Find a Whole New Level of Health and Happiness at Your Local Farmers’ Market!

Have you seen them yet – the tents and trucks of farmers’ markets and CSAs popping up all over, in cities, towns and rural communities? They’re one of my favorite signs of summer, promising local produce from local farmers in weekly festivals of food, fun and connection!

If you haven’t discovered farmers’ markets for yourself yet, you may be wondering what this has to do with health and happiness…after all, why does it matter whether you get your veggies or meat direct from a local farmer or from a grocery stand marked “Local?” After all, being an On-the-Go Woman, you’re constantly looking for ways to save time!

I hear you! But as an On-The-Go Woman you especially need nourishment – not just basic nutrients, but nourishment of body, soul, and mind – and there are few better places for nourishing all three levels than at a farmer’s market or CSA.

For one thing – the anonymous farmers supplying those big-box grocery stands won’t answer your questions about how the veggies and cows, pigs, chickens, etc., were raised. They won’t be greeting you by name week after week, learning your favorites, and suggesting new taste experiences fresh out of the fields. They won’t share stories of the challenges and joys of farming, so you can come to know the life of your food before it ever hits your plate.

For me, that’s the best thing about buying direct from the farmers: connection. Food ceases to be a generic shrink-wrapped product and becomes part of a story and a human relationship. Being a part of this connection brings me happiness.

And from a health perspective, of course, there’s a huge difference between just-picked fresh food that grew on a small farm less than 100 miles from your home, and mass-produced food shipped from an agribusiness halfway across the continent, or in another country entirely!

Because the farmers at a market or CSA are likely to have organic , beyond-organic or integrative , or biodynamic operations, their products are loaded with genuine flavor…far from the bland, chemically-edged taste of Big Agriculture’s gassed, irradiated, pesticided, or genetically-modified produce.

But not only that. With a farmer’s market or CSA, you’re eating seasonally – foods that are at their peak here and now, in your area! Because of this, they supply vitamins and minerals that can’t be matched by out-of-season hothouse veggies that were picked before their prime, waxed, sprayed with preservatives, and transported for hundreds or thousands of miles.

In fact, if you tune in and really pay attention, you’ll find that the whole energetic field of this local food is different, brighter, more vibrant!

Speaking from my own experience as an On-The-Go Woman, if you buy food from these local, eco-conscious farmers for a month – or a summer! – you’ll find yourself reaching a new level of wellness. You’ll be connecting in mind, body, and spirit to an earlier, healthier time in our evolution, a time of connection to the earth, to the plants and animals that become our food, and to each other.

This is the way life should be!

You can learn more about the benefits of eating seasonal, locally-grown produce here . And to find the farmers’ markets closest to you, check out Local Harvest .

Please share where your favorite farmer’s market is located and your recent local purchases.

Bon appetit!