Buying Local

Posted By Marlene on 2008-08-10 13:46

I spent a wonderful, Saturday morning at a farmer's market not far from my home. Because of busy weekends, I sometimes have to make a conscious effort to spend an hour there! I am so thankful that I did go and found the benefits above and beyond waht I expected.

1) Fresh vegetables. sweet corn, squash, lettuce, cucumbers, onions

2) The most delicious fruit, which you can often sample

3) Aromatic fresh basil and mint, which can "double" as an air freshener in your kitchen

4)The opportunity to connect with local farmers to get their great suggestions for simple summer dishes

When I got home that day I was inspired to research some of the benefits of buying local. Here are some of the facts that I learned and want to share:

Most produce in the US is picked 4-7 days before being placed on the supermarket shelves. Sometimes it is shipped over 1500 miles before it is sold, and this is taking into account US grown products. The distance is substantially longer when you consider produce from Mexico, Asia, Canada, South America and other places.

So next time we read a sign in the supermarket that says "fresh"...we will have to think twice about how fresh it really is, and how much of the money is going to oil that was used to ship the product, how much is going to the retailer to sell the product and VERY IMPORTANTLY, how the taste does not compare to the produce from a local, farmers market.

Just think of the impact we could all have if everyone reading this made at least one or two visits to a local farmers market in the summer, fall and spring seasons!

On this website's Resources Section, please read Michael Pollan's article on Understanding What Is At The Other End of Your Food Chain. (see www.michaelpollan.com)

1 Comments:

CSA

Posted By on 2008-09-18 18:13

Don't forget about CSAs!  (community supported agriculture).

Crop share farms are popping up all over the place and should be supported as much as possible!

click here to find one!

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