Every spring, 1 week after the Cooper River Bridge Run, an amazing thing is reborn in Charleston, the Charleston Farmer’s Market in Marion Square.
Aside from an amazing way to spend wandering and people watching on a Saturday morning, the farmer’s market also saves the world! How you ask?
Well, the Charleston farmer’s market is comprised of booths from many local farmers who use environmentally friendly practices when bringing their fruit, vegetables, meats, and cheeses to bear. When you buy locally, you drastically reduce the amount of petroleum involved in getting that fruit, veggie, meat, etc. to your dinner plate.
Many will say, “the food I eat can’t make that much difference in the amount of gas consumed in our country.”
The truth is that in the United States, our food industry actually uses 33% of the total gas consumed in this country! 33%! Over 1/3 of the gas consumed in this country is fed into the agricultural pipeline that grows and delivers the food we eat to our plates. The food we get at the grocery store is essentially soaked in petroleum.
An easy way to combat this is to buy locally and buy foods in season! For more on this, read “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” it’s an amazing book that will open your eyes about the food you eat.
The top 10 reason’s to shop at the Charleston farmer’s market
- Save the Earth! (no truly you can, 1 day at a time)
- Support local business ( you say that you’re tired of jobs going elsewhere? here’s a direct way to help a local farmer!)
- It’s a fun date (take the one you love)
- People watching
- The food tastes better (food without preservatives, yum!)
- Reduce gas consumption
- Exercise (walk or ride to the market and you get double the exercise)
- Meet new people ( your local farmers are amazing people, go talk to them)
- Dogs ( farmer’s markets are full of dogs, bring yours too)
- Great Photo Opportunities!
Enough preaching, on to some photos!
