Why Buy Fresh?
There are many great reasons to buy fresh foods from your local farmers' markets, but one of the best is this: Fresh food tastes better! A tomato from the farmers' market, for instance, really tastes like a tomato; whereas tomatoes from the supermarket often taste like watered-down versions of the real thing. My family and I hit the farmers' markets near me to pick out the most delicious FRESH fruits and seasonal vegetables nearly every weekend."Fresh" is the key word here. At your farmers' market you'll find food that has been grown locally rather than being packed and shipped over the course of days from other parts of the country or elsewhere in the world. The sooner you buy farm-fresh produce after it's been harvest, the more nutrients you and your family will get.At the farmers' market you'll find fruits and veggies that are seasonal, which means that the farmers are harvesting them at the peak of their natural season and the height of their taste. Another benefit to shopping for seasonal produce is that variety gets built into your shopping list — you're not choosing the same old thing available to you at the supermarket all the time. My kids love seeing new vegetables and fruits, which makes them want to be adventurous and to try them out at home. They especially like it when some of the farmers allow them to try the free samples as we walk around.Speaking of variety, local farmers often feature more varieties of individual types of produce than do supermarkets. You'll probably find more kinds of greens and rarer types of heirloom fruits and vegetables, as well as some other things you don't usually see in the mass-produced piles at the supermarket, like homemade cheeses, honeys, granolas, jams, and soaps.Sure, the farmers' market may not be as easy as the one-stop shopping at your supermarket, but it will provide you with the freshest and most delicious produce. In addition, by supporting local farmers, you can help revitalize rural communities, allowing small farms to stay in business and continue to create an alternative venue for organic produce and other foods that are not genetically modified. Which is an important concept to introduce to your friends and family. So do a little research and find the local farmers' markets near you — they're popping up all over the place, both in the city and in the country!
