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Ten Reasons to Shop at the farmers market:
- Taste Real Flavors: The
fruits and vegetables you buy at the farmers’ market
are the freshest and tastiest available. Fruits are
allowed to ripen in the field and brought directly
to you- no long distance shipping, no gassing to
stimulate the ripening process, no sitting for weeks
in storage. This food is as real as it gets. From
the farm to your home.
- Anticipate the Season: The
food you buy at the farmers’ markets is seasonal.
It is fresh and delicious and reflects the truest
flavors. Shopping and cooking from the farmers’ market
helps you reconnect with the cycles of nature on
our region. As you look forward to asparagus in spring,
savor sweet corn in summer, or roast butternut squash
in autumn, you reconnect with the earth, the weather,
and the turning of the year.
- Support Family Farmers: Family
farmers are becoming increasingly rare as large agribusiness
farms and ranches steadily take over food production
in the US. Small family farms have a hard time competing
in the food marketplace. Buying directly from the
farmers give them a better return for their produce
and gives them a fighting chance in today’s
globalized economy.
- Protect the Environment: Food
in the US travels an average of 1500 miles to get
to your plate. Shipping uses large amounts of natural
resources (especially fossil fuels), contributes
greatly to pollution and creates excess trash from
extra packaging. Conventional agriculture also uses
many more resources than sustainable agriculture
and pollutes water, land, and air with toxic agriculture
by-products. Food at farmers’ markets is transported
shorter distances and is grown using methods that
- Nourish Yourself: Most
food found in grocery stores is highly processed.
The fresh produce you do find is often grown using
pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, and genetic
modification. In many cases, it has been irradiated,
waxed, or gassed in transit. All of these practices
have potentially damaging effects on the health
of those who eat these foods. In contrast, most
food found at the farmers’ market
is minimally processed, and many of our farmers go
to great lengths to grow the most nutritious produce
possible by building their soils fertilily and giving
their crops the nutrients they need to flourish those
who eat them.
- Discover the Spice of Life- Variety:-
At the farmers’ market you find an amazing
array of produce that you don’t see in your
supermarket: red carrots, a rainbow of heirloom tomatoes,
white peaches and stinging nettles, green garlic,
watermelon radishes, fresh eggs, maitake mushrooms,
romano beans, grass fed beef and much more. It is
a wonderful opportunity to experience first hand
the diversity (and biodiversity) of our planet, both
cultivated and wild!
- Promote Humane Treatment of Animals: At
the farmers’ market, you can find meats, eggs
and cheeses from animals that have been raised without
hormones or antibiotics, who have grazed on green
grass and been fed natural diets, and who have also
been spared the cramped and unnatural living conditions
of so many of their brethren on feedlots.
- Know Where Your Food Comes From: A
regular trip to a farmers’ market is one of
the best ways to reconnect with where your food comes
from. Farmers themselves sell their produce at the
farm stands. Meeting and talking to farmers is a
great opportunity to learn about how the food is
grown and why! Farmer profiles hang at the stands
to give you even more opportunity to learn about
the people who work so hard to bring you the most
delicious and nutritious food that you can buy.
- Learn Cooking Tips, Recipes and Meal Ideas: Few
grocery stores offer samples of the food you buy
let alone cook the food in front of you and give
you tips and recipes on how to cook the ingredients
you are buying. At the farmers’ market, the
vendors are ready with advice and tips and farmers’ market
staff are always cooking up something new for you
to try and take home to your family. They will give
you ideas of what to have for dinner or a seasonal
party and trouble shoot any problems in the kitchen.
- Connect with Your Community: The
farmers’ market is a community gathering place-
a place to meet up with your friends, bring your
children, or just get a taste of what is going on
in your town. The farmers’ market is sunshine,
or rain, and a taste of a healthy sustainable way
to live!
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