Making the Most of Summer's Harvest
Summer and fall give us access to a cornucopia of fresh, delicious, nutritious fruits and vegetables. If you’re not taking advantage of the summer harvest, you’re missing out on some delightful flavors, as well as chances to nourish your body with some of the most powerful fuel you can give it!
We love pointing out that your body was designed to thrive on the nutrients that plant foods provide. Most experts agree that the best way to get our nutrients is in their natural packaging (though supplements certainly have their place). Lastly, most fruits and veggies are relatively low in calories, fat, and sugar, making them an optimal choice for nourishing your body and maintaining a healthy weight.
Lean Local
The variety and quality of the local harvest in most American states is unrivalled in summer and early fall! If you’re wondering why you should lean local when it comes to your food purchases, consider the following:
- All produce (whether organic or conventional) loses nutrients over time after being picked. The longer the travel time/distance, the more the nutrients lost. Additionally, the fewer steps between farm and fork your produce takes, the less the chances of contamination.
- Buying local products, in general, keeps money circulating within your local economy. Specifically, supporting local farms, can translate to economic growth in your area.
- Buying local is a great choice for the environment – doing so cuts down on both gas emissions and the use of chemicals that keep produce from spoiling during transport. Additionally, a significant percentage of US produce is lost between harvest and sale. Buying local means less produce transport time, and therefore less food waste, smaller landfills, and more efficient farming.
Strive for Seasonal
There are also some major benefits to buying produce when it’s in season.
- Flavor: Fruits and veggies that are allowed to ripen in the sun during their optimal growing season are chock full of flavor. Try purchasing some freshly-picked raspberries or tomatoes in the summer, and compare them to the ones you get in the supermarket in winter. You’ll most likely find that the flavor (as well as the color and texture) is far superior in those summer fruits.
- Nutrition: As the Cleveland Clinic notes, plant foods picked during peak season contain the most vitamins, minerals and nutrients.
- Price: Feel like it’s tough to afford buying local or organic produce? If you shop seasonally, you’ll be doing your wallet a favor. When plants are in season, they’re also in abundant supply, which drives prices down.
- Variety: Eating seasonally means you’re savoring different fruits and veggies throughout the year. Those different foods have different nutrients, so eating a wide variety will help you meet your body’s needs. Plus, you’ll get to try new recipes and liven up your meals!
What’s In Season When
Wondering what’s in season now near you, or what to choose throughout the year to shop seasonally? Sustainable Table’s Seasonal Food Guide is a great resource to help you understand how you can eat seasonally for your area.
Where to Buy
For all the benefits of buying local food, local produce can be more elusive than you’d think. Of course, you can simply check the produce labels at your regular grocer to see if the products were grown nearby. You can also try some of the following options:
- Farmer’s markets make it easy to shop local. You’ll often be getting produce that’s fresh-picked from farms in your region, and you can talk to farmers about their growing and storage practices.
- Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs take the work out of shopping for produce! Most source from local farms, and many will deliver fresh produce right to your door.
- Find a Co-op! Food cooperatives are designed to support local producers and make their foods available to the community.
- Check your local natural food store; most are committed to stocking local produce when possible.
- Look for U-pick farms near you! It’s as fresh as produce gets, and freezing or canning your harvest will help it last throughout the year.
Wondering what options are closest to you? Check out Eat Local Grown’s website, which lets you search for farmers markets, grocers, restaurants, and other food retailers in your area that sell local produce.
It’s not all or nothing!
To us, eating local, seasonal food whenever we can is an awesome goal to shoot for! But let’s not forget that the more important goal is to nourish our bodies with plant foods, period. Even for dedicated locavores, obstacles can come up that make it difficult to consistently stock the fridge with home-grown produce.
We encourage you to buy local, seasonal food when and where it makes sense for you and your family — but if you aren’t always able to, just remember that getting your daily servings of fruits and veggies, regardless of whether they’re local or not, is always something you can feel good about.
Additional Resources:
- Local Harvest — A website that helps you find and buy local, seasonal food from your area
- Wholesome Wave — A great non-profit that’s working to increase affordable access to local foods throughout the country
- SNAP and Farmer’s Markets — Information on using the government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program at Farmer’s Markets
- 5 Apps for Finding Local Produce – Oxygen Magazine analyzes different apps you can use to find local food
- PickYourOwn.org – Find a u-pick farm near you, as well as great resources that will help you learn how to preserve your harvest
Disclaimer: As always, our articles are simply intended to share information, and not to provide any medical advice. If you have questions or concerns about the best diet for you, we encourage you to speak with your doctor.
