Students from The Home’s Clifford Academy and The COVE School recently spent a bitter-cold January day in the inviting warmth of Boston Public Market, an indoor year-round marketplace brimming with fresh food and groceries, specialty items, crafts and more from over 30 New England artisans and food producers. As our students regularly participate in woodshop, culinary, retail and horticulture classes, the businesses featured within the community-minded space are aligned with their interests, fueling ideas for the future.
The field trip was sponsored by Citizens, a longtime corporate partner of The Home and steadfast supporter of our schools’ vocational programs, as well as a key contributor to Boston Public Market and its commitment to creating opportunities for small businesses to thrive. After learning about the “Market on a Mission,” which is now celebrating its 10th anniversary, students toured the stalls, stopping at select vendors to hear about inventive ideas, like using freshly milled grains and wild yeast to develop the ultimate recipe for sourdough bagels, and businesses that bolster the local economy, like Red’s Best, with its icy beds of fresh-from-the-pier seafood.
Afterwards, students gathered in The Nook for a vendor panel with Peterman’s Boards & Bowls, Jennifer Lee’s Allergen-Friendly & Vegan Shoppe and Red Apple Farm. The presentations (and samples!) further inspired the budding woodworkers, retailers, horticulturists and chefs. Youth discovered that Peterman’s engineered a custom lathe to craft multiple bowls from one log of a fallen tree, and that it takes a month and half to craft a beautiful, food-safe salad bowl. They learned that Jennifer Lee’s bakery was born of a desire to treat those with dietary restrictions to delicious baked goods, filling a void in the market, and how Red Apple Farm, a fourth-generation farm in Central Massachusetts, grew to become a year-round operation, extending its season at the Market and with a ski mountain outpost that serves up hot apple cider and donuts to those just off the slopes.
Yet these weren’t the only takeaways. Thanks to Citizens, students went back to their respective schools having felt the power of a collective, energized by the spirit of entrepreneurship…and with happy bellies. As our hosts at Boston Public Market know, food is a cultural cornerstone that unites us all. So, it’s no surprise that a delicious buffet lunch, followed by heaping scoops of Crescent Ridge ice cream, handed to students as they filed out, were the perfect cap to the outing.
