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Eat Seasonally

My summer grocery budget is a lot higher than my winter budget. With an emphasis on plant-based, wholesome foods, I find myself splurging on the wonderful assortment of summer fruits and veggies. Oh do I LOVE LOVE summer fruits.
I recently created a pamphlet for UNF which I plan to hand out on Sun. I will be interning this Sunday at the University of North Florida where my preceptor and I will be doing a cooking demo for the back-to-school weekend. We will be feeding students (and parents) yummy raw and rice/bean wraps. I can't wait!
Inside my pamphlet, called "Powerful Nutrition From the Garden" I included a season guide for fruits and veggies. I also included 10 great benefits of eating local.....

Did you know that a typical carrot has to travel 1,838 miles to reach your dinner table¹?

Top 10 benefits of farmers’ markets²:
1) Reduced need for packaging.
2) Direct contact and feedback between customer and producer on produce and prices.
3) Avoiding the middleman increases financial returns for local growers.
4) Improve diet by providing access to fresh and wholesome food.
5) Source of information on fresh ingredients.
6) Reduce food miles (ex. vehicle pollution, noise and fossil fuel use).
7) Encourage environmentally safe production practices (ex. organic or pesticide free).
8) Encourage social interaction.
9) Stimulate local economic development by increasing employment.
10) Fresh Food Tastes GOOD!

1) Pirog, Rich, and Andrew Benjamin. "Checking the Food Odometer: Comparing Food Miles for Local Versus Conventional Produce Sales in Iowa Institutions." Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, July 2003.

2) Certified Farmers’ Market. Retrieved Aug 8, 2010 from http://www.farmersmarkets.net/benefits.htm

Here's a great website to answer all your fruit and veggie questions (with a season fruit and veggie list)...


Fruits and Veggies More Matters