Farmers markets continue to grow in popularity, mostly due to the rising consumer interest in obtaining fresh products directly from the farm. Today, there are more than 4,600 farmers markets operating throughout the nation, even in the hearts of urban areas. But how do you find one?

Farmers markets sell locally grown, farm fresh produce, and often let you deal directly with the grower who raised the product you’re holding. Want to know the best ways to cook baby bok choy? Question the person who raised it!

Shop smart, question a lot of questions, and you’ll find scrumptious, “ripened in the field” quality you just can’t get anywhere else. Farmers markets also often offer rare items you just won’t find at your local supermarket.

Imagine taking home some tomatoes that were ripening on the vine just the day before, nearly as fresh as some you might grow in your own garden. If you’ve never had a tomato that fresh and ripe, you’ve truly never tasted tomato. And that’s just one item you might find. Have you ever tasted Mt. Rainier Fireweed Honey? Blackberry honey? At our local market, one of our local beekeepers often has a table with at least a dozen varieties of honey. And yes, you can even get the honeycomb.

Lots of markets also feature locally made crafts items — in fact, half of the fun of going to farmers markets is the never-ending variety and constantly changing line up of products and vendors. You never know what you’ll find — so don’t go expecting it to be like your local supermarket. You have to have at least a teaspoon of appreciation for being surprised to be a right farmers market fan!

When you visit farmers markets you’ll also be supporting your local farmers and helping the environment — when you buy food locally, it doesn’t have to be transported hundreds or thousands of miles by truck or train. That’s win/win/win, and we haven’t even talked about the fun and the “meet your neighbors” community building aspects of farmers markets.

Your local farmers market probably doesn’t have a lot of money to promote itself so you may not even know if it exists or where it is. I found a couple of resources that list a lot of them and you can search by your home state or even your zip code. A tip, though — whomever programmed this first web page wasn’t thinking like a user, so if you don’t check “ALL” for “payments accepted”, you’ll get no results for your state.

This is the URL for the USDA’s site that lists (and promotes) farmers markets:

http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/farmersmarkets

And this site lists not only farmers markets, but roadside stands, “pick your own” farms and more.

http://www.localharvest.org/

The author of one of my favorite cookbooks, (Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone), Deborah Madison also wrote a fantastic book about the joys, benefits and how-to’s of farmers markets and buying locally: Local Flavors is a book filled with Deborah’s passion for excellent food and for life in general.

About the Author

Michael Burnette founded Great2Cook.com, a site devoted to making a global community of friends who like to cook. Great2Cook.com features nearly 2000 free cooking videos.

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Tags: Blackberry, Bok, Consumer Interest, Farmers Market, farmers markets, Field Quality, Fireweed Honey, Fresh Produce, Fresh Products, Helping The Environment, Local Beekeepers, Local Market, Mt Rainier, Neighbors, Supermarket, Teaspoon, Tomato, Tomatoes, Urban Areas, Vine