Eating Locally Just Got Easier: It's Farmers' Market Season!

Ahh yes, the growing season is upon us in Colorado (FINALLY!!) and that means that it's time for our beloved farmers' markets to open up.

Okay, there are some folks that have been livin' la vida locavore so-to-speak with their year-round markets. Sincere thanks go to Denver Urban Homesteading with its Indoor Farmers Market and to the Highland's In Season Local Market.

But as for now, this is the time for the rest of the farmers' markets to join the locavore party. They are one of the best ways to eat locally as well as support local artisans such as soap makers and bakers. LocalHarvest.org has a great blurb on why eating locally is environmentally important that I can't resist sharing:

Most produce in the US is picked 4 to 7 days before being placed on supermarket shelves, and is shipped for an average of 1500 miles before being sold. And this is when taking into account only US grown products! Those distances are substantially longer when we take into consideration produce imported from Mexico, Asia, Canada, South America, and other places.

We can only afford to do this now because of the artificially low energy prices that we currently enjoy, and by externalizing the environmental costs of such a wasteful food system. We do this also to the detriment of small farmers by subsidizing large scale, agribusiness-oriented agriculture with government handouts and artificially cheap energy.

Cheap oil will not last forever though. World oil production has already peaked, according to some estimates, and while demand for energy continues to grow, supply will soon start dwindling, sending the price of energy through the roof. We'll be forced then to reevaluate our food systems and place more emphasis on energy efficient agricultural methods, like smaller-scale organic agriculture, and on local production wherever possible.

Cheap energy and agricultural subsidies facilitate a type of agriculture that is destroying and polluting our soils and water, weakening our communities, and concentrating wealth and power into a few hands. It is also threatening the security of our food systems, as demonstrated by the continued e-Coli, GMO-contamination, and other health scares that are often seen nowadays on the news.

These large-scale, agribusiness-oriented food systems are bound to fail on the long term, sunk by their own unsustainability. But why wait until we're forced by circumstance to abandon our destructive patterns of consumption? We can start now by buying locally grown food whenever possible. By doing so you'll be helping preserve the environment, and you'll be strengthening your community by investing your food dollar close to home. Only 18 cents of every dollar, when buying at a large supermarket, go to the grower. 82 cents go to various unnecessary middlemen. Cut them out of the picture and buy your food directly from your local farmer.

For a complete listing of Colorado farmers markets, pick up a copy of the 2010 Colorado Farm Fresh Directory, with information on more than 200 farmers markets, farms, ranches, roadside stands and other agricultural operations that reach out to the public. It’s free at participating libraries, chambers of commerce and at CSU Extension offices, and it’s also accessible online at www.coloradoagriculture.com/farmfresh.

In addition, this Saturday, June 5th is the Denver Handmade Homemade Market is having its first gig from 5-8pm! It is an alternative market place; one that brings community together and creates another venue for a local economy. We want to bring people together to share and exchange their passion for local food, art, crafts, and music. Here you can "donate" money for food/goods produced in local homes and backyards.

Now it's time to get our of the blogosphere and get out there!! Enjoy Colorado!