Growing Cape Cod’s Food System: From State Leaders to Local Gardens
Cape Cod’s food system is unique. We’re a peninsula surrounded by water, shaped by farming and fishing traditions, and home to a community that’s becoming more diverse every year. Keeping this system strong means connecting farmers, fishers, families, and future growers. That’s where Barnstable County’s Cape Cod Cooperative Extension comes in.
This summer showed what that connection looks like in action.
State Leaders Tour Cape Cod Farms and Fisheries
On August 26, we hosted a tour with the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR). Commissioner Ashley Randle and seven MDAR staff joined our team to see Cape Cod’s food system up close.
The group visited:
- Midnight Our’s fishing boat and processing facility in Harwich and Chatham
- Allard Farm in Brewster
- Dennis Conservation Land Trust, joined by the Brazilian Resource Center
- Cotuit Oyster Company, where we toured their facility, gear, and subtidal grants
The tour highlighted how Cape Cod connects farming, fishing, and community partnerships.
4-H Youth Learn by Doing at the Garden
One highlight of the tour was our pilot 4-H Farm and Garden Club, a collaboration between the Dennis Conservation Land Trust, the Brazilian Resource Center, and Buy Fresh Buy Local Cape Cod.
From April to June, 18 youth ages 6–13 took part in 11 weekly sessions. The program blended classroom learning with hands-on gardening and farm experiences, including:
- Planting earth boxes and raised bed gardens
- Observing a newly hatched chick during an embryology lesson with Andrew Samuelson, Massachusetts 4-H Animal Science Manager
- Learning from Farmer Shane of Coonamessett Farm, both in the classroom and during a field trip
- Visiting the Dennis Conservation Land Trust to work in a garden plot overseen by the Brazilian Resource Center Garden Coordinator, and explore environmental topics through hands-on learning
- A field trip to Cape Abilities, connecting farming with broader community life
This program gave youth the chance to experience the food system from many angles—plants, animals, land stewardship, and community health, while building confidence and leadership through 4-H’s “learning by doing.”
Cultural Community Gardens Feed Families and Traditions
The Everyone Eats Cultural Community Garden Program, run through our Buy Fresh Buy Local Cape Cod chapter, is helping immigrant farmers grow crops that connect directly to their cultures.
At the Canaan SDA Church in West Yarmouth, Haitian farmers Nicole and Macseau Celin raise okra, scotch bonnet peppers, squash, and eggplant.
Elder Jean Butter of the church explained what the gardens mean:
“When I came here, I found a community where you can see your brother, your sister. The ones that look like you. It’s amazing. To me, it’s a grace.”
There are now 10 cultural community gardens across Cape Cod, serving Haitian, Jamaican, Brazilian, Eastern European, and Asian communities. Extension provides tools, workshops, and food safety training to help growers be self-reliant and successful. Some participants have even created a Caribbean food pantry on church grounds, supplying fresh produce to those who need it most.
The Haitian gardens were recently featured in the Cape Cod Times. Read the full article here.
Why It Matters
From a statewide tour to kids learning in the garden, to immigrant farmers growing culturally significant crops, one theme stands out: Cape Cod’s food system thrives when we work together.
By supporting farmers, families, and communities, Extension is helping build a future where everyone has access to fresh, local food—whether it comes from land or sea.
Learn More About Cape Cod Cooperative Extension
Explore more about Cape Cod Cooperative Extension’s work at capecod.gov/extension.
