started,” said Simmons. “We have a big garden out back and we have a garden manager, Laura McCullough, and she has 25 to 30 volunteers, maybe more than that.” The garden is off Queen Anne Road in Harwich at the pantry’s headquarters.

The Family Pantry paid for the seed starts prior to the pandemic, but since then the flats have come as an in-kind donation from Chatham Bars Inn.

 “They’ve done a great job of partnering with Laura as she selects the seed varieties she likes,” Simmons said. “We have tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, summer squash, zucchini, kale, Swiss chard and even some annuals. When we harvest them we offer them to our clients as part of their grocery shopping. All the food is free and they love it. We do about 6,000 pounds of produce a year and we do 18,000 pounds a week of groceries.” The pantry also provides clients with clothing.

The CBI farm is in high production of greens, herbs and fruits from the spring through the fall.

 “It’s like an assembly line, one person using a seeder and one person seeding by hand. We have microgreens for the Chatham Bars Inn Chef Andrew Chadwick,” Chambers said. About 75 percent of the produce the farm grows winds up on plates at the inn. Some is processed into salad dressings, hot sauces and CBI-branded pickles and such for sale at the stand.

 “We’re excited to have more Chatham Bars Inn products,” Chambers said.

The farm employs 20 to 25 people, not counting those who work at the farm-to-table dinners. Chambers has been there for less than a year after working at the Coonamessett Farm in Falmouth.

 “We also donate to the Orleans and Chatham garden clubs for plant sales and to Ground Swell (Cape Cod) land stewardship,” Chambers said.

There’s room at the dinners for 150 patrons, but tickets go quickly for people looking for that unique al fresco dining experience.