Blog Post: The Benefits of Shopping at Your Local Farmer's Market

People don't always think to shop at their local farmer's market for their produce, but there are many benefits one can get from shopping at these wonderful little places! Below I will list the benefits as well as where and when you can find farmer's markets in and around Agoura Hills.

One of the major reasons to shop the farmer's markets is to support your local farmers. In today's age, industrial farming has taken over the industry making it hard for the mom and pop farmers to make ends meet, causing them to shut down.

Industrial farming also favors monocultures. Monocultures sap the soil of nutrients, because they are using only one type of fruit or vegetable pure crop. So another great benefit to shopping at farmer's markets is that the produce you are getting is much more nutrient rich, more fresh and tastes better!

When you shop at farmer's markets you will usually find that the produce is much cheaper than at the grocery store. Not only will you be saving money but when you buy local, it cuts down on the amount of fossil fuels being used to get the produce to you. Most produce from the grocery store comes from a long distance, requiring a lot of energy to transport and keep your produce cold.

When you shop at the farmer's markets you will find a much better variety of produce and find things you can't get at the store. The produce will also be ripe and ready to go because the farmer picked the produce the day before or even that morning. Most produce bought at the grocery store is picked long before it is ripe and ready to be eaten, so you usually have to let it sit for a day or two and again this makes it less nutritious.

Shopping at the farmer's market is a win win–your produce is cheaper, better for you, better tasting, helps the environment and promotes the local economy.

Here are some nearby farmer's markets:

• AGOURA HILLS: Sundays 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 5835 Kanan Road (Agoura's Famous Deli parking lot)

• THOUSAND OAKS: Thursdays 1:30-6 p.m. at the Oaks Shopping Center east parking lot.

• CALABASAS: Saturdays 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Old Town Calabasas on Calabasas Road west of El Canon Avenue (across from Sagebrush Cantina)

• WESTLAKE VILLAGE: Sundays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 2797 Agoura Road (Village Glen)

• MALIBU: Sundays 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Malibu Civic Center, 23519 Civic Center Way

• MOORPARK: Fridays 2-7 p.m. at Miller Parkway and Los Angeles Avenue (Village at Moorpark Shopping Center - Petco and Staples parking lot)

• NEWBURY PARK: Saturdays 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Petsmart parking lot (Teller Road and Hillcrest Drive)

Enjoy!

Jessica Unbewust
co-owner
ferrum fitness