Healthy for a Happy Life

Imagine yourself standing in the freezer section at your local supermarket. The florescent lights illuminate a dizzying array of colored cardboard boxes full of “food products.” You put on your glasses and examine the packages, looking for the item with the least amount of additives. You toss a few items in the cart and make your way to the check-out line, relieved to get out of the store and into your car.

Now picture yourself talking to a local farmer. A gentle breeze blows through your hair as the morning sun kisses your face. The farmer is telling you about his latest harvest of peaches, as you pop a slice in your mouth. After tasting several delicious fruits, you choose your favorites and walk away with a pleasant memory.

Which one of these scenarios paints the best picture? If you have any doubts, consider these five reasons you should shop at a local farmers’ market:

1. Farm fresh tastes better. Fruits and vegetables you find at the grocery store are often several days old before they reach the aisles, and most supermarket produce is shipped in refrigerated trucks from thousands of miles away. Produce from your farmer’s market, on the other hand, was probably picked that morning, making it as fresh as if you had grown it yourself. In addition, items from a farmer’s market are usually picked at the peak of their ripeness when natural sugars are at their best.
2. Farm fresh is better for you. Enjoying produce at the ultimate level of ripeness not only tastes better, but it also provides more nutrition. Enjoying perfectly ripe produce provides a number of antioxidants, which clean free radicals out of your bloodstream and reduce signs of aging by minimizing wrinkles and preserving the texture of skin. Another benefit of ripe fruit is anthocyanins, which provide anti-inflammatory properties, protect brain function, help prevent cardiovascular disease and reduce the risk of cancer. Another great source of antioxidants that is available at your local farmer’s market can be found in raw, local honey. In addition to antioxidants and enzymes, raw local honey contains pollen, which provides you with allergy prevention. Not to mention the fact that raw local honey tastes much better than the commercial, mass-produced honey. As we were recently reminded by the deadly outbreaks of E. coli in romaine lettuce, there is also less chance of illness with farm fresh foods. Such incidences occur mostly in large industrial settings, where food is mass-produced and packaged in mass amounts.
3. Farm fresh is better for the environment. The chemical-free, organic methods purported by local farmers are better for the environment. Unlike local farmers, giant factory farms grow massive amounts of produce and ship it around the world. These same behemoths drive many local family farms out of business. For the sake of efficiency, industrial farming favors monocultures, where a single field only grows one type of fruits or vegetables. Monocultures sap the soil of essential nutrients, leaving it barren and virtually unplantable. As a result, the soil becomes more susceptible to disease and pests. In general, industrial farming is hard on the land, depletes the soil of nutrients, uses industrial chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and utilizes environmentally unfriendly practices that are not sustainable over the long-term. Many supermarkets receive their produce from hundreds or thousands of miles away. This involves a significant use of fossil fuels for shipping on refrigerated trucks and rail cars. Famer’s market produce doesn’t have to travel far to get from the farm to your table, significantly reducing the use of fossil fuels. Along with conserving fossil fuels, small family farms produce less environmental waste in the form of carbon monoxide, pesticide use, chemical fertilizers, and packaging. They are also less likely to utilize giant processing and sorting machines that contribute to environmental decay. Finally, farmer’s markets usually operate in the open air and thus do not require electricity or heating.
4. Local farming supports the local economy. As mentioned earlier, the numbers of family farms have decreased over the years as they succumbed to the increasingly stiff competition from giant conglomerate-run farms that produce massive amounts of produce. Purchasing fruits and vegetables from farmer’s markets, however, supports your community and local family farms, giving them the valuable capital they need to keep operating while providing consumers an alternative to mass-produced foods.
5. Farmer’s markets are fun! Unlike their supermarket counterparts, farmer’s markets are the source of many pleasant memories. Your local farmer’s market can also be a great family activity and a nice way to interact with members of your community.

To find a farmer’s market near you, check out the National Farmers Market Directory on the United States Department of Agriculture’s website: https://www.ams.usda.gov/local-food-directories/farmersmarkets