Governor Celebrates Massachusetts Farmers Market Week

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BOSTON — Governor Maura Healey has declared Aug. 3 to Aug. 9, 2025, as Massachusetts Farmers Market Week.
 
This annual celebration highlights the essential role that farmers markets play in strengthening the local food system, supporting family farms, and increasing access to fresh, healthy food for residents across Massachusetts. 
 
With over 275 markets operating across Massachusetts, these markets serve as festive community spaces for more than a quarter of the state's 7,000 farms. In addition to providing residents with access to nutritious food, farmers markets help keep farms in business and dollars in local communities.
 
"With so much produce in season right now, head out to your local market to support our farmers," said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper. "Farmers markets are not only places to buy groceries – they are essential parts of our food system. They provide a reliable source of income for Massachusetts famers, bring healthy food into neighborhoods, and create lively spaces where communities can come together to support local agriculture."
 
To mark the week, Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) Commissioner Ashley Randle and agency staff will visit three farmers markets across different regions of the state. The visits will highlight the role these markets play in serving diverse communities, supporting local farms and vendors, and improving access to healthy food.
 
"Farmers markets support small and mid-sized farms that depend on direct-to-consumer sales," said Commissioner Randle. "These markets are where growers earn a fair price for their products and where families can build relationships with farmers to learn more about how their food is grown. They are a powerful tool for strengthening both food access and the agricultural economy."
 
Farmers markets in Massachusetts are active partners in addressing food insecurity. Many markets accept benefits through programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Healthy Incentives Program (HIP), and the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and Seniors Farmers Market Nutrition Programs. These programs ensure that families in low-income communities can access fresh, nutritious food.
 
In response to recent federal cuts to SNAP and other food assistance programs, Governor Healey recently issued an Executive Order, creating an Anti-Hunger Task Force. The task force will bring together state agencies, food system leaders, and community partners to coordinate efforts to improve food access and strengthen emergency food infrastructure across Massachusetts.
 
To further support market operations and outreach, MDAR launched the Farmers Market Sustainability Grant Program in 2023. Now in its second year, the program recently awarded over $130,000 to 17 farmers markets across the state to help support strategic planning and consumer marketing efforts to grow sales at these farmers markets.
 
The administration's investment in local food systems is also reflected in the recently introduced Mass Ready Act. This legislation makes targeted investments in farmland protection, infrastructure, and food security programs that help ensure long-term agricultural viability and support sustainable farming practices.
 
In addition, to coincide with Farmers Market Week and the upcoming 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, MDAR is launching a website highlighting Massachusetts agriculture. The website includes information about seasonally available crops, resources for locating farmers markets, recipes to inspire cooking with local ingredients, along with historical insights into the state's farming legacy.
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Pryor & Peacock's Whimsical Furniture Environmentally Friendly

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
 

The company uses digital printing to create the upholstery fabric, saving water and saving vintage furniture from ending up in landfills.

STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. — A unique furniture store has popped up on Elm Street this month.

Mom-and-daughter store Pryor & Peacock is hosting the pop-up storefront from Aug. 13 to Aug. 25 at 6 Elm. The New Marlborough business is co-founded by Rosalina Wright and Luca Shapiro, who is also the creative director. 

Their online shop was created in 2024 but they wanted people to see the pieces in person, so they're renting the space for a limited time before a long-term tenant moves in.

The store sources prints to create unique fabrics and reimagines vintage and antique furniture acquired at auctions, local shops, and online.

"We source prints from all over the world that date from the late 1600s up through mid-20th century, and Luca turns those prints into fabric by manipulating them, scanning them, oftentimes has to add or subtract things, and then we manufacture the fabric using only digital printing, which is very environmentally friendly, unlike traditional textile printing," Wright said.

Upholstering the furniture can take weeks of work. Shapiro looks for the perfect design for each piece and, if need be, uses Adobe Photoshop to extend the art work to fit or enhance the print.

"One of the most difficult parts comes in marrying the fabric to a piece of furniture because we only use antique and vintage frames also to be earth friendly, and they're also more beautiful and durable than new furniture," Wright said. "So the image has to go with the furniture, so that takes a lot of work."

One of Pryor & Peacock's missions is to be environmentally friendly. Digital printing doesn't use the same amount of water as traditional textile productions do nor does it contaminate water with ink according to their website.

Not only are they saving water, but they are saving furniture from going into the landfill while also using more durable furniture that doesn't break as easily as current pieces. They started their business to create something unique and to help the environment together.

"It's creating something nobody else is doing. People can't continue to buy throwaway furniture. Six percent of American landfills is furniture, and digital printing not only opens up the possibility of being able to put unique images on a piece of furniture, but it also is, as I said, environmentally friendly. So, for us, the excitement is to take an old East Lake settee that somebody's going to store in their barn and forget about, and make it something completely new and surprising," Wright said.

They hope their furniture helps bring a pop of fun to someone's home.

"We think our furniture is very whimsical and surprising, and most furniture today is oatmeal colored couches and gray neutral chairs, and it's boring," she said.

The two named their business after their mothers' maiden names to honor them and believe the name reflects their pieces.

Shapiro works in interior design outside of the business and the two liked working together and thought it would be great to start a business together. Shapiro says they can work well together and that her and her mother, Wright, has flipped houses before and have the same eye for design.

"So it's very easy for us to work together. When we see something, generally we agree on whether it works or doesn't work on a piece. We agree on the color schemes and that sort of thing. So it's very fun and fulfilling to work together," Shapiro said. 

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