Revamp Farmers Market

[Lex]

Good points Job. I just want an oppurtunity to support more local farmers not just the farmers that are producing for the “elite”$$ that can afford those prices. I love taking trips to eastern washington and stopping in at the farms or road side vendors, fresh and reasonably priced. My Rainer cherries always come from a road side vendor on Front Street in Issaquah $2 a basket for Rainiers that huge and delish. I have tried Tony’s on Barton, love him and the roast corn he has every june. thats another thing why is corn so expensive in the grocery store these days aren’t there any farmers locally that can bring that product to the farmers market. Apples for instant they are grown in this state yet I pay more for an apple here than any other state i visit, oh I know why because all of the good stuff gets exported…sigh…

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[JoB]

Lex..

i agree that it is a difficult balance… i too love to stop at roadside stands when i can… where all costs other than those for production are minimized… and the produce is as fresh as you can get unless you pick it out of your garden…

and i admit to caring far more about fresh than about strictly organic…

jiggers..

i don’t know if eating organic and/or local will give you 20 more years… but i think it will help you enjoy them more…

i buy as local and as organic as i can because i believe it’s right.. but i would have a much harder time both justifying it and doing so if it didn’t taste so much better…

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[JoB]

Yardvark…

i think the delridge garden co-op… (i may not have the name quite right since it has been a very long day) is going to try a garden cart based on our local urban farmers…

***

could someone else please supply the details.. i have to go rest my brain now:(

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[bluebird]

You should buy organic if you like how it tastes and want to spend extra money for it. If you’re doing it because you think it’s healthier or safer, studies done by scientists, disagree.

http://articles.latimes.com/2004/sep/06/health/he-organic6

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[JoB]

bluebird..

i read the article and got the impression the jury is till out…

and it should be noted that tests are done with produce that is picked in the fields on the same day…

if you buy local you know the food you are buying is fresher than what you are likely to find in the local market..

i am looking forward to independent nutrition counsel tests on foods taken from local markets.. where consumers find them.

in the meantime i am going to buy local and buy what tastes good…

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[bluebird]

JoB, I agree. Buying local and fresh is always a good idea. It does taste better. And I think people who buy organic are doing so with good intentions. I just feel the label is more a marketing ploy than an indicator of a superior product. The nutrition isn’t different.

And chemicals and pesticides are not bad words to me. Insecticidal soap is one example of a pesticide that doesn’t frighten me. Cow and pig feces and urine (organic), does frighten me. That article states the risk of e coli from organic products is 5x higher. Yuck.

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[JoB]

bluebird…

5x higher where they tested… in one testing environment. and in Minnesota where the practice of Organic gardening and therefore the skill level isn’t as well developed as it is here.

one of the things i did in minnesota that i have yet to do here is visit the farms that produced the food i ate…

That alone made me a loyal organic valley customer :))) tho i do try to buy the NW version here…

and let me know which farmers i wanted to buy from at our local farmer’s market.

i am sensitive to pesticides.. so organic does matter to me.. i feel better as well as eat better.

i picked up a farm guide the other day.. i think it’s nearly time to go visiting. the pups love a ride in the country.

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[Yardvark]

Yeah, the jury is definitely still out on the benefits of an organic diet (and will likely remain so until there’s more profit to be made in organics).

But the results of spending your food money in your own economy here in the Northwest versus buying food from Mexico and California are pretty darn clear. Both in terms of just the anecdotle farmer’s story as well as accepted macro-economic studies.

Simple effects to it: The more local the purchase, the more cash gets to circulate locally before eventually taking off for broader pastures.

The more it circulates, the more it reaches beyond food to other local enterprises and the local citizen actually sees a nice diversity of multiplicative effects throughout their community, all from their simple local food purchases.

So, in the end, a dollar spent locally is worth far more (usually) to your own well being than a dollar spent elsewhere, especially in terms of food.

All that just to say….Organic food is decent…but local food is royalty.

As is local beer.

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[Yardvark]

And, if your economy thrives, you stand a better chance of actually finding a job with decent healthcare, which might then allow you to live an extra 20 years (maybe, possibly, could happen.)

(My best shot at your ultimatum, Jiggers.)

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[JoB]

Yardvark..

well done:)

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[JayDee]

The older I get, the more suspicious I get of corporate agriculture. So I buy organic when I can, and I am fortunate enough to be able to purchase organic. Science News recently had a blurb about organic produce having more of the seemingly beneficial antioxidants because the plants suffer from more predation — Pesticides haven’t removed all of the bugs that will eat veggies. So the plants increase production of anti-oxidants, thereby producing slightly less pretty food that is higher in nutrition.

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Personally I’d like to see more food vendors ala the U-District market and meat vendors other than the goat and wooly pig guys. Not that I don’t like goat or wooly pigs, but they are specialty meats. I asked Skagit River Ranch why they don’t come any more and they said West Seattle was too far away…

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[Author]

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