7 Reasons to Visit Your Local Farmer's Market

Local farmers are ultra passionate about their produce. The work is hard and the labour is love. Usually, if someone grows garlic, they know all about the different types. There is an infinite amount of different tomatoes. This is why there will be a stall with 20 different kinds of garlic or tomatoes.

 

By Meera Watts

With the surge of farmers markets being seen throughout the world, we have to wonder why it’s such a benefit.

Perhaps it has a lot to do with the fact that big grocery stores aren’t always ethical about where they get their produce from. Maybe we want to ensure that the products we buy for health and beauty aren’t full of chemicals.

It is promising to see the popularity of the Farmer’s Markets. We are going back to our roots and caring about local business. It usually doesn’t cost that much more and the experience is so much more fulfilling.

Here are the seven reasons you should visit your local Farmer’s Market.

1. We’re Supporting Local Agriculture

Our communities matters, right? Farms decline more and more all the time. A lot of fruits and vegetables come from other countries. Sometimes we may even question why we get apples from New Zealand if we live in North America.

Local agriculture matters.

It gives a community substance. Many of these farms have been passed onto family for generations. When we buy their produce, they don’t have to sell to the grocery stores. Let’s face it, even if they wanted to sell to the grocery stores, they likely couldn’t compete with the larger farms that mass produce. It feels good to support local businesses so when we buy local produce that is exactly what you’re doing.

Conscious shopping makes us feel good.

2. The Organic Fruits and Vegetables Cost Less

Local farms are much smaller than the farms that sell to grocery stores. This puts the local farms at an advantage. The investment to grow organic isn’t as much for them. Chances are, they were practicing organic practices long before it became a trend with the big farms. If we’re okay with tomatoes that aren’t perfectly shaped, we can enjoy their pure taste. They weren’t grown in a hurry or under a greenhouse. The sun has kissed them.

3. Eating in the Ancient Ayurveda Way

Thousands of years ago when we weren’t shipping produce all over the globe, the Ayurveda diet was practiced. It is a diet that worked well with the yoga lifestyle; a vegan diet that incorporates only the food which is in season. It is the food that works best for where we are living. Foods that grow in the summer just happen to be the kind of food cools our bodies down when it’s hot. The diet is complex in many ways, but the main message is to eat what nature is providing for us.

When we buy fruits and vegetables at a farmers market that is exactly what we’re doing.

4. Foods are More Consciously Handled

Local farmers handle their food on a smaller scale. Compare this to the countless times there have been recalls for E-Coli outbreaks in packaged lettuce. It is far more likely that grocery salad will have been overlooked when it comes to bacteria—they are mass produced. Your local farmer is basically picking their vegetables and fruits within a week before selling. They are handled with love.

5. Fresher Fruits and Veggies

This is one of the nicest things about the farmers market: the produce is so fresh. It will be handpicked just days before we buy it. We get to choose what fruits and vegetables we want from the pile, and the farmer will know everything about the product.

6. A Wide Variety

Local farmers are ultra passionate about their produce. The work is hard and the labour is love. Usually, if someone grows garlic, they know all about the different types. There is an infinite amount of different tomatoes. This is why there will be a stall with 20 different kinds of garlic or tomatoes.

We get to learn all about the varying degrees of taste from the farmers. It instills passion in the food we’re buying. We get to try things we never have before. The variety of any given fruit or vegetable is surprising.

7. The Taste is Way Better

This is probably the best reason to go to your local farmers market. When we make a salad that includes lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and whatever else we bought, we will notice a big difference in taste. The pure flavors of the fruits and vegetables are what will keep us going back for more. The practices of the local farmer naturally ensure that our fruits and vegetables taste better than grocery stores products.

Farmers markets are a blessing. We aren’t all fortunate enough to have the space to garden. Enjoy the fruits of their labor. It will compel us to eat good foods more often. They are grown the way produce should be; they hold the nutrients we are meant to receive from the fruits and vegetables.

Support local farmers and nurture your body by heading to your local farmers market often.

 

 

Meera Watts is a yoga teacher, entrepreneur, and mom. Her writing on yoga and holistic health has appeared in Elephant Journal, CureJoy, FunTimesGuide, OMtimes and others. She’s also the founder and owner of SiddhiYoga, a yoga teacher training school based in Singapore. Siddhi Yoga runs intensive, residential training in India (Rishikesh, and Dharamshala), Indonesia (Bali). Meera can also be found on Facebook and YouTube.

 

 

Photo: (source)

Editor: Alicia Wozniak

 

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