What Eating Local Means for Us - Part 2

The Local Farmers' Market

I see my community there

The one closest to my home has a number of vendors I support.

• One sells hydroponically-produced tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and eggplant year-round. I admit to buying them from time to time to broaden my diet, but I prefer soil-grown for the reasons I mentioned here.
• One sells a large variety of organic products from near and far. I go to them for fruits and berries grown in neighbouring BC, as well as lemons from Mexico. I wish I could buy locally grown Meyer lemons, but sadly that is a niche no one has yet seen their way to fill.
• The veggie stall I like the best offers a good selection storage vegetables; potatoes, carrots, beets, parsnips, parsley root, turnips, rutabagas, garlic, leeks, onions, cabbage and kohlrabi. These are the garden staples our ancestors grew for themselves in large quantities and ate while the ground was frozen.

I can fill out most of the smaller quantities of shopping list there too.

• butcher
• baker
• cheese maker (eggs too)
• honey
• hazelnuts

Obviously there are gaps in the shopping list that force me to visit a high volume seller, but if I buy these non-perishables in bulk, I don't have to go as often. I hope I have made my point; we can eat pretty well on local produce if we commit to eating seasonally. That is what I intend to demonstrate with my cookbook.