Grand Strand farmer’s market helps growers, buyers alike

The next time you sit down to eat chances are you won’t think about where the food on your plate came from. It could turn out that food, be it steamed vegetables or cooked meat traveled from several thousands of miles away.

Add in the cost to ship it in a truck that burns a lot of fuel, and it might not be such a good deal after all.

That is unless you grow your own or you shop at the local farmer’s market. Farmers say that type of food stands apart from what’s sold at your local grocery store.

“If you really pay attention to where your food comes from in particular if they are ever labeled pride of origin you would really realize that a lot of the food that we buy here is from outside of the country amazingly so and the only way to reverse that is to support local farms so that smaller farms can grow food more directly to the consumer,” said Sam Bellamy of Indigo farms whose family sells their produce at Myrtle Beach’s farmer’s market on 10th Avenue N.

Bellamy also says the difference between locally grown produce and the one that shows up grocery stores is how they are produced. He said organically grown veggies and fruits are cared for without using heavy pesticide or any other harmful chemicals that kill nutrients.

Even some customers say that buying local for them also means their money stays local.

“I think it really is good for our economy, and I just like the ripeness of the produce, you can smell it you can see it you can handle it, it’s better than in the grocery store,“ said shopper Barbara Stouffer who shops at the market every week.

If you have never shopped at a local farmer’s market you can find a lot more information on http://www.localharvest.org, or http://www.ams.usda.gov to find the closest markets in your neighborhood.

You can also pick up any Wednesday’s edition of the Morning News to read features on how to use all of your locally grown food.