Credit: Ruthie Wood

Crunchy, juicy, sweet, and acidic, corn and tomatoes are must-haves for a stocked summer pantry. Barbeque might come to mind first with this combination – thick slices of tomatoes stacked on a juicy burger, corn on the cob on the side. Corn cobs might be used in Cajun-style seafood boils, or, for those who have strong Portuguese roots in Rhode Island, the thing to do with tomatoes is turn them into gazpacho. For fresh-from-the-farm sweet corn and tomatoes, shoppers can look to Fales Farm in Bristol. 

The farm, which is situated just off Metacom Avenue, might be best known to drivers and community members for their flowers; baskets of vibrant blossoms are the first things that greet drivers as they turn off Metacom to browse the farm stand. But beyond the sweet-smelling petal station, the farm stand sprawls along the road with stacks of sweet corn and mounds of tomatoes in the late summer. It’s an easy one-stop shop for the basic necessities.

But Fales Farm wasn’t always in the flower, tomato, and corn business. Donald Fales, the current owner with his wife, Peggy Fales, is a third-generation farmer on his family’s farm. “Originally, it was a dairy farm,” Donald Fales remembers. “My main goal in life was for it to remain a dairy farm,” but after a bad equipment accident in the 90s that left Fales thinking he would be a double leg amputee, he had to reinvent what farming meant to him and “find a new life.” After relearning how to walk, Fales turned to “plows instead of cows” and got into the flower business. 

Reflecting on his life, Fales admits that some aspects of farming are now easier than the dairy business – hauling manure, milking cows, and processing dairy is not for the faint of heart – but in some ways, dealing in produce is a bit more intense: “[I] have to deal with more people, more record keeping. Cows,” he jokes, “don’t talk back.”

Despite the change of farm type, Fales worked to protect the family property and legacy. In 2011, the Town of Bristol partnered with the United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resource Conservation Service to purchase the development rights of the farm and thereby preserve one of the last operational farms in the town. If the Fales decide to sell their property and retire, “nothing else but a farm can take this space.” 

The act of preservation – on which the Town of Bristol had to vote – showcases the deep community support residents have for Fales Farm. Locally, “we are known for corn and flowers,” Peggy Fales says, but the farm is operational eight months out of the year, from April through December (November they are closed). “April, we start with flowers, then corn, tomatoes, and mums in the fall,” she lists off. They also sell Christmas trees and cemetery baskets.  

For their fresh corn, Peggy Fales says one of the couple’s favorite meals to make is “Mexican slop” or taco casserole. To recreate the Fales’ taco casserole at home, shoppers will need to buy one pound of hamburger, zucchini, refried black beans, tomato sauce, (round) tortilla chips, and a half dozen ears of corn. She says to make the meal, brown the hamburger first, and then grind the zucchini in a food processor. Cook the zucchini, corn kernels, and beans in a pan, and then in an oven-safe dish, layer the hamburger, tomato sauce, vegetable mixture, and tortilla chips “like a lasagna.” There will be two to three layers depending on the dish size. Finally, top it all off with cheese and bake for about a half an hour to thirty-five minutes. 

To keep with the Mexican-inspired flavors, I decided to make salsa and black bean burritos, all garden-fresh. Bright, flavorful, and with a bit of zing, black bean burritos stuffed with corn, zucchini, peppers, and homemade salsa will have you saying goodbye to taco-takeout. For the burritos, I took inspiration from Simple Bites, and for the salsa, I took inspiration from Ambitious Kitchen. 

Garden Fresh Black Bean Burritos Recipe

For the salsa:

1 ½ lbs. plum tomatoes

1 yellow onion

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 bunch cilantro

1 lime, juiced

1 jalapeño

2 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. chili powder

For the burritos:

2 cans of black beans, drained and rinsed

2 zucchinis

2 red bell peppers

2 ears of corn

4 Tbsp. lime juice

3 Tbsp. water

4 tsp. chili powder

1 ½ tsp. cumin

½ tsp. black pepper

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

1 c. salsa

Pepper Jack cheese

Olive oil

Tortillas 

Instructions: 

  1. Make the salsa first. Core and quarter the tomatoes, then thinly slice the onion into quarter moons. Cut the jalapeño into half-moon slices, seeds still in, and then take the bunch of cilantro and chop it in half; discard the stems.* 
  2. Combine tomatoes, onion, jalapeño, and cilantro in a food processor, along with lime juice, cumin, chili powder, and garlic. Pulse it a few times so all of the ingredients come together and are chopped fine. Use your judgement for texture, but know that too many pulses will liquify the salsa, lowering its scoop-ability and making for a messier burrito. Set the salsa aside for now.
  3. Next start on the burrito filling. Dice the zucchinis and bell peppers. Heat oil in a large frying pan on medium-high and sauté the vegetables until they are softened. While they cook, in a large pot, combine lime juice, water, chili powder, cumin, black pepper, and cayenne. Bring the mixture to a boil, and then stir in the black beans. 
  4. Once the zucchinis and peppers are softened, add them to the black bean pot, along with one heaping cup of salsa (or more to taste). Keep the frying pan and leftover oil handy for frying the burritos later on. Let the mixture heat through. In the meantime, shuck the fresh corn and de-kernel it. Add this to the pot of burrito filling, stir, and warm well. 
  5. When the mixture is hot, put three spoonsful of the filling in a line down a tortilla. Add the cheese, then take the bottom of the tortilla and roll it so the filling is barely covered. Then, fold in the sides of the tortilla and keep rolling forward to completely fold the burrito. Reheat the frying pan on medium-high and the leftover oil from sautéing the vegetables, and when the oil is hot, fry the burrito on the “bottom” (where the flap of tortilla is left over from the roll) and on the “top.” Repeat with the rest of the burritos. This will make about 8 burritos. Serve, and enjoy while hot.

*Many people don’t love the idea of cilantro stems in their food, and will often pick out the leaves only. Cilantro stems are edible, and they have a more concentrated flavor than the leaves. Feel free to use the entire bunch of cilantro – stems and all – in the salsa.  

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Ruthie Wood is a recent graduate from Johns Hopkins University and burgeoning writer. As she works on her dreams of becoming a novelist, you can find her writing about Rhode Island living for What'sUpNewp. She has also written articles for Hey Rhody, Providence Monthly, The Bay, and SO Rhode Island magazines.

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2 Comments

  1. Not quite sure why you are promoting a farm in Bristol, as great as it sounds, rather than one or more here on the island? DeCastro Farm Stand on East Main Road in Portsmouth draws from its 90-acre vegetable farm on Middle Road.

  2. Thanks for the message Tim. If you follow this series along, you’ll notice that Ruthie has been featuring farms from all over Aquidneck Island and beyond.

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