
As great as farmers markets are, there are five things to keep in mind when buying from the farmers market so that you have the most authentic buying experience:
Radius and Regulations:

Organic Certification:
One thing I often see is that a farm vendor claims to be "organic". While they may use organic practices and take awesome care of their land and harvest, there is always the chance that they are just claiming that. The best way to ensure organic or any other type of production claim is to talk to the farmer, understand how they farm, and visit the farm. If organic is your thing and absolutely important, you'll want to ask if they are USDA Organic Certified. It's a daunting process, so for me personally, I feel better knowing my farmer and how they farm versus whether they actually have a certification or not.
Health:
I, personally, have never had a bad experience, but note that not all farmers markets have strict sanitary and cleaning requirements. Because the products you buy have most likely NOT been inspected by an official, know that you are taking a risk and that you should always wash your fruits and veggies! Raw milk is of course a dicey issue and not recommended unless you grew up on it! Also keep in mind that just because something was grown "natural" or "organic" doesn't mean that lower chemical level pesticides/herbicides were applied and that animals and bugs have most likely come across the produce just like those sold commercially.
Seasonality:
While it seems second nature, oftentimes we get so excited to purchase fresh and direct that we forget to think about what's actually in season. This doesn't tend to happen in smaller markets, in bigger city ones vendors may prey on shopper ignorance and sell fruits and veggies straight from the grocery store. Yikes!I experienced this last summer at the Minneapolis Farmers Market. There were lots of honest, authentic vendors, but also a few larger ones who had all sorts of tomatoes, zucchini, mangoes, and bananas for sale in the beginning of June--obviously not in season or even grown in Minnesota! So how do you avoid this? Consult a seasonality chart. Here is a general one:

There are also ones that have been developed for specific states and these are links to ones for Virginia, North Carolina, and Minnesota!
http://www.vdacs.virginia.gov/vagrown/pdf/producechart.pdf
http://www.ncagr.gov/markets/availabilitychart.pdf
http://www.mda.state.mn.us/~/media/Files/food/minnesotagrown/producecalendar.ashx
Oftentimes, the farmer will tell you when the produce was harvest or meat was slaughtered. This is a good indication of how soon you should consume the goods and one quick tip is to look at the bottom of stems on veggies and make sure they are still moist and not hardened over, which would indicate longer time from picking.
I hope these few tips will help make your market experience better and I encourage you to ask questions to the farmers and get more connected with where your food is coming from! Happy shopping!
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Our loot from the Minneapolis Farmers Market! |
Resources:
http://farmersmarketcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/WhyMarkets_August2013.jpg
http://www.dailyinfographic.com/fruitsvegetablesherbs-when-are-they-in-season-infographic
http://newhope360.com/news/infographic-what-fruits-and-vegetables-are-season
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