Eating Local and Having it Delivered to Your Door

Deborah Marsden is a woman always on the go.

She spends much of her time traveling from farms to families.

"On Thursday, myself and one of my other drivers go and we pick up at between twenty and thirty farms and we bring it back to our home base in East Haddam," Marsden said.

She stops by farms like Cato Corner in Colchestor, famous for its cheese.  Another regular on her route is White Gate farm in East Lyme where produce is grown year round.

This is all part of the mission of her company,  Farm Fresh Express.  She wants people to eat locally grown food.

On Fridays, Deborah and her crews hit the road.

"I don't have time to go to all the farmers markets or to go to the various suppliers to get the foods so it's nice to have someone who brings it me on Friday.  It saves me a lot of time," said New Haven customer Candace Barrington.

On Sundays, Deborah posts a list on her website of what's available for the week. 

Customers must order by Tuesday at midnight.  This week’s selection included greens, stir fry, potatoes, eggs, cheese  and a variety of meats and seafood.

"It's fresh and if you've never really tasted fresh food not from California, it's just amazing there's so much flavor," Marsden said.

About half of the produce she picks up is organic.

Besides helping Connecticut farmers, this business also has a green focus.

"For this particular job that I'm doing, I'm the only one that's expending the gasoline.  So, I'm going to all these farms and picking it all up and we're delivering," she said.

“Instead of the fifty customers I have driving off to all these different farms -- that would be a lot of consumption of gasoline.”

She also delivers to restaurants, such as Caseus  Fromagerie Bistro in New Haven.

"It works for us because we don't have to go to each individual farm we can get small amounts delivered every week which is really nice because we're a pretty small restaurant," said owner Jason Sobocinski.

“I think we all have to make a change going into a green direction because obviously things are not working the way they are right now and we're doing that in every aspect of the business here,” he said.

It's all part of the plan to deliver farm fresh foods throughout the state.

"If you want to have fresh organic Connecticut-grown stuff; it's the best way to get it is to have it delivered," said Marsden.
 

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