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sustainable greenhouse online farmers market

Year-round online farmers market = year-round healthy eating

As temps drop, farmers keep farming


By the Seasonal Roots Veggie Fairy Team

Thanksgiving is coming, right about the time most traditional farmers markets are closing for the winter, or scaling back. But not your year-round online farmers market! We stay open all through the winter because a little dip in the temperature gauge can’t stop our local farmers from farming.

So what’s happening on the farm?

Family farmers are still out in their fields gleaning the last of the summer and fall crops like peppers and eggplant. They’re tending to cold weather crops like beets, carrots, parsnips, and greens.

They’re putting their greenhouses to work to grow more tender produce like tomatoes and basil. Check out that photo if you need proof of the power of a greenhouse — inside one of the greenhouses on Sion House Farm in eastern Virginia, the McKenney family extends the season growing crops like local tomatoes… and for wearing shorts!

Our farmers who raise animals are busy, too. Their cows are still producing milk and their chickens are still laying eggs.

What’s up with those lighter-colored egg yolks?

Lately you may have noticed that the yolks are little more light-colored than usual. Your eggs are still as fresh as ever, and the hens are still pasture-raised. So what’s going on?

The folks at Avery’s Branch Farms explain: “At this time of year the grass quantity starts to be depleted and we start feeding them alfalfa hay. It takes a couple weeks for them to get adjusted to the hay and that causes a few lighter weeks.”

So there’s still a lot going on out on the farms. And that’s why we stay open year-round – to support our local farm families and to help you keep eating fresh nutritious local food throughout the year.

ABOUT SEASONAL ROOTS


Since 2011, Seasonal Roots’ online farmers market has connected Virginia families with local family farmers who use sustainable, humane practices. Our veggie fairies – mostly moms who believe in living better through scrumptious, healthy eating, being kind to animals, protecting the environment, and spreading joy – home-deliver freshly harvested produce, eggs, grass-fed dairy and meat, plus artisan fare. We empower our members to eat better and live better with more nutritious, flavorful food that’s good for us and good for the planet. More info at seasonalroots.com.

sustainable greenhouses

As temps drop, farmers keep farming

EAT BETTER LIVE BETTER NEWSLETTER / November 8, 2017

Tips, hacks, recipes, stories, and the weekly special all help you eat better live better with fresh local food!

WHAT’S ON TAP FOR THANKSGIVING, PLUS WHAT’S UP WITH THOSE PALE YOLKS?

Thanksgiving is com-ing, right about the time most traditional farmers markets are closing for the winter, or scaling back.

But not your online farmers market! We stay open year-round.

A little dip in the temperature gauge can’t stop our local farmers from…

Continue reading about local winter farming and what’s happening with your yolks, below, or view this issue as a PDF with clickable links.

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why local food tastes different

Why fresh local food tastes so different

EAT BETTER LIVE BETTER NEWSLETTER / November 8, 2017

Tips, hacks, recipes, stories, and the weekly special all help you eat better live better with fresh local food!

CASE STUDY: CELERY

It’s celery season out on the Flores family’s farm on Virginia’s Northern Neck. Gerardo and his son Omar are harvesting fresh, aromatic celery bunches from their fields. Then we deliver it straight to you within just a couple days. If you ever needed proof that freshly harvested local produce tastes better than the stuff you get at the grocery story (which is at least a week old), do a celery taste test.

When most people think about the taste of celery, they think of grocery store celery – bitter or, at best, blah…

Continue reading about local celery and why its so awesome, below, or view this issue as a PDF with clickable links.

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local produce tastes better

Why fresh local produce tastes so different

Case Study: Celery


By Kristin Henderson, Chief Veggie Communicator

It’s celery season out on the Flores family’s farm on Virginia’s Northern Neck. Gerardo and his son Omar are harvesting fresh, aromatic celery bunches from their fields. Then our veggie fairies deliver it straight to you within just a couple days.

If you ever needed proof that freshly harvested local produce tastes better than the stuff you get at the grocery story (which is at least a week old), do a celery taste test.

What is celery really supposed to taste like?

Until I discovered fresh local food, I thought celery was supposed to taste like grocery store celery – bitter or, at best, blah – useful as a crunchy delivery vehicle for peanut butter, various cheeses, or hummus, but otherwise best hidden in soups, stews, or salads.

Compared to that, the first time I bit into freshly harvested celery, the taste was a revelation. It was loaded with so much zingy flavor that I ate it all by itself as a snack. When I roasted it, that peppery flavor turned sweet. And when I made cream of celery soup with it, as much as I love any kind of grass-fed creaminess, I had to admit the celery was the star of the show.

Lots of flavor, lots of nutrients

If produce is full of flavor, that’s a good indicator that it’s full of nutrients as well. Flavor and nutrients go hand in hand – the longer produce sits around after it’s been harvested, the more they both fade away. Check out how much nutritional value is lost during the week (or more!) that it takes most produce to get from the farm to the grocery store.

So when produce is bursting with flavor, it’s usually bursting with nutrients, too. In the case of celery, that includes B vitamins, and vitamins A, C, and K, plus potassium, calcium, folate, and fiber.

Why does fresh local celery taste so different?

I’ve already mentioned one of the biggest reasons: the amount of time between when it’s picked and when you eat it. Grocery stores just can’t compete with local produce that’s home-delivered within a couple days of harvest, the way Seasonal Roots’ produce is. Even grocery stores that carry local food can’t offer it to you until after it makes its way through the delivery and warehousing system… which all takes time.

But there are other reasons why our local produce tastes better and is better for you. It starts with the dirt. Our local family farmers use sustainable practices to keep their soil nutrient-rich so the produce they grow in that soil can then absorb those nutrients.

Next, because our produce doesn’t have to sit in a warehouse, our farmers can pick it at the peak of ripeness, after it has soaked up all the flavor and nutrients that it can get from Mother Nature. Produce that’s picked early for a long trip may turn the right color along the way, but it doesn’t gain any nutrients or flavor in the process.

Also, during our more direct delivery process, our local produce gets handled less. So it’s less likely to get bruised, cut, or damaged. Damage speeds up the natural deterioration that makes flavor and nutrition go bye-bye.

Gerardo and Omar’s celery comes fresh from their fields with the flavor, nutrients, and roots still attached. Eat it raw or use it to cook up something amazing! We’ve got lots of healthy, tasty celery ideas on our Pinterest celery board.

ABOUT SEASONAL ROOTS


Since 2011, Seasonal Roots’ online farmers market has connected Virginia families with local family farmers who use sustainable, humane practices. Our veggie fairies – mostly moms who believe in living better through scrumptious, healthy eating, being kind to animals, protecting the environment, and spreading joy – home-deliver freshly harvested produce, eggs, grass-fed dairy and meat, plus artisan fare. We empower our members to eat better and live better with more nutritious, flavorful food that’s good for us and good for the planet. More info at seasonalroots.com.

organic local sustainable

Organic vs Local vs Sustainable

EAT BETTER LIVE BETTER NEWSLETTER / November 1, 2017

Tips, hacks, recipes, stories, and the weekly special all help you eat better live better with fresh local food!

ORGANIC vs LOCAL vs SUSTAINABLE: WHICH IS BEST?!!

We get this question pretty much daily: “So are your farms Certified Organic?” When people ask that, we totally get where they’re coming from. We all just want to eat nutritious, safe, non-toxic, eco-friendly food. But who has time to research every item we buy? So the government’s “Certified Organic” label seems like a convenient shortcut to eating healthy without harming the planet. If only it were true.
Here at Seasonal Roots, we’re more concerned about sustainable and local than organic, so we don’t require our local farmers to be Certified Organic. Here are 5 reasons why…

Continue reading the 5 reasons why, below, or view this issue as a PDF with clickable links.

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organic sustainable local food

ORGANIC vs SUSTAINABLE vs LOCAL

Which is best?!


By the Seasonal Roots Veggie Fairy Team

We get this question pretty often: “So are your farms Certified Organic?”

When people ask that, we totally get where they’re coming from. We all just want to eat nutritious, safe, non-toxic, eco-friendly food. But who has time to research every item we buy? So the government’s “Certified Organic” label seems like a convenient shortcut to eating healthy without harming the planet.

If only it were true.

Organic vs sustainable vs local… how do you decide which is best? Here at Seasonal Roots, we’re more concerned about sustainable and local than organic, so we don’t require our local farmers to be Certified Organic.

Here are 4 reasons why.

1. “Organic” doesn’t equal “locally grown”.


In fact, it may even be grown in a foreign country and shipped to the U.S. The result? A bigger carbon footprint. That’s not eco-friendly.

There’s actually no standard definition for “local”. Our standard is within about 150 miles of our delivery areas in Virginia. So most of our local partners are in Virginia. A few are in southern Pennsylvania or Maryland or eastern North Carolina.

To maintain a healthy variety of options during the winter, we partner with sustainable farmers in Florida. We call that produce “regional” because it can get to us within a day of harvest without resorting to flying. Members who prefer to eat only what’s in season locally can opt out of our winter-time regional offerings.

2. Organic doesn’t equal nutritious, either.


The sooner produce gets to you the better. Research shows that most nutrients begin to degrade from the moment produce is harvested. Spinach, for example, loses up to 60% of its nutrients in a week, the typical age of most grocery store produce. Our local produce gets to you within just a couple days of harvest.

Also, many studies have found that fruit that’s picked closer to the peak of ripeness (rather than being picked green and ripening on the shelf or by being gassed) contains more nutrients, more vitamins and minerals, than fruit that’s picked before or after peak, whether it’s organic or not.

This is why we hustle to get your produce to you as soon as possible after harvesting, and why being local helps — it doesn’t have to travel very far. Much of the food in grocery stores has traveled thousands of miles and many days to get there, losing nutrients every hour of the way.

3. Organic is no guarantee of food safety.


That organic label can’t tell you whether the food was produced under clean and healthy conditions. Plus, Certified Organic farmers can still use herbicides and pesticides – just certified organic ones. While this changes the mix of what’s sprayed, it doesn’t make it better, and they often spray frequently as a matter of course.

Our local farmers are low- or no-spray. Many of them are multi-generational, so they care for their land, crops, and animals with the next generation in mind. They use sustainable practices like rotating their crops to avoid sucking all the nutrients out of the soil. The vast majority of our farmers don’t spray because that would jeopardize the integrity of their land. If they do spray, it’s minimal and only as required. You could call sustainable farming “old school organic”, the way it was often done before the government got in the business of regulating it.

One of our sustainable farmers has a friend who runs a Certified Organic farm not far from him. One year, our sustainable farmer sprayed his yellow squash one time all season because it was necessary. His Certified Organic friend, on the other hand, sprayed his squash on a weekly schedule using a spray approved by the USDA. Our farmer isn’t considered Certified Organic, but his weekly spraying friend is allowed to use that title.

4. The best way to know if your food is nutritious, eco-friendly, and safe is to know your farmer.


That’s not possible for most of us as individuals. But when we come together as a group like Seasonal Roots, that’s exactly what we do. We know our farmers. We talk with them, visit their farms, and develop relationships with them. We share their stories with you so you can know them too, even if you don’t have time to go visit them yourself. It’s not quite as easy as the “Certified Organic” shortcut, but it’s a lot easier than trying to do it all by yourself.

We support our local farmers because we know and trust them and their practices. They produce safe food for their families, our families. and your families. So whether you just celebrated Halloween or simply enjoy the season’s produce, sustainably grown local food (like the pumpkins pictured here) is better for you and better for the planet!

ABOUT SEASONAL ROOTS


Since 2011, Seasonal Roots’ online farmers market has connected Virginia families with local family farmers who use sustainable, humane practices. Our veggie fairies – mostly moms who believe in living better through scrumptious, healthy eating, being kind to animals, protecting the environment, and spreading joy – home-deliver freshly harvested produce, eggs, grass-fed dairy and meat, plus artisan fare. We empower our members to eat better and live better with more nutritious, flavorful food that’s good for us and good for the planet. More info at seasonalroots.com.

seasonal eating fall foods

Seasonal eating optimizes good health

EAT BETTER LIVE BETTER NEWSLETTER / October 25, 2017

Tips, hacks, recipes, stories, and the weekly special all help you eat better live better with fresh local food!

MOTHER NATURE KNOWS BEST

Do you clean out your closets in the spring, enjoy more outdoor activities in the summer, and crave all things warm and cozy in the fall and winter? Your eating habits probably follow the same cycle. Science tells us this is natural, and…

Continue reading about seasonal eating, below, or view this issue as a PDF with clickable links.

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slow cooker

Too busy to cook? Try a slow cooker

EAT BETTER LIVE BETTER NEWSLETTER / October 18, 2017

Tips, hacks, recipes, stories, and the weekly special all help you eat better live better with fresh local food!

HERE’S HOW YOU CAN COOK FRESH LOCAL FOOD WHILE YOU DO SOMETHING ELSE

Too much fresh local food and not enough time to cook it? Try using a slow cooker! It gives you control and convenience – safely. Throw in the ingredients, set the heat and cooking time, then walk away and forget about it for hours… without burning down the house. When you come back at the end of a busy day or after a good night’s sleep, a complete meal is waiting for you.

Slow cookers are …

Continue reading about slow cookers, below, or view this issue as a PDF with clickable links.

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local gluten free bakery

Local gluten free bakery

EAT BETTER LIVE BETTER NEWSLETTER / October 11, 2017

Tips, hacks, recipes, stories, and the weekly special all help you eat better live better with fresh local food!

FOOD ARTISAN SPOTLIGHT: MEET ANNA B’S GLUTEN FREE

We’re excited to welcome Anna B’s Gluten Free Bakery to our year-round online farmers market! Together we’re helping more people to eat better, live better.

Gluten free food is trendy these days, but for people suffering from Celiac disease, going gluten free isn’t a choice – it’s a life-changing requirement. Gluten is …

Continue reading about gluten, below, or view this issue as a PDF with clickable links.

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fall superfoods health benefits

12 fall superfoods to look forward to

EAT BETTER LIVE BETTER NEWSLETTER / October 5, 2017

Tips, hacks, recipes, stories, and the weekly special all help you eat better live better with fresh local food!

12 FALL SUPERFOODS TO LOOK FORWARD TO
The health benefits of local food just keep coming!

Many farmers markets shut down or scale back as temps drop, but not us. No way do we want to miss out on the superfoods of fall! They’re just now starting to hit their peak – the perfect excuse to gather in a warm, cozy kitchen on cool nights and enjoy these superfoods that are super-charged because they’re local and super fresh! Here’s what you can look forward to…

Continue reading about fall superfoods, below, or view this issue as a PDF with clickable links.

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