The advantage of eating vine-ripened fruit and vegetables is that they are the most nutritious. The vast majority of nutrients enter the fruits and vegetables as they ripen in the soil or on the vine/tree. Fruit and vegetable nutrition is the best source of the thousands of plant chemicals (phytonutrients) that help to keep our bodies healthy and fight free-radical damage that occurs from our daily activities. So, whenever we hear “buy local” it’s probably a good idea for produce whenever possible. This gives us the advantage of getting the fruits and vegetables that have ripened naturally.
Local Farmer’s Markets and farm stands are in full swing and are full of beautiful, healthy choices:
• Naperville Farmer’s Market Association (naperville.il.us)
95th St. Library, 3015 Cedar Glade Rd. 3 – 7PM Thursdays
Fifth Avenue Station Parking Lot
Saturdays, 7AM – noon
• Farmers Market at St. John’s (stjohns-episcopal.com) St. John’s Episcopal Church, 750 Aurora Ave. 3 – 7PM Wednesdays, thru September 26
• Aurora’s Farmers Market (aurora-il.org) Across from Aurora City Hall, 65 Water Street, Aurora
8AM – noon Saturdays
• Mayneland Farm (maynelandfarm.com) 27W265 Bauer Road, Naperville (Cash only Thru close in October: Monday – Friday 10AM-6:30PM, Saturday 9:30AM-5PM, Sunday 10:30AM-5PM
While growing our own veggies should have already been started, we can still grow herbs in pots. Also, once the weather starts to cool, different types of lettuces will thrive in a fall planting. We can harvest the lettuce for fresh fall salads, and the herbs can be dried or another option is to freeze chopped up herbs in ice cube trays with a bit of olive oil. These will give us “fresh” herbs all winter long straight from our freezer.
Whichever way we decide to get our “local” produce, getting that fresh produce onto our tables packs the nutritional punch we need.
