Farmer’s Markets are so much more than just a place to buy fresh produce and farm products. Certainly, that’s the first thing you think of but when you are standing there, surrounded by the rainbow of colors and the smell of soil and fresh air, and you see the proud farmers showing off the results of their hard work, it simply causes you to wonder why you ever even thought about buying your produce in the grocery store. Farmer’s markets are a way for you to connect with your past and your community and you’ll actually get to know the person who’s growing your food. Now when’s the last time you got the chance to meet Mr. Libby or the Jolly Green Giant?

I actually visit two farmer’s markets, one that’s open on Saturdays and the other is Tuesdays. But here’s the thing. When it’s my turn to carpool the soccer team, I can’t always make it out to my Saturday market as early as I’d like and everything is usually picked over when I get there. One day when I was asking the farmer and his wife if they please had just one more basket of strawberries they told me that the crop was so sweet and juicy that they’d sold out of everything and only had enough left for their members.

Members?! What do you mean “Members”? How do you get to be a member of a farmer’s market? It sounded interesting but I had the brownest thumb in city and if they thought I’d be interested in attempting to grow my very own strawberries they were nuts.

However here’s the thing. This farm had a CSA (Community Sponsored Agriculture) program. And what that means is all I had to do was purchase an annual membership and every week they’d put together a basket of that week’s best produce and hold it for me until I could get there to pick it up. So if I had already had this membership I might have a fresh, juicy basket of strawberries along with all the other products they were putting into the baskets that week.

Of course, the baskets are different each week depending on what was ready for harvest but that is the fun part. We still get all of our favorites like onions and carrots and tomatoes, but my family is also getting to try new things that they’ve never tried before like squash and fresh herbs and even dandelion greens. And by being a member of their CSA I also get discounts every now and then on things like blackberries and blueberries if they had a really great harvest. And I simply love to make jams and jellies.

I still attempt to get to my markets as early as possible, especially when the different berries are ripe. And I still pick up fresh flowers and eggs and I got some really nice cheese there last week. But now that I am a CSA member I know that no matter what time I get to my favorite farmer’s market there will always be a basket of farm fresh produce waiting there with my name on it.