Reasons to Support Your Local Farmers Market

I have been counting the days until my local farmers market starts.  I love farmers markets and go to my local one every week spring through fall.  I can find everything from organic meat to artwork at the market.  Why would I shop in a freezing store with artificial light when I could be walking around in the sunshine?  There are hundreds of reasons to shop at a farmers market but here are some of the few I find most important. 

1. Know where your food is coming from
Shopping at a farmers market allows you to actually meet the people that are growing and making your food.  They can tell you exactly what the difference is between different types of plums are and most likely allow you to sample all of the different types.  When I buy meat they can tell me exactly what the animal ate so I know what I'm getting. 

2. Supporting local businesses
Stores only pay a few cents per pound to the farmers for their produce.  When you buy from a farmers market all of that money goes to the farmer so the prices are normally cheaper for you and the farmer still gets more money per pound for produce.  Farmers markets also have a ton of local artists, restaurants and other local businesses.  Shopping from them is supporting your local economy, in addition you get to meet the people in your community. 

3. Eating seasonally and locally
There have been many articles on the benefits of eating seasonally.  When you shop at farmers markets you are only eating fruits that have been grown locally and are in season.  When you eat locally the food is fresher.  The produced sold at the market has normally been picked that day, as opposed to the grocery store where it's picked before it's ripe and sits in the store for days.  There has been some recent controversy over which is actually more eco-friendly, but the produce traveling less of a distance to the market means less energy used to get the food to you.  Why pay to have something shipped 2,000 miles when you can buy the same food locally?  Eating seasonally and locally is a more sustainable way of eating and living. 

4. It's fun
Going to the farmers market is an afternoon or evening out for me.  I walk around, shop, catch up with friends, listen to music and have dinner all at the market.  When I leave I have bread, meat, produce and maybe a few other things I need for the week.  You would never get that kind of experience from a grocery store, even those that are organic or offer locally grown produce.  Take your entire family and make it a fun experience for everyone! 

There are a ton of websites dedicated to helping you find a farmers market in your area.  Find one to go to this week.  Feel free to post in the comments the local farmers markets you visit and share with the rest of us!

Further reading
http://www.sustainabletable.org/shop/seasonal/
10 reasons to shop are your local farmers market

Grow Your Own Food No Matter Where You Live

Spring is the perfect time of year to start growing your own food.  It is warm enough that you can plant in beds outside instead of just pots around the house.  If you take a chunk of your lawn and turn it into a garden it also means less grass that you have to mow.

There are advantages to growing your own food.  You can save money if you grow the right food.  You know exactly where your food is coming from and what kind of chemicals you used or didn't use on your food.  I find that food I grow myself always tastes best, even better than organic or from a farmers' market.  There is something about picking food right out of the sun and eating it that makes it taste amazing.  You also might get your children interested in eating veggies that they grow on their own. 

Think practically before you plant your garden.  Pick foods that you will actually eat or know a friend or family member will enjoy.  There is no point in planting foods that are just going to rot in your garden.  Also think about what food will give the most reward if you are looking to save money.  You can buy a fruit tree for under $20 and it will give you pounds and pounds of fruit over the years.  You will get the most reward for a small amount of money.  Blueberry bushes, strawberries and pumpkins are other good choices.  Look at the price of the plants, check if they are annuals or perennials, and then see how much the food costs to buy in the store.  This will give you a good idea if the food you are planting is practical money-wise.

If outside space isn't an option, you can always grow food inside your house.  For a long time I had a potted lemon tree to remind me of living in Arizona.  It eventually died when my dogs decided they liked the taste of lemon branches, but that didn't stop me from growing food.  You can also keep an herb garden in your house year round.  This way whenever you are cooking you can just snip off some live herbs and add them to your cooking.  You can also choose to dry them and store them in spice jars.  I almost always have a pot of basil and rosemary sitting on my kitchen windowsill.  You can even buy live basil from the grocery store and all you have to do is put the roots in a glass of water and it will last for several weeks.  Green onions will do the same thing if you put the roots in water after you chop off the greens.  I get two or three batches worth of green onions from one set I buy from the store.  That calculates out to 3 dollars worth of onions for 1 dollar.

Vegetable gardens are a good way to get kids interested in their food.  They get to take a hands on approach to what they eat.  They also get to learn where their food comes from and how much effort goes into each vegetable they buy at the store.  Growing your own food can be rewarding for any person at any age.  Get on your garden gloves and get out there and plant!