If youÕve never spent time at a farmers’ market, this summer is the perfect opportunity to give it a try. Compared to a grocery store, a farmers’ market is a far more exciting and diverse marketplace. You can turn a weekly errand into a fun activity.
YouÕll be able to connect with others in your local community and learn a whole lot more about the produce and foods that you eat every day. Once you start shopping at a farmerÕs market, youÕll have a hard time going back to your regular grocery store when winter comes around.
1. Enjoy REALLY Fresh Produce
At a farmers’ market, your fruits and vegetables will be extremely fresh, as in picked that morning or the day before. This results in delicious produce that is healthier than anything you can buy at the store – which is likely picked several days or a week before you get there.
2. Get to Know Your Local Farmers
Though they supply us with all the food we need to survive, most of us have no relationship with our local farmers or any farmers at all. A farmers’ market is a perfect environment to get to know some of the people who grow the products that keep you fed every day.
3. Support Family Farmers
Instead of putting all of your grocery money towards large corporate farms, stop by the farmers’ market, where you can support small family farmers who are trying to grow produce in sustainable and ethical ways.
4. See Where Your Food Comes From
Most Americans have a large disconnect with their food. Take a break from processed foods with dozens of ingredients and take a look at fresh fruits and vegetables that were grown only a few hundred miles from where you bought them.
5. Humanely Raised Meat and Poultry
The chicken and pork we eat is often raised in cruel and inhumane environments. Farmers’ markets feature farmers who sell free-range chicken and meat products from animals that were raised to higher ethical standards.
6. Try a Vegetable YouÕve Never Seen Before
Have you ever noticed that every grocery store sells the same 20 vegetables? In order to cater to ever taste, major supermarkets choose not to sell many of the heirloom varieties and unique seasonal vegetables that our country offers. Try something interesting and delicious at your farmers’ market.
7. Put Money into Your Local Economy
Supporting local farmers brings great dividends to your stateÕs economy. Keep your food spending in your state and region, and support your neighbors who are growing delicious and healthy foods.
8. Free Samples!
Lots of vendors in farmers’ markets will offer free samples, so that you can try heirloom tomatoes and rare varieties of vegetables that youÕve never seen before. Explore the agricultural history of America and expose yourself to new flavors.
9. Get Great Recipes
Often, the farmer you are buying your produce from already has a fantastic recipe that will bring out the vegetableÕs best flavor. The recipe may even be a family recipe thatÕs been handed down for generations.
10. Eat Healthy Foods Without Chemicals
Most produce at farmers’ markets is extremely fresh and healthy. In addition, you should also be able to find fruits and vegetables that were grown organically or without the use of harmful pesticides.
11. Help the Environment
Buying from your farmers’ market will help the environment in two important ways. Firstly, you will be supporting sustainable and organic agriculture that uses less fossil fuels and chemicals, and secondly, buying local foods reduces food miles and the gasoline needed to transport your produce across the country and across the world. Eat local!
