Local Affairs

Saturday mornings are one of my favorite parts of summer. I sneak out of the house in the wee hours and head to a vacant lot in the heart of downtown. There I meet the other men in my life.

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Tom arrives early each week with fresh eggs, promising yolks the color of sunflowers.

There's Dale, who brings blueberries plucked straight from the bush and the sweetest corn found in the Midwest.

Others visit only once, setting up stands of plump melons and juicy tomatoes that carry with them the smell of summer.

Along with steamy hot days, June graces us with make-shift markets and roadside stands of summer fruits. It's the time each year that we can get back to the basics of simple, yet amazingly delicious homegrown food.

According to Local Harvest, only 18 cents of every dollar spent at large supermarkets goes to the grower. The rest is used to pay various middlemen, such as processors and distributors.

Local produce is usually sold the day of, or within a few days of picking. This bypasses the use of preservatives to prolong shelf life, eliminates the fuel for cross county transportation, reduces packaging waste, and often avoids the need for refrigeration.

For luscious, locally grown food that's better priced than any super store can offer, head to the market this weekend. See Local Harvest for growers in your area.