As I have said on several occasions, I am a huge proponent of buying in season, fresh produce from local farmers. The health benefits to the consumer are more than enough to switch from grocery store produce shipped from out of state to the wonderful bounty of local fruits and vegetables offered from small farms. However, it is hard to do this when you don’t live in a city like D.C., which has an abundance of farmers markets to choose from around the metro area.
While working at the farm stand last weekend, Farmer Randy told me about a non-profit organization called Buy Fresh Buy Local based in Pennsylvania. Buy Fresh Buy Local (BFBL) uses its resources to market and promote the use of fresh produce from local farms. Its mission is to strengthen the small farms throughout the country and encourage the concept of sustainable agriculture. Within the parent organization are local chapters throughout the USA, most of which have a presence on the internet thanks to BFBL. Even better, the local chapter websites provide the user with tools to identify local farms stands, markets, CSAs and direct-farm purchase opportunities. If you are interested in using more local produce in your cooking, visit the BFBL website or Local Harvest, another website that provides search engines for local produce opportunities. Trust me, the flavors of fresh produce alone are worth it!
I will be visiting a few of the farmer’s markets this weekend to get a feel for what is currently available. I will be sure to report back! Have a good weekend!
Stumble It!
Adventures in Shaw 
i can’t keep up with youuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
Sure you can…you’re just busy making all that fabulous pasta with that fabulous gadget that I really, really want…but some dumb ass on ebay outbid me!!!!!
Buying fresh produce from a farmer’s market is always the way to go, I whole-heartedly agree! Thanks for the link, too. Enjoy all that wonderful produce!
Those vegetables look so fresh and vibrantly colourfull. I am still waiting for the local spring produce to start showing up at the farmers market.
I couldn’t agree with you more about farmers markets. Here in NYC we’re lucky to have a fantastic network of markets spread throughout the city, and I got hooked soon after I moved here. We’ve just started getting ramps and asparagus and rhubarb, and strawberries should start to appear next week. It’s always much better than the stuff from the supermarket!
Like you I enjoy talking to the farmers, and they always seem to take such pride in talking about the food they produce. Some of them have even let me visit their farms (especially when I told them I would write about them on my blog, daveskitchen.com). It’s so fun to be able to see first hand how the food is raised, and the beautiful places it comes from.