The other day we stopped off at The Farmer’s Daughter in South Kingston (on that main road leading to URI that I’ve traveled so many times over the years) and pandemic or not, it was as lovely as ever!

Yes, we wore our masks and there are now yellow arrows designating the paths as one way and ultimately directing visitors to a group of checkout booths that have been outfitted with plexiglass partitions. (All common sense measures that I wholeheartedly thank them for implementing to help keep everyone safe and well during this time of COVID 19 and coronavirus.)

Farmer’s has been a happy place of mine since launching this blog. Unbeknownst to me at that time, this captivating garden center and tree farm, the likes of which I’d honestly never seen before around these parts, opened in 1998. The owner, Sarah Partyka, had studied horticulture at URI.

If you’ve visited, you have probably seen SP hard at work, shoulder to shoulder with her team, making the greenhouses and surrounding outdoor spaces look so marvelous. (Dare I are say Insta worthy? It really is, though. I challenge you to find a more enchanting outdoor space in the OS.)

And, as we coast into tomato season here in RI, you will be ecstatic to know that Farmer’s has plenty of grown on the premises ones available for purchase. You see, Sarah Partyka and co. are serious about sustainable farming. This means — applause, applause — that Farmer’s tomatoes having been nurtured using only natural composts and organic ingredients.

We scooped up a bunch for salads, snacks, and such the other day. We didn’t buy any of the green, but I have always wanted to attempt the fried green variety, a random-ish goal I can trace back to seeing the 1991 movie Fried Green Tomatoes starring Kathy Bates, Jessica Tandy, Mary Louise Parker and Mary Stuart Masterson.

The Farmer’s Daughter is located at 716 Mooresfield Road in South Kingston.