Meet Cape Abilities Farm: Great people and awesome tomatoes

Cape Abilities Farm on Route 6A in Dennis is a must-stop for local food fans. The folks at their Farm Market are knowledgeable and friendly, the organic produce and other food is delectable, and you’ll also love the flowers, art, gifts and much more.

If tomatoes are your thing, you probably already know that this is a hotspot for slicers and cherries, and since they are grown in greenhouses, tomato season extends until late in the year!

The farm is one of two innovative social enterprises established by Cape Abilities⁠—a nonprofit providing jobs, homes, transportation, social and therapeutic services for people with disabilities across Cape Cod. The organization also operates an excellent thrift store in Yarmouth. These endeavors provide individuals with training, employment, and opportunities to interact with the local community.

You can learn more about Cape Abilities Farm at the Meet Your Local Farmers event on March 28th, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Cape Cod Regional Technical High School (351 Pleasant Lake Avenue in Harwich). It’s going to be a hootenanny, so save the date!

We had the chance to chat with David Valente, Food Programs Manager and Produce Manager for the Cape Abilities Farm Market, who generously took the time to tell us about the good (and delicious) things going on at the farm. His replies have been lightly edited for space and clarity.

Tell us a little about Cape Abilities Farm and the Farm Market

Cape Abilities started the farm in 2006, so we’re excited to be celebrating 20 years this year and we have a lot of events planned. The farm and the thrift store are social enterprises as vocational sites for individuals in our programs. These individuals both volunteer and work here. And we have a lot of loyal customers who come here for the customer service–we pride ourselves on being personable and helpful.

It’s really kind of an old-time market that you don’t see as much of these days. The staff is friendly and approachable and we answer a lot of questions. We’re happy to talk about our products and how they’re grown. It’s always exciting when a customer is trying something that they haven’t tried before — we can talk them through how to prepare it and introduce them to something new.

What do you grow at Cape Abilities Farm?

Tomatoes are the main crop associated with the farm. We grow beautiful tomatoes, both the larger tomatoes that some people call slicers and cherry tomatoes. The tomatoes are grown in greenhouses which gives us an advantage, as we can control the climate, but it still can be challenging. This year, we’ll also be growing cucumbers, lettuce, radishes, beets, carrots, and turnips, as well as arugula, spinach, chard and some Asian greens.

Are you gearing up for the Meet Your Local Farmers event on March 28th?

We’re really looking forward to it. The turnout last year was amazing! We’ll be bringing food like we did last year, but we’re going to add more of an educational component as well, to let people know more about what goes on at the farm. There were a lot of people there last year who already knew about us, but we definitely met a lot of new customers, so that was exciting.

SAVE THE DATE: The Meet Your Local Farmers event will bloom on March 28th, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Cape Cod Regional Technical High School (351 Pleasant Lake Avenue in Harwich). Hosted by Harwich Conservation Trust and the Orleans Farmers’ Market, the event features over 50 farms and farm-supporting organizations. And farmers will be selling their unique products and foods, so it’s a great opportunity to bring home some Cape-grown goodness. It’s free admission and great for all ages. Hope to see you there! We thank our generous event sponsors The Cape Cod Chronicle and Cape Cod Five.

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