We are your weekly stop for locally grown, made or sourced foods.
Eating local has never been easier. Here are some of our top reasons you should visit the Simcoe Farmers Market
1. Eating Fresh
Local food is fresher, tastes better and is likely more nutritious. At a farmer’s market, most local produce has been picked within the last 24 hours, ensuring it is ripe and at its peak nutrient-density. In contrast, most supermarket produce was picked days or weeks prior to reaching the grocery store shelf. As soon as a food is harvested its nutrient content begins to deteriorate, specifically vitamins C, E, A and some B. Of course, produce that has travelled still has nutritional value, but the fresher the fruit or vegetable the more nutrient-dense it will be.
4. Eating mindfully.
When it comes to eating mindfully, there are many more components than just what we are eating, the who, where, when, how and why are just as important, if not more. When you shop locally you are more connected to the food you eat; knowing who produced it, what farm it came from, and exactly how it got from farm to fork. It’s the same way mom’s homemade tomato sauce evokes a very different feeling and connection than the stuff you grab at the Superstore while buying your toilet paper.
2. Eating seasonally.
When you eat locally, you eat with the seasons, and the cycle of seasonal produce is perfectly designed to support your health. If you get back to basics and consider how we ate before the modern grocery store, we simply ate what was available to us at that time of year. Eating seasonally is the most natural way to eat, and one of the most beneficial to our bodies. In the peak of summer, our bodies require cooling foods like fresh fruits, vegetables, and berries to help us handle the elements, while in the dark and cold days of winter we need rich and warming high-fat foods, root vegetables, and fermented foods. Eating seasonally also helps to avoid eating the same thing all year round, which is less than ideal for your health. Our local seasons provides the ideal foods for our body’s natural needs based on our geographic location.
3. Discover something new.
Eating well can get boring if you stick to the basics; there are only so many times you can eat oatmeal for breakfast and chicken with broccoli for dinner. For instance, how many varieties of tomato can you find at your local grocery store? Maybe 3? Farmers are keeping nearly 300 varieties of tomatoes alive every single year, leaving little room for boredom. Eating seasonally forces you to try to foods and be more creative in the kitchen.
5. Eco-positive.
Buying local shortens the distribution chain, sourcing your food directly from the farm means there is less waste produced. There is less packaging from transportation, shipping and consumer marketing, but it also means less environmental waste from pollution. Plus there is less food wastage.
6. Supports local business.
When you buy food in the grocery store most of the cost you incur goes to the transportation, processing, packaging, refrigeration, and marketing of that food, and not necessarily to the farmers themselves. When you are buying from one of our local farmers and producers, you are supporting your local community, and your money goes back into producing more local food and products for you.
7. Supports sustainable agriculture.
Eating locally encourages diversification of local agriculture and crop variety. This, in turn, reduces the reliance on monoculture; single crops grown over a wide area to the detriment of soils. The reality is that our food is only as nutrient-dense as the soil in which it is grown; although strawberries are known to contain high levels of vitamin C, these levels are heavily dependent on the quality of the soil in which they are grown, and their level of freshness.
8. Gives power to the consumer.
Every time you buy from a local farmer you have an opportunity to ask questions, learn about their farming practices and gain a better understanding of your food. People have very strong opinions about the state of our food and agriculture systems, be it positive or negative, but the reality is that as a consumer you have a choice to connect with your food sources and ensure ongoing food sustainability and security in our area.