I know a lot of people assume farmers’ markets are summer-only affairs. They believe that July and August are bounty months and once you miss those, oops. It’s over. Too late to enjoy the market.
Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong and wrong.
September and even October are prime months to visit your local farmers’ market. Many fruits and veggies are ripe for the picking in late summer and early fall. So if you haven’t gone to a market yet, now’s the time to do it.
Although we have a garden, the harvest this year hasn’t been as big as we’d hoped. So I reserve about 25% of my grocery budget to buy produce at the farmers’ market. It’s a great way to support local producers and get fresh, healthy food into my family’s diet.
Today I went to the Oconomowoc market with my three girls, and we scored a wonderful variety of fantastic produce — even items that I didn’t know could grow in Wisconsin! Most of what we bought is organic, and much of the rest is low-spray or no-spray produce. The meat is pasture-raised from a local family.
We bought:
- Jicama (My girls eat this cut up into sticks, like carrots)
- Edamame (We love to boil these and eat them lightly salted. YUM.)
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Onions
- Green onions
- Potatoes
- Red and orange peppers
- Eggplant (My daughter’s choice…guess I’ll make eggplant parmigiana soon)
- Spartan apples (Too bad the cider was sold out)
- Honey sticks
- Raspberries (These didn’t even make it home)
- Green beans
- Tomatoes
- Ground pork and beef
- Carrots
Whew! It was quite the haul this week. I know some of it will last us through next week, when I’ll be out of town and my husband might not have time to go to the market.
I am really looking forward to the next few weeks of farmers’ markets. I will be sad when they stop at the end of October. But until then, I’ll be saving my dollar bills for the farmers at the Saturday market.