Throughout summer and into the fall, one of the most enjoyable weekly events can be your local farmers market. With the ever-increasing awareness of the benefits of organic foods, sustainable practices, and supporting local farmers, most towns and cities offer a farmers market featuring foods and other locally produced goods. When you buy from a farmers market, you’re not only supporting your own local economy and helping to ensure those vendors are able to stay in business. You’re also treating yourself to the freshest produce, most likely picked that very day, as well as hand crafted goodies like artisan breads, cheeses, local honey, handmade jams, preserves, and pickles, humanely raised meats, and free range eggs. Each market will have its own unique offerings depending on the locality and the time of year; produce available in the spring gradually gives way to summer and then fall fruits and vegetables. Each week you’ll find something new to enjoy.
Along with my family, I go to the High Ridge Road Farmer’s Market here in Stamford. My kids love all the fresh fruit and I like giving them this kind of a healthy choice. I think it’s good for them to see where some of their food comes from and to be able to meet the people who grow and harvest it.
I think it’s so great to see the kind of access to local foods you can have at a farmers’ market. When I was a kid, we used to go berry picking at Jones Farm in Shelton, CT. Nothing tastes better than berries you’ve just picked, warm from the sun and sweeter than anything you’d find at the grocery store. Going to a farmers’ market is like visiting all of your local farms at the same time.
Chances are, there’s a farmers’ market in your town or else very close by. You can visit Local Harvest to find a market in your area!