Tis the season to head out to your local farmers market for a fun time. If you don’t have motivation to take advantage of this summer activity, let me assist you! It’s one of the things I look forward to most during the warm months and I don’t want you to miss out! Here’s the top five reasons I love the farmers market!
1. Saying hello to the farmer – You get to meet the people that grow your food. It brings a deeper connection and enjoyment to eating! Take this opportunity to say hello, tell them when you love something, tell them when something wasn’t so great, ask for recipe ideas, or just say thanks. This week I talked to the woman that ran the local Pappardelle’s Pasta stand. She was able to make recommendations based on my tastes and point me in the direction of recipes. The customer service definitely plays a role in making me want to head back next time!
2. I just picked these yesterday! – That’s the sign that sold me on the cherries I bought this week! You can’t get fresher than food at the farmers market. Plus it helps you shop seasonally and to reconnect to the food cycle of where you live. As you learn the cycle you’ll start to get pumped for the next type of produce about to be picked. Right now I’m coming down off the high of strawberries and blueberries and I can’t wait for corn and peaches.
3. Support your local economy – Family farms growing diverse foods are becoming increasingly rare. Before we know it they’ll be gone completely! What a tragedy it would be to have to bring all the food for a community in from the outside! The only way to prevent this from happening is to keep the family farms in business, and the only way to do that is to buy directly from them. This gives them the best return on their products and helps them to fight to stay alive.
4. Help out the environment – I always heard about the huge “carbon foot print” that our food leaves on the earth. It took me a while to learn the many connections between our food system and the environment, but now that I have a firm grasp on it, I also have a strong opinion. Our food is shipped thousands of miles to get to our plates, all the while using fossil fuels, polluting the environment, and creating trash. Why are we shipping kiwis from Chile and avocados from Mexico when we could be eating apples and pumpkins from down the road? While it’s often not possible to eat 100% local, it’s certainly helpful to make the attempt. Shopping at the local farmers market makes this attempt easy and fun!
5. Enjoy the sunshine – I don’t know about you, but 90% of my day is spent indoors, so the last thing I want to do after work is head to the grocery store. Strolling the stalls of an open air market sounds much more appealing! I find myself making multiple trips up and down the aisles just because it’s fun. And I get to end the night with an ice cream cone!
Have I convinced you yet? Check out http://www.localharvest.org/ to find the farmers market closest to you!
