Your Farmers' Market

Sure, you may know what a farmers' market is, and perhaps maybe you have gone to one. Some of you may even shop at your local market on a regular basis. If so, bravo! You are doing something that has so many wonderful--and perhaps, little known--effects. Farmers' markets may just seem trendy and intriguing right now (which does delight me, by the way), but they are so much more to so many people. Particularly, for many small, local farmers who simply cannot--and perhaps DO NOT--want to compete for market share in an increasingly monopolized and degraded food economy, farmers' markets represent their livelihoods. In an industry that has turned its back on and become foe to the small-scale farmer, direct-selling venues such as the farmers' market are the last bastion. For those of you who care to know when, where and how your food was grown or raised (and if you don't care, you really should!), farmers markets are the answer.

Whether you choose to get in and get out or linger for browsing, conversation, perhaps some music and hot food, farmers' markets have something for everyone. Yes, they provide a sensual environment, but the following to me are their most virtuous qualities: they are local (which means they provide jobs, get the community engaged, and support the local food growers/processors); they offer specialty goods and produce that exceed the competition in freshness and quality; and through our patronage, we support small-scale farming and all-natural and organic practices, which have significant environmental impacts. Also, as is the case with the South Tacoma Farmers' Market here in Western Washington, they can sometimes provide a lower-income community and its residents with their only source of fresh food. In the late spring through early fall, what I don't grow myself, I buy at my local farmers' markets. And when the market isn't open, I shop at my town's member-owned food co-operative (for another blog post). Yes, globally we are experiencing a food crisis. Many people may not know it or understand it, but we are. Companies are for the first time in history, owning and manipulating "life" in the form of seeds, and thereby they are messing with evolution. The full effects of which we are just beginning to learn. Genetically-modified foods are assaulting our food supply and our bodies, and because we are increasingly reliant on a smaller and smaller number of large farming operations, when something happens to those farms (drought, fire, flood, disease), the effects are catastrophic. We may only experience this at the register when we pay the grocery bill, but many others see it in the form of empty plates and hungry tummies. Also, something you might not realize is that large-scale farming practices do not work in harmony with nature, therefore they plunder all the nutrients from the soil. It's dead soil, brought back to life by chemical fertilizers. It's like...zombie soil. And I don't particularly like the idea of eating food from "undead" soil. Our bodies don't like it either. Did you know that today you would have to eat 50 bowls of spinach to get the same nutrient value as 1 bowl in the 1950s? I could go on and on, but for the sake of space and time, I won't. There is plenty of information on the subject of the food crisis, and movies I recommend. Among them: Dirt , Food, Inc., and The Future of Food. The bottom line, there is something YOU can do to help. Yes, chic li'l you. First, simply start asking the question: "where and how was this food grown?" And then, take action. In the crunchy-chicest of ways, if you don't grow the food yourself, buy your groceries at your farmers' markets. You won't be sorry. It's a truly refreshing, fluorescent-light-free experience, and one that supports many people and many important principles. And the food...oh my gosh! There is nothing like a plump, warm heirloom tomato, a deep purple beet that was pulled from its resting place in the ground just hours earlier, bright rainbow chard that almost glows, and crisp heads of freshly-picked lettuce wet with that morning's dew. Go and talk with the person who grew and picked the food. And take it home. You will "taste" for the first time if you have never had something that fresh. It will change your life...and it just might save the life of your local farmer. We truly are what we eat...so what are your choices saying about you? I encourage you to learn more. Find a farmers' market near you!