Don O.
"Do I pay a little more for the products I purchase at the farmer's market? Yes! Do I pay more at the farmer's market for the same products I can get at the grocery store? NO! That's because I cannot purchase the same products in the grocery store. My farmer picks the best quality and most rip produce the evening before, or morning of market, slides it into a vehicle and drives between 10 and 125 miles to market. That's it. Fresh! And, very few fingers have touched the produce I am bringing home to my family. At the grocery store, I sort through veggies that may have traveled 1,500 miles after being picked prior to being ripe, sent to a plant to be picked over and processed in some way, packed in crates, shipped to a train station or other commercial carrier to a supermarket warehouse, packed on trucks for shipment to the grocer, picked over again in the back of the store, and then stacked in the store for you to purchase. Hands. Hands. Hands. Bumps, Bruises and the veggies still aren't ripe. I am soooo glad I know our local farmers."