Ten Good Reasons to Shop at a Farmer's Market

From: (http://www.cuesa.org/sustainable_ag/issues/10reasons.php)

1.) Taste Real Flavors: The fruits and vegetables you buy at the farmers market are the freshest and tastiest available. Fruits are allowed to ripen in the field and brought directly to you - no long-distance shipping, no gassing to simulate the ripening process, no sitting for weeks in storage. This food is as real as it gets -food fresh from the farm.

2.) Enjoy the Season: The food you buy at the farmers market is seasonal. It is fresh and delicious and reflects the truest flavors. Shopping and cooking from the farmers market helps you to reconnect with the cycles of nature in our region. As you look forward to asparagus in spring, savor sweet corn in summer, or bake pumpkins in autumn, you reconnect with the earth, the weather, and the turning of the year.

3.) Support Family Farmers: Family farmers are becoming increasingly rare as large agribusiness farms and ranches steadily take over food production in the U.S. Small family farms have a hard time competing in the food marketplace. Buying directly from farmers gives them a better return for their produce and gives them a fighting chance in today's globalized economy.

4.) Protect the Environment: Food in the U.S. travels an average of 1500 miles to get to your plate. All this shipping uses large amounts of natural resources (especially fossil fuels), contributes greatly to pollution and creates excess trash with extra packaging. Conventional agriculture also uses many more resources than sustainable agriculture and pollutes water, land and air with toxic agricultural by-products. Food at the farmers market is transported shorter distances and grown using methods that minimize the impact on the earth.

5.) Nourish Yourself: Much food found in grocery stores is highly processed. The fresh produce you do find is often grown using pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, and genetic modification. In many cases it has been irradiated, waxed, or gassed in transit. All of these practices have potentially damaging effects on the health of those who eat these foods. In contrast, most food found at the farmers market is minimally processed, and many of our farmers go to great lengths to grow the most nutritious produce possible by building their soil's fertility and giving their crops the nutrients they need to flourish in the ground and nourish those who eat them.

6.) Discover the Spice of Life ~ Variety: At the Farmers Market you find an amazing array of produce that you don't see in your supermarket: red carrots, a rainbow of heirloom tomatoes, white peaches, stinging nettles, green garlic, watermelon radishes, quail eggs, maitake mushrooms, gigande beans, whole pheasants, and much, much more. It is a wonderful opportunity to experience firsthand the diversity (and biodiversity) of our planet, both cultivated and wild!

7.) Promote Humane Treatment of Animals: At the farmers market, you can find meats, cheeses, and eggs from animals that have been raised without hormones or antibiotics, who have grazed on green grass and been fed natural diets, and who have been spared the cramped and unnatural living conditions of so many of their brethren on feedlots.

8.) Know Where Your Food Comes From: A regular trip to a farmers market is one of the best ways to reconnect with where your food comes from. Farmers themselves sell their produce at the farm stands. Meeting and talking to farmers is a great opportunity to learn more about how food is grown, where it is grown, when it is grown, and why! CUESA's "Meet the Producer" program and our Farmer Profiles that hang at the booths give you even more opportunities to learn about the people who work so hard to bring you the most delicious and nutritious food around.

9.) Learn Cooking Tips, Recipes, and Meal Ideas: Few grocery store cashiers or produce stockers will give you tips on how to cook the ingredients you buy, but farmers, ranchers, and vendors at the farmers market are often passionate cooks with plenty of free advice about how to cook the foods they are selling. They'll give you ideas for what to have for supper, hand out recipes, and troubleshoot your culinary conundrums. At the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, you can attend cooking workshops such as Shop with the Chef - a weekly program featuring seasonal ingredients prepared by leading Bay Area chefs - with free recipes and samples!

10.) Connect with Your Community: Wouldn't you rather stroll amidst outdoor stalls of fresh produce on a sunny day than roll your cart around a grocery store with artificial lights and piped in music? Coming to the Farmers Market makes shopping a pleasure rather than a chore. The Farmers Market is a community gathering place - a place to meet up with your friends, bring your children, or just get a taste of small-town life in the midst of our wonderful big city.

To find a market near your home or work visit:

http://www.pcfma.com/
http://www.localharvest.org/

From the Dr. Oz Website: 10 Major Agers

Plastic Safety

I found the following article very interesting. It is from the Environmental Working Group and the original article can be found at http://www.ewg.org/healthy-home-tips-04#whypick.

I took the liberty to bold the portions I found to be particulary important. One omission here is that many children's lunchboxes are made with vinyl and sometime even contain lead. My favorites are Widkin luchboxes http://www.wildkin.com/wdk_lunch.html and have found the best prices at ebags.com.

There is some early research linking the hormone disruption cause by BPA's to obesity and cancers.

I had to laugh at the suggestion to let your teething baby chew on wood instead of plastic. What?!

Let me know what you think!

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Pick Plastics Carefully

Our homes are filled with plastics, and most of us don't really know what they're made of -- or whether they're safe. EWG has put together these tips to help you choose better plastics and plastic alternatives for your family:

WHY YOU SHOULD CHOOSE PLASTICS CAREFULLY.
The toxicity of plastics is not fully understood or adequately tested. What we do know is that most plastics contain chemical additives to change the quality of the plastic for its intended use (examples are to make it softer or resistant to UV light). Some of these ingredients or additives we know are harmful, like the plastics chemical bisphenol-A (BPA) and the plastic softeners called phthalates. Others, we just don't know enough about.

We also know that plastics chemicals routinely migrate, or leach, into the food and water they contain. While the amount may be small, it has not been proven safe. As EWG senior scientist Dr. Anila Jacob told Web MD recently,

Although most of the chemicals making the culinary crossing are considered "safe," Jacob tells WebMD that's generally not because they've been proved safe, but rather they haven't been proven to be unsafe.

"There is very little published research on the potential adverse health effects of chemicals that leach from plastic food containers, so it's difficult to say they're safe with any degree of certainty, especially with long-term use," says Jacob.

BPA and phthalates, however, are better understood. They are both potent hormone disruptors that are increasingly linked to health effects like brain and behavior changes, cancer, and reproductive system damages.

Plastics are continually changing and there are unknowns. Use them with caution, especially those that are commonly found in our households and have contact with our food and our bodies.

CHOOSE AND USE SAFER PLASTICS -- WHERE IT MATTERS MOST.
Because plastics are ubiquitous today, choose them carefully to minimize your exposures. Avoiding them altogether isn't practical, so we suggest you focus on those that are likely to come into contact with your mouth -- the most common way chemicals in plastic consumer products enter the body. Plastic chemicals touch your mouth in a number of ways: from your hands and your food and drink. This is especially important for young children, who frequently put hands and objects in their mouths.

Plastics to avoid:
Stay away from toys marked with a "3" or "PVC" (PVC stands for polyvinyl chloride, commonly called vinyl). PVC is often mixed with phthalates, a toxic additive that makes plastic more flexible. While phthalates were recently banned in new children's toys, they may be in toys made before February 2009 when the ban went into effect, as well as in shower curtains, inflatable beach toys, raincoats and toys for children older than 12.

Avoid polycarbonate containers (sometimes marked with a #7 or "PC"), especially for children's food and drinks. These plastics are rigid and transparent, like plastic food storage containers and water bottles, among other things. Trace amounts of BPA can migrate from these containers, particularly if used for hot food or liquids. Soft or cloudy-colored plastic does not contain BPA.

A recent study from Harvard University found that college students drinking their cold drinks from polycarbonate bottles had 93% more BPA in their bodies than during the weeks that they drank liquids from other containers.

We recommend the use of glass over plastics. When you have no choice, plastics marked with a #1, 2, 4, or 5 don’t contain BPA and may be better choices.

How to handle plastics:
When you do use plastics, handle them safely. We suggest that you:
Don't microwave food or drinks in plastic containers -- even if they claim to be "microwave safe." Heat can break down plastics and release chemical additives into your food and drink. Microwaves heat unevenly, creating hot spots where the plastic is more likely to break down.

Use plastic containers for cool liquids -- not hot.

Don't reuse single-use plastics. They can break down and release plastics chemicals when used repeatedly.

Avoid old, scratched plastic water bottles. Exposures to plastics chemicals may be greater when the surface is worn down.

Wash plastics on the top rack of the dishwasher, farther from the heating element, or by hand. This will reduce wear and tear.

Don't allow your baby or young child to handle or chew on plastic electronics (the remote, your cell phone) because they may be treated with fire retardants (learn more about fire retardants and how to reduce your family's exposure in a previous Healthy Home Tip).

Wash children's hands before they eat.

SOME SAFER ALTERNATIVES:
Where mouth contact is likely, stay away from plastics. There are a wide variety of safer alternatives available to meet your family's needs. Some ideas are:
For the kids
When bottle feeding infants, choose glass or BPA-free baby bottles with a clear silicone nipple. See our 1-page Guide to Baby-Safe Bottles and Formula for more on safe bottle feeding.

Give your baby natural teethers like frozen washcloths or natural, uncoated wood. Plastic teethers could have harmful additives that leach when chewed.

Look for toys made of natural materials, like wool, cotton, and uncoated wood.

In the kitchen
Ceramic or glass food containers (like Pyrex) are better to store and heat your food and drink.
When using an electric mixer, choose glass or Pyrex instead of plastic to avoid chipping bits of plastic into your food.

Carry a glass or stainless steel water bottle without a plastic or "epoxy" lining.

Lay natural flooring instead of vinyl.

Use wooden cutting boards -- but care for them properly to minimize bacteria.

Cover food in the microwave with a paper towel instead of plastic wrap.

In the bathroom
Pick a cotton shower curtain instead of vinyl.

In the tub, play with cotton washcloths, finger puppets, wooden toy boats and lightweight aluminum cups instead of soft plastic bath toys and books.