Farmers’ Market May 5, 2010

It is no secret that was born and raised a city kid; all of my fruits and vegetables came from Hy-Vee.  I learned to can and freeze foods in a food science class in college, which both of my grandmothers (both farm kids) scoffed at.  They wondered why go through the bother and hassle when there are perfectly good frozen and canned foods at the grocery store.  But with the ups and downs of our current economy, and the current American Obesity Crisis, it seems as though more and more people are interested in what they can do to obtain more fresh foods.  Currently, vegetable gardening is making a HUGE comeback.  Now I know this must seem strange to people living around here, but to be perfectly honest, this is the first place I’ve ever lived where I’m the odd man out for NOT having some sort of garden. 

 I do, however, love me a big Farmers’ Market.  And so since the Des Moines Downtown Farmers’ Market (DFM) opened a week early this year due to popular demand, I thought this week we could discuss why we should all support this local beauty.

 Buy Fresh Buy Local:

Not being local myself, I was impressed that the DFM has been around for 35 years, and they have a campaign called Buy Fresh Buy Local where they encourage consumers to look for locally grown/produced products.  This supports the area farmers and gardeners to ensure that the DFM will be around for generations to come, and the dollars we spend stay in our community.  There is a BFBL booth at the DFM where the staff will answer all of your questions, help you set up farm tours, provide you with samples, recipes and a list of up coming events.  So if you have questions about setting up your own garden, this organization might be a good place to start! 

 (Sidebar:  The DFM also is in its second year of a program called Meals From the Market.  This program accepts donations of fresh produce to donate to area food banks –an excellent way to distribute excess produce at the end of its growing season)

 Try Something New:

My first exposure to a truly sizable farmers’ market didn’t come until I was in grad school where I was introduced to the West Side Market in Cleveland, OH.  After my first visit, I was hooked.  Not only did this place sell produce, but they had a whole inside section that sold local meats, cheeses, seafood, bread and other confectionary delights, (my mouth is watering just thinking about a piece of chocolate from a place called Oooooooh… Fudge).  Through this market, I tried my first Heirloom tomatoes, Yukon Gold, blue and purple potatoes, wild blackberries, white asparagus, arugula, kohlrabi, pomegranate, broccoli rabe, jicima, and a variety of apples I’d never heard of.  I ate fresh pasta for the first time there, although I was not quite brave enough to try the squid ink variety (oddly, something I regret now).  It was the goal of my roommates and me to try something new every week.  And while I have to imagine that some of the more exotic fruits and vegetables may have been imported, (although maybe not……greenhouses and high tunnels are amazing things anymore) it was still a weekly taste bud explosion, and easy on our wallets.  This is something you could easily do here to encourage your kids to keep their eyes and their minds open to trying new foods. 

 Do it for Your Health:

There’s a meal plan out there called the DASH Diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) developed after the results of a 1992-ish, MASSIVE, multi-center study showed that dietary patterns can affect blood pressure.  The results and subsequent meal plan are supported by the American Heart Association, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute among other importation organizations.  Basically (and this is a bare-bones explanation of the results), if people control their sodium intake, eat plenty of whole grains, and focus on whole, fresh fruits and vegetables, people with hypertension could see considerable drops in blood pressure.  What better place to look for whole, fresh fruits and vegetables than your local farmers’ market. 

 Now, if you’re interested in the DASH Diet, there is an official DASH Diet book that I’m sure is in bookstores everywhere, and all sorts of cookbooks that use the concept.  The website, www.dashdiet.org also does a decent job of outlining the basics.  But if you feel like you’ve got a good understanding of how many fruits and vegetables you should be eating daily, and just want some new recipes, I can recommend 2 cookbooks.  I have both, if anyone wants to borrow them.  The first is called “Jamie At Home”, a book by Jamie Oliver (my new hero).  I believe this was also a show on the BBC.  But it features recipes using the produce Jamie grows in his garden, and tips on growing the vegetables.  If, after while, you’ve found your inner monolog sounds British, you may want to switch to “EatingWell in Season:  The Farmers’ Market Cookbook”.  This book, developed by the fine people at EatingWell, provides recipes using produce broken down by season.  Each recipe comes with a nutrition breakdown so you can see what nutrients you are getting with each recipe.

 Revolutionizing the Farmers’ Market:

Does anyone else think it is strange (appalling) that there’s a McDonald’s INSIDE the Mercy Medical Center?  While it would make Fast Food Friday much easier, I think it sends an awful message to patients and their families.  A growing handful of hospitals feel the same way and this is why these hospitals sponsor their own farmers’ markets.  It started with one doctor on the west coast with a chain of not-for-profit hospitals by Kaiser Permanente.  Dr. Preston Maring decided that enough was enough and to make a long story short, he started a weekly Farmers’ Market in the parking lot of his Oakland Medical Center near San Francisco.  Dr. Maring even set up a system with the growers to deliver produce to medical offices so that if people couldn’t get out to get their veggies, the veggies came to them.  And, Dr, Maring’s idea was so revolutionary that EatingWell invited him to write the introduction to their aforementioned Farmers’ Market cookbook. 

 It caught on.  As of last summer, 29 west coast KP hospitals as wells as facilities in Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Georgia and Washington DC all have regular Farmers Markets’ in their hospital parking lots.  Just briefly scanning through a Google search, high profile hospitals at Duke and Johns Hopkins have started their own farmers’ markets as well as hospitals in Pennsylvania, New York and Indiana. 

 Which makes me wonder if the next SWELL Committee bake sale shouldn’t be an OWL Farmers’ Market……just food for thought.

 So support your local Farmers’ Market.  If you don’t want to navigate the crowd downtown, there are farmers’ markets all over the place in Polk County.  Here’s a link to a list.  Do something good for yourself and your community and check one out!   http://www.polkcountyiowa.gov/pages/farmersMarkets.aspx