Nella Pasta is this week's Featured Vendor

Leigh Foster from Nella Pasta

The secret to a good life is to enjoy family and friends with fresh local foods along with a great bottle of wine made right here in Massachusetts.  The Braintree Farmers Market is pleased to announce that we will be providing wine every Saturday from 9 to 1, rain or shine, at the Braintree Town Hall Mall throughout the rest of our season.  Meet David Neilson from Coastal Vineyards as he brings us his wine that has been created from a variety of grapes he grows at his vineyard in South Dartmouth, MA.  David can help you choose a wine the will pair well with any meal.  Local wines also make a great gift or try them with a cheese and bread board with other fresh ingredients from the market. skol. 

This week's Featured Vendor is Nella Pasta which is a joint venture by two ambitious women, Leigh Foster and Rachel Marshall, with a vision to create the finest pasta and share it with the world.  We've been trying to lure this vendor to Braintree since before the the market began as they seemed like such a perfect fit with the rest of our product offerings.  Now that they've joined us folks are discovering just how flavorful and divine each unique pasta they make can compliment and elevate any meal.  Try them once and you'll return each week to try a new ravioli or linguine.  Next week look for a customer favorite-fresh corn, caramelized onion and thyme ravioli made with corn grown in Rehoboth, MA by The Farmer's Garden, their neighbors at the market.

Leigh and Rachel worked at unfulfilling desk jobs together and would meet at lunchtime to talk about how to use their creative energies to do something they loved.  As life-long foodies, Leigh grew up on a farm and Rachel's a culinary grad, they found that they were both passionate about fresh pasta.  They both fell for it while they studied in Florence before they even met.  So pasta it is...  They started with an oh-so-simple idea to make pasta using only ingredients from local farms.  Their name in Italian means "in the" because what goes in the pasta means everything to Leigh and Rachel.  They only use what's in season, picked fresh and grown with organic practices.  So what exactly is in their pasta?  A trip to the farmers' market, sometimes three, to create a unique handcrafted blend of produce, locally grown wheat, artisanal cheese, and a profound respect for the freshness you find in Italy.  Then there's their secret ingredient:  a sustainable food movement, a notion worth chewing over indeed.

Mark your calendar for Saturday, August 13th, as we enlighten and celebrate Urban Farm Day in conjunction with the farmers' market.   Simple and enjoyable tasks can make your lifestyle more rewarding, healthy and have less negative impact on the environment for future generations.  Join us for demonstrations on beekeeping, simple food preparations, backyard chickens, the community gardens, the new urban agriculture program being developed by the Braintree Historical Society and more.  The market will also be hosting local musicians that are currently exploring the roots of urban agricultural music in contemporary society.  Sustainable Braintree's special events tent, sponsored by the Braintree Electric Light Dept., will be raised for this special day so please drop by and see what we're up to. For more information about the market and Sustainable Braintree or to volunteer visit us at http://www.sustainablebraintree.org/food.  See you on Saturday.