REC Mobile Farmers Market - Seabury Heights Apartments

REC Mobile Farmers Market - Seabury Heights Apartments is part of the Regional Environmental Council, a Worcester nonprofit food justice organization with a 53-year history tied to environmental sustainability and social justice. At 240 Belmont Street, this stop brings the REC’s mobile market model directly to Seabury Heights Apartments on a short weekly schedule rather than asking shoppers to travel across the city. The larger REC network includes community and mobile farmers markets alongside garden and youth agriculture programs, which gives this apartment-site market a clear place inside a broader Worcester food access effort.

Why it matters locally

The Regional Environmental Council runs this market as part of a Worcester-based nonprofit food justice mission that connects environmental sustainability and social justice in the city. That local role is visible in the organization’s program mix: REC operates Community and Mobile Farmers Markets, Urban Garden Resources of Worcester, and Youth Growing Organics in Worcester, a youth employment and urban agriculture program for Worcester teens.

The market model also creates selling opportunities for small and medium-size farms, with REC describing its markets as places where growers can reach a diverse array of customers and build their business. REC specifically encourages small urban growers and BIPOC growers to apply, and it offers technical assistance for nutrition program coupons and SNAP/HIP transactions. At this Seabury Heights stop, that mission reads less like a slogan and more like the operating logic behind who gets to sell and how food reaches residents.

What you'll find there

The vendor mix leans heavily toward produce, eggs, bread, honey, and culturally significant crops, with a few prepared or specialty items folded in. Because this is an REC mobile market stop, the lineup reflects both Worcester-area farm staples and growers bringing specific crop traditions to market.

• -Pick up pure maple syrup, maple cream, maple sugar, and maple candies from Bucket List Maple Syrup.
• -Find year-round greens, seasonal produce, and fresh eggs from Cotyledon Farm.
• -Look for herbs, tomatoes, peppers, garlic, honey, salves, and other culturally significant crops from Global Village Farms.
• -Try sunflower, broccoli, sweet pea, and radish microgreens from Just For Fun Farms.
• -Shop edible gourds, pumpkin leaves, amaranth greens, jilo, mustard greens, and shell beans from Misigaro Farms.
• -Buy greenhouse- and field-grown vegetables from REC YouthGROW Farm, the organization’s youth development and employment program.
• -Bring home breads and baked goods made from scratch with organic flours from Wooden Bakery.
• -Sip coffee and add freshly baked pastries, including traditional Turkish coffee offerings, from Daphne’s Tears Bakery Cafe.
• -Choose from more than 100 varieties of fruits and vegetables, including Mirai corn, at Harper Farms & Garden.
• -Stock up on raw honey, pasture-raised eggs, beeswax candles, and skincare products from Kelly Homestead Apiary.
• -Seek out bitter gourd, hot peppers, long beans, mustard greens, daikon, cilantro, eggplant, and cucumbers from Nuestro Huerto Urban Farm.
• -Add grass-fed beef, fruits, vegetables, and ice cream linked to Rota Spring Farm.
• -Compare diversified fruits and vegetables from Coolidge Hill Farm.
• -Find fresh produce grown from non-GMO seeds at Fay Mountain Farm.
• -Cook with tomatoes, peppers, okra, water spinach, sweet potato leaves, gourds, amaranth greens, malabar spinach, and lalu from Juakumbah Farms.
• -Browse source-identified foods from Marty’s Local.
• -Add responsibly grown produce from Rattle Root Farm.
• -Take home shiitake, blue oyster, golden oyster, pink oyster, and Lion’s Mane mushrooms from Southeast Asian Coalition of Central MA.

Across Worcester, REC’s mobile market schedule also places stops on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at sites including Elm Park Towers, Green Hill Towers, Worcester Senior Center, Family Health Center of Worcester, and Great Brook Valley.

A distinctive thread here is how many vendors center crops and foods that carry specific cultural meaning instead of sticking to a standard New England produce table. Misigaro Farms brings edible gourds, pumpkin leaves, amaranth greens, jilo, mustard greens, and shell beans, with Valeria Niyonkuru also identified as an experienced farmers market vendor and REC’s YouthGROW Farm Mentor. Nuestro Huerto Urban Farm lists bitter gourd, long beans, daikon, cilantro, and hot peppers. Juakumbah Farms adds water spinach, sweet potato leaves, malabar spinach, and lalu. Even the mushroom selection from the Southeast Asian Coalition of Central MA extends beyond a single variety, with shiitake, blue oyster, golden oyster, pink oyster, and Lion’s Mane all in the mix. At this stop, the color comes from that range of ingredients and the way REC’s market roster makes room for them.

Know before you go

No dogs are allowed at the market, which is the clearest on-site rule to keep in mind before heading to Seabury Heights Apartments. This is also a mobile market stop with a short service window, so planning around the listed Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday time blocks matters more here than it would at a longer market. The market takes place at Seabury Heights Apartments, 240 Belmont Street. Restrooms are not available. REC provides parking details for its office on Beacon Street, but no parking guidance is published for the mobile market sites, including this one.

Payments & SNAP

SNAP/EBT is accepted at REC Mobile Farmers Market - Seabury Heights Apartments. REC also states that it helps vendors manage SNAP/HIP transactions and Farmers Market Nutrition Program coupons, which fits the organization’s wider focus on food access across its market network.