friendly famer's market
Wednesday, June 18, 2008 at 09:24PM 
All of my life, I have relied on the local grocery for my sustenance. Really, I enjoyed walking down the aisles, comparing the packages, the prices. It was like a game. And I bought into the packaging psychology. I never wanted the generic brand, only the things I had seen advertised on television. I believed the messages about what is healthy or would make me slim. Even though I was raised reading The Nation and to be an analytical thinker, food is something my family took for granted. We ate what was available.You can ask the produce worker at the grocer, “Where do your tomatoes come from?” California is undoubtedly the answer. Three thousand miles away. The worker does not know the farmer, does not know how the farmer treats his workers or what he puts on his produce. Isn’t there a double standard here? We ask our co-workers or church family to recommend a doctor that they trust or a mechanic that won’t take advantage of us. Concerns over the integrity of the medical care we receive should not take precedent over the character of the person who grows what we put in our bodies. We are more likely to worry about the character of someone who cares for our car than the person who grows what keeps us alive.
For this reason, I love eating local. In visits to the farms where our food comes from, and in going to the market each Thursday and Saturday, I come to know the people who grow my food. I know their children and grandparents. The farmer’s market is a special community, made up of people who share the same concerns over cancer, drought, and land preservation that I do. When I forge those relationships by buying the locally grown food, I gain a resource. “Is there a U-Pick nearby? What do you do about potato beetles? Has pasture raised beef helped cancer patients in your family?”
I encourage everyone to go out and enjoy the event that a farmer’s market can be and the satisfaction that comes from knowing the person who plants, cares for, and picks your food.
Reader Comments (1)
But we all know you really wish you were going to the durham farmers' market!!! How does your garden grow? We miss you and Joe so much and I have really been enjoying this blog and pondering the issues of eating and the decisions involved. Been meaning to call you....maybe this weekend?