Reasons to Buy Local Produce and Shop Your Local Farmer’s Market for Fruits and Vegetables
(Big Shout out to Biber Family Farms for the pictures!)
Until you start going around to visit local Farmers’ Markets and get a chance to talk with some of the local farmers, you really don’t realize just how hard they work!
We all know that farmers work really hard, but in the summer they work turbo-hard.
I have the good fortune to live in the South Hills of Pittsburgh. It’s a beautiful place to live and there’s still a speckling of local farms throughout the area.
Local farms that provide a steady stream of fresh produce all summer long.
In the later summer months, Pittsburgh can have very hot weather with high humidity. Some days it seems like we are living in South Florida.
On the day we visited the Farmers’ Market in Upper St. Clair, the heat had settled in at about 94 degrees. It was hot. Very hot.
But all the vendors came and set up shop despite the heat, so that residents of the community could have fresh fruits and vegetables for the week.
Farmers don’t have the luxury of climate-controlled environments like we do, they must get out there and produce food no matter what the weather conditions.
In the summer, like most areas in the United States, local farmers get together and sell fresh produce, grass-feed beef, fresh organic fruits, garlic bulbs as big as your head, onions, basically you name it and they sell it fresh.
Farmers Markets can be a lot of fun and a great opportunity to bring out the entire family and get a little friendly with the fruits and vegetables. What a better way to teach children to respect our food supply along with respecting our hard-working farmers.
Make some fun memories with your family and let them smell the fresh fruits and vegetables along with all the other foods the farmers market has to offer. Let your kids pick out a fruit or vegetable to take home and help cook. When a child gets to be involved in the process of buying and cooking, they are much more likely to become vegetable lovers!
(Above Photo) Here Biber Family Farms is explaining to me how to cook the stems of the fresh Swiss Chard I had just purchased. Chop up the red stems and cook them in a small amount of water until tender. Toss them in with your cooked Swiss chard and add a little butter, olive oil and of course salt & pepper.
So here are our 12 top reasons to shop your local farmers market this summer!
1. Support Your Local Farmers
Keep your local farmer going by supporting them at weekly markets. This is something the communities can’t afford to lose, so by showing up and buying we are keeping them in business. Communities and families need nutrient-dense foods in their diets to stay healthy.
2. Fresh Means more Nutritious
Most produce is picked the morning of farmers market making this their peak in freshness. Buying freshly harvested food is important because some vegetables can begin to loose their nutritional values rather quickly.
3. Fresher Tastes Better
Fresh fruits and vegetables that have been allowed to sun ripen have more of a distinct flavor than those that have been sitting in a warehouse for days/weeks. Want a real treat? Look for freshly-picked asparagus.
4. Larger Selection to Choose From
Farmers can pick and choose the variety of fruits and vegetables they want to plant and harvest. Most Markets have 3-4 local farms selling their produce so this makes for a much larger variety of foods to choose from.
5. Cheaper Prices than a Grocery Store
Grocery store produce has gotten very pricey in the last couple of years. Organic produce even pricier! This is a great chance to eat fresh organic produce every week at a much cheaper price.
6. Ask how the Produce is Grown
Talk with the farmer and ask how he grows his fruits and vegetables. Ask what type of pesticides he uses or what method of farming he prefers. A lot of our fresh fruits and vegetables in the grocery store comes directly from Mexico making this difficult to know how it was farmed and what chemicals were used to produce the food.
7. Most Farmers know how to Cook Vegetables
Want to know how to cook Swiss chard? Ask a farmer! Farmers know how to cook vegetables and they know the best way to bring out their natural flavors. Never be afraid to ask a farmer how to prepare a vegetable they are selling.
8. Buying for One is Easy
If you are shopping for one or even two people, most stands are very flexible about the quantities you can buy. It’s very important not to overbuy because that just leads to waste. Most fresh fruits and vegetables last about 2 days to a week so buy accordingly.
9. Visit the Beautiful Country
Make it a point to visit a new farmers market every week and you will find yourself getting to know a little bit about your area. Some of the farmers markets are located out in the country which provides a great excuse to take the day off and go have some fun!
10. A Fun Family Activity
Take the whole family and make it a great time to spend together. Some local markets will even set up small musical bands and make an event out of it. The bigger farmers markets will set family-style picnic tables where you can sit and enjoy food prepared by local vendors.
11. Meet the Farmers and Give Incentive to Grow
By supporting your local farmers markets, this gives you a chance to meet and greet your farmers. Let them know that you appreciate the fresh supply of food that they supply. Positive feedback from the community provides the opportunity for the farmers to grow their business and to also understand the needs/wants of the people they are supporting.
12. Get Excited about Fruits and Vegetables
Learn how to cook farmer market meals! Experiment with new and exciting dishes that you never cooked before. Each week during the summer, have a farmers market dinner prepared from foods that you found at the market.
* Here is our old fashioned blueberry crisp that was made from fresh farmer market blueberries and it was delicious.
Did you know that locally grown produce is better for your health? Read on to find the top 5 reasons to buy your produce from local sources.
As we get ready for a robust vegetable growing season, find out why you should be heading on over to your favorite local out-door market!
5 Reasons Locally Grown Produce is Better for Your Health and Reasons to Buy Local Produce
What do you think of when you hear the phrase “locally grown produce”? You might think that locally grown fruits and vegetables are tastier and fresher than their non-local counterparts. However, health is another important factor to take into consideration, and many experts agree that organically grown produce is better for you.
Have you ever heard of Locavore Day? The idea behind it is simple. Eating locally grown, in-season produce helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions from food transport while supporting the local economy and your community. Yes, buying local is better for the environment but there are also health benefits. Let’s look at the health advantages of buying locally grown produce.
Locally Grown Produce is More Nutritious
Consider the nutrient content of locally grown fruits and vegetables. Then think about the ones you buy at the supermarket. If the produce you buy is grown locally, it didn’t travel thousands of miles to reach you, all the while losing nutrients. Vitamin C loss and the loss of some B-vitamins can be substantial during transport when produce is exposed to light and heat. The shorter the route to your table, the more nutrients your produce will retain. Proximity matters when it comes to fresh produce because the closer you are to the source, the faster the food gets to your table and the more nutrients you’ll enjoy.
You’ll Eat More of It
As numerous studies show, eating fruits and vegetables has health benefits. No wonder! Fruits and veggies are some of the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet. They’re low in calories and fat but contain vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber. And when you eat them (especially raw), you don’t have to worry about counting calories or measuring portion sizes because they’re already low in calories but high in nutrients.
Why don’t people eat more of them? Sometimes, the fruits and vegetables at grocery stores are not very tasty. How many times have you bought a bag or box of salad greens only to find them limp and wilted a few days later? Or you buy fruit only to find it’s mealy and tasteless? When you pick food prematurely to survive the shipping process and transport it thousands of miles across the country or even around the world, it’s not very flavorful and has a shorter shelf-life when it reaches you.
In contrast, locally grown produce is left on the vine until it turns ripe and flavorful — or picked early if it’s going to be sold that day or the next. That means more flavor, more nutrients, and an all-around healthier meal. Plus, fresh food tastes better. Full-flavored fruits and vegetables can mean the difference between eating for health and eating for pleasure. When you’re groaning at the thought of another bland salad, you’re more likely to reach for less healthy options. But when you have a delicious salad in front of you, it’s easy to savor every bite.
Farmers Often Use Fewer Pesticides on Locally Grown Food
Pesticide residue on food as become a huge problem.
There’s more transparency, too, with locally grown produce. When you shop at farmer’s markets or farm stands or buy from a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, you can meet the farmers, ask questions about their practices, and possibly visit their farms. You become more aware of where your food comes from and how it’s grown, which is beneficial to everyone.
Local farmer’s market vendors often sell organic produce (and will tell you whether it’s organic or not). They feed the produce they grow to their own family, so they’re concerned about pesticide use. Organic produce is grown without synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. Although some studies show that organic produce is not necessarily higher in nutrients than conventionally grown food, research suggests organic fruits and vegetables have a lower amount of pesticide residues than food grown using traditional methods.
Visiting a Farmer’s Market is a Chance to Move Your Body
Farmers’ markets are best experienced on foot. There’s nothing like wandering around and seeing what is available that day, then heading into a small shed or onto a truck for a dirt-cheap, exuberantly colorful bag of vegetables to create an enjoyable and healthy meal. While you’re selecting your produce, you’re getting fresh air and moving your body. You’re even making more vitamin D from the sun exposure. That beats buying your fruits and veggies at a crowded indoor grocery store.
And farmers’ markets are fun! Typically, there is so much to see and do at your local market. Make it an experience and load up the kids and go off for a produce adventure.
Locally Grown Produce Has a Lower Carbon Footprint
We have been reading a lot lately in the news about lowering our carbon footprints. The farther food must travel, the more fossil fuels are used during shipping, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. While it’s impossible to eliminate carbon emissions, you can reduce them by choosing local sources whenever possible. A lower carbon footprint indirectly benefits your health as it reduces the effects of air pollution on your health. Plus, it supports the health of the planet.
The Bottom Line
Growing your own vegetables or fruit trees at home may yield the best results. But if you don’t have the time and resources to grow your own vegetables or fruit trees, buying locally grown produce is still a better option than buying food that’s shipped from all over the world. It’s better for your health, too.
What Fruits and Vegetables to Buy Organic
References:
“Vegetables – the rate of loss of vitamin C in fresh ….” itectec.com/cooking/vegetables-the-rate-of-loss-of-vitamin-c-in-fresh-vegetables/.
“Preharvest and postharvest factors influencing vitamin C ….” ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/datastore/234-17.pdf.
“Nutritional comparison of fresh, frozen and canned fruits ….” ucce.ucdavis.edu/files/datastore/234-779.pdf.
