Two years ago we toured Hillandale Farm Hub with Patrick Straus from Freshconn, a then nascent service offering home delivery of things like organic vegetables, grass fed meat and halal chicken, and various non GMO products from local farms and farm stands around Rhode Island.

I had insisted that we meet at, and walk, Hillandale since they are primarily focused on organic produce and free range eggs because I don’t eat red meat or chicken. (Also learned that they utilize solar power there, which is pretty impressive in terms of a solid commitment to renewable energy and a sustainable approach in general.)

Patrick happily complied, taking myself, photographer Stacey Doyle, and a friend who works behind the scenes on the blog on a turn around the grounds.

At time I posted on Instagram about it, wrote up a blog, and ended up running into Patrick maybe once or twice in 2019.

Now, flash forward to this moment and time and the constant scramble to get our hands on fresh veggies and fruits. We had briefly toyed with and then abandoned the idea of starting a garden because frankly it’s backbreaking work. We also signed up for Feast & Fettle meal deliveries which cover a few nights of the week and we absolutely love (my sister’s ecstatic to have a break from cooking dinners on those evenings) , but we still want and need a regular influx of greens and other fresh veggies. We had ordered some boxes of in season stuff from a company based in NJ recently too, but I felt badly about it because in so doing, we were most def not supporting local.

With all of that in mind, and after logging into Instacart over the weekend yet again and seeing only frozen veggies available at a certain popular supermarket (have looked into Farm Fresh RI too, unfortunately they don’t deliver to our area), I clicked over to FreshConn yesterday afternoon and placed my very first order for some organic spinach and salad greens — grown at Hillandale btw — which will be delivered this coming Sunday.

Also, adore how there’s an option at checkout to donate $1, 3 or 5 to help feed struggling RI families. (To me, that signifies how Patrick and his business partner indeed walk the talk. They do a lot locally in terms of giving back, education, etc.)

I actually reached out to Patrick yesterday afternoon to let him know I’d placed an order and he sent me a refresher about Freshconn, including the fact that they don’t warehouse any food items ever. This means that my upcoming delivery (yours too?) will be newly harvested and garden fresh.

They currently offer door to door delivery in Rhode Island and parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut. For more, there’s Freshconn.com and @freshconndelivers.

Photo Credits: All Photos By Stacey Doyle