28 Reasons to Support Your Local Farm Market
It builds a sense of community. By stopping into small, local businesses, you can enjoy casual encounters with neighbors, friends, and people who support a similar cause. Public spaces such as a farmers market promotes a sense of community cohesiveness and positive relationships. It’s social networking in real life!
You can reduce your negative impact on the environment. Local businesses make local purchases, therefore reducing transportation and carbon emissions. They are also generally set up on the fringes of concentrated civilization, encouraging others to step away from the pollution and congestion often found in towns or cities.
The product is often much more nutritious and beneficial to you. Much of the food found in larger, chain corporations is highly processed and grown with the aid of pesticides, GMOs, and antibiotics or hormones. Some of it has even been gassed in transit to ensure it is at it’s peak ripeness when delivered. In contrast, most food found at farmers markets is minimally processed, making it cleaner and healthier.
Along with that, the food found at farmers markets is simply fresher. At Freedom Farms, much of the produce we sell has been picked in the last 24 hours and it is a similar story for many local farms. You really can’t get fresher than that. You may not be able to get tomatoes from us in the middle of January, but what you will get from us is going to be fresh and delicious.
Farmers markets and other local businesses don’t have the frenzied pace and hurried feel of larger chain stores. People support local to support their friends or neighbors, and part of supporting is stopping in to visit. We tend to want to run in and out of a store as fast as possible to make sure we get everything done in the day. Stopping into a local farmers market encourages you to slow down, enjoy where you are, and engage with the people around you.
The more you support local, the more they can invest in their product. At Freedom Farms, the more of our meat and produce you purchase, the more we can afford to put into ensuring that we continue to bring you the best product possible. This is true of all local businesses. If you love a local store near you, the best thing you can do is to be a patron. The more you shop, the more we can bring you.
Local farms and other businesses create local jobs and opportunities for members of the community. For example, a local farm is more likely to use a local printer, local accountant, or local attorney. Supporting local businesses gives them the chance to expand opportunities for other local entrepreneurs. Local farms are also more likely to employ people with deep ties to their surrounding community.
When you buy meat or produce from your local farm, you know exactly where that food is coming from. Many times, you can even physically see the fields it was grown in from the farmers market. And if the store isn’t located at the farm, many farms offer tours or festivals to give their customers a chance to see the exact fields where their produce was grown or their meat grazed each day.
In addition, you also know who grew your food. At Freedom Farms, our farmers are always willing to speak with customers about our methods and growing plans. You can shake the hand of the person who personally tended to the steak or broccoli you’re about to purchase. It’s satisfying to know that your food was grown with integrity.
When you do meet your farmer and buy that steak, you know that you are also supporting the humane treatment of animals. Much of the meat you may purchase at a larger chain corporation was raised in cramped, unnatural, and uncomfortable conditions. It was raised with quantity in mind, and not necessarily quality. Local farms often produce meat that was raised without hormones or antibiotics and the farmers go to great lengths to ensure that their animals live happy, healthy, stress-free lives.
It can be fun to support your local farm! Farmers markets specifically were created with a sense of community and togetherness in mind. Many stands will allow and even encourage you to sample their product before you purchase it. Many families make a day of it. You never know who you may meet.
With fuel costs seemingly always on the rise, supporting your local farm can also be a way to support fuel conservation. Larger corporations tend to receive their product from hundreds or even thousands of miles away in refrigerated trucks. At Freedom Farms, the farthest our produce ever travels is to one of our traveling farmers markets, therefore significantly reducing the amount of fuel used.
Local farms support the local economy. Studies show that every dollar spent at an independent business can return three times more money than a dollar spent at a chain, and that’s a benefit we can all appreciate. Your dollar spent at the local farmers market is guaranteed to stay in your community.
You’ll love the knowledge available at your local farm. They often hire people with a deeper understanding of the product they’re selling. The employees will take more time getting to know you and making sure you know exactly what you’re purchasing. You’ve got questions, they’ve got answers.
Supporting a local farm supports a sustainable system. Agriculture that uses pesticides, herbicides, GMOs, and other harmful products is not a sustainable practice. They may be getting excellent yield now, but all of that is hard on the land and on the ecosystem. At Freedom Farms, sustainability and natural practices are crucial to our mission.
Make a trip to your local farm or farmers market a tradition. In generations past, the weekly Sunday trip to the market was something to look forward to and to treasure. Build that tradition with your kids and get them excited about food.
Supporting local food preserves genetic diversity. Many heirloom varieties have gone by the wayside because they require a patience and gentle touch to harvest that large industry farms don’t have the time or interest in practicing. At Freedom Farms, all of our produce is harvested by hand. This gives Farmer Tim the opportunity to grow these unique and rare heirloom varieties that you may not get at a larger store.
Love your local farm, love your community. Local farms have deep ties to the community and often have had those ties for many generations. In times of trouble, a community is a wonderful thing to have around you.
When you support your local farm, you get to experience each season even more deeply. The food is always going to be produced seasonally and therefore, you get to cook with timely products. This process will help you reconnect with the natural cycles of weather and temperatures in your specific region of the country. You’re more in tune with the turning of the year.
With those seasonal foods, you may also get meal ideas and cooking tips from your local farmers. At Freedom Farms especially, Miss Lisa is famous for sharing her tried and true recipes with our customers. Farmers are used to eating seasonally and never wasting food, so they often come up with the most delicious, as well as unique, ideas for dinner. Or breakfast. Or lunch.
You may also be encouraged to try something new. Ever tried Swiss chard or a donut peach? You’ll have these opportunities and more at your local farm. You may just discover your new favorite fruit or vegetable!
Farmers markets are a fun thing to do as a family. It’s family-oriented and family-friendly. Let your kids pick out something special and then encourage them to help you in preparing it. They won’t even realize they’re building lifelong lessons, knowledge, and memories.
You’ll love the true and real flavors you encounter at your local farm. Our produce is fully ripened in the field and not in a truck on the way to the store. Farmer Tim picks fruits and vegetables to grow, based specifically on how tasty they are, not how much he will be able to harvest.
In addition to the flavors, you’ll also love the taste. Locally grown foods simply taste better. Once you buy produce from your local farmers market, you may never be able to eat it from a grocery store again.
When you support your local farm, you’re helping to keep your community unique. Where you shop or eat or hang out is all part of what makes your community a home. The one-of-a-kind local businesses that you support help ensure that the community is not overrun with chain stores and large corporations. That gives people the feeling of being someplace special, instead of what could be any town in the US.
Because variety is the spice of life, after all. Did you know we offer purple asparagus and yellow carrots? You’ll find varieties at your local farm market that you may not find at a larger grocery store. Explore the diversity that our planet has to offer.
Industrialized farming has become the norm in the United States, but your local farm is non-industrial and therefore, pays more attention to their product. We focus on quality, not quantity. We cultivate and care for our land, and we take great pride in what we do.
Why not? You have nothing to lose by supporting and loving your local farm! We always appreciate your business and won’t turn down the opportunity to educate our customers!
