This week our sustainability team braved the heat to visit Queens Greens, a local farm in Amherst, MA that produces organic greens, herbs, and vegetables. We met with Queens Greens owner Danya Teitelbaum, who gave us a tour of the farm's fields and greenhouses, as well as its brand new washing and refrigeration facility. A highlight of the tour was learning about the farm's ingenious salad spinners, which are made from old washing machines. How cool is that?!

After the tour, we sampled two varieties of salad mix and got down to business discussing pricing and ordering. We decided on using a combination of competitively priced leafy green lettuce heads, supplemented with mixed salad greens for added color and texture. We'll be testing out this combination during our summer meal program, and if all goes well, local salad will be making a weekly appearance on our menus in the fall, to accompany our Friday pizza offering. 
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A huge THANK YOU to Danya for a fabulous tour and an even better product! Be sure to check out Queens Greens at a number of local retailers and restaurants, listed here.