Generally, I hate shopping, and I especially hate shopping with kids in tow. Yet shopping with my kids at my small not-too-crowded farmer’s market is always a positive experience. I don’t have to put them in a cart (my market is small enough that I let my 3 and 5-year-old wander a bit as long as they stay where I can see them). There are no Hot Wheels cars or candy bars to trigger whining, power struggles, and tantrums. You also don’t have to explain why you are unwilling to buy the ten dollar melon in February. There are no magazines with scantily clad women or weeping socialites on the covers at the checkout. And I love for them to see all that fresh produce and get to know the farmers that grow it. Here are some tips for enjoying the farmers market with your kids.

Take young children to a small farmers market at the least crowded time. Some farmers markets are probably too large and too crowded to enjoy visiting with small children. My market only has about 20 vendors. I let my 3-year-old and 5-year-old wander a bit because they are almost always in view and never too far away. You could take a stroller or hold hands the entire time, but it’s fun for the kids to wander a bit if the market is small enough. If there are multiple markets in your area, visit several to find the smaller markets where you would feel comfortable taking your small children, even if you most often shop at the larger markets.

Name the different fruits and vegetables. If you don’t know what something is, ask the farmer about it and try a sample. You can help give your kids a sense of seasonality (and delayed gratification) by discussing what is no longer available, what is in season now, and what will be coming into season next.

Enjoy the free samples. They are healthy and delicious and might get your kids interested in new foods.

Let your children help with the purchases. Older children can be given a little money or encouraged to bring their own money to spend on a few things of their choosing. Younger children can help select carrots, potatoes, and other non-delicate foods from the stand and put them in your bag.

Encourage your children to thank the farmers. I value the opportunity the farmers market gives our family to have a direct relationship with the producers of our food.

Are you a farmers market shopper? What are your tips for getting the most out of the farmers market?

Shopping at the farmers market means all of your money goes to the farmer, and none to the middlemen and advertisers, which often means cheaper prices for you. Here are some tips for making your dollar go even farther at the farmers market.

Shop when the prices are lowest. If you want the best selection, go to the farmers market in the morning. But if you want the best prices, go shortly before the close of the market, when farmers are often willing to haggle, especially if you buy a large amount. Always go when it rains. When the weather is bad and turnout is poor, farmers are often willing to make deals.

Find out when specific fruits and vegetables are cheapest. Ask the farmers, when will this be the cheapest? It might be a specific week or month when it is peak season or it might depend on the weather. You could also ask the farmer what is the cheapest price a product is sold for and then watch for that price.

Buy in bulk and preserve. Most farmers will give you a discount for buying in bulk. Buy in bulk at peak season, on a rainy day, or when the farmers market is about to close and you will save even more. But then you have to be able to use or store all that produce. The easiest way to preserve produce is to freeze it. If you have a dehydrator (or a friend with a dehydrator), you can dry it. You could also learn to can produce. I recommend finding a friend who already knows how and has the equipment. I canned tomatoes for the first time last year. It wasn’t rocket science, but I was very glad to have an experienced friend at my side.

Ask the farmers questions about the produce. What tastes the best? When was this picked? How long will this last and what is the best way to store it? Buying the freshest and tastiest produce will give you the biggest bang for your buck and minimize your food waste.

Prioritize what you buy organic. If you can’t buy everything organic, prioritize shopping organic for the “Dirty Dozen,” a list of the 12 fruits and vegetables with the highest pesticide load. The Dirty Dozen is published annually by the Environmental Working Group based on data collected by the USDA. Although the list changes a little each year, the Dirty Dozen are generally those fruits and vegetables with thin skins that you can eat (apples, peaches, celery, etc.).

Look for non-certified organic farmers who don’t use pesticides and fertilizers. Some small family farms don’t use these chemicals but can’t afford or haven’t yet achieved organic certification. Buying from these farms will give you the benefit of organic farming for a lower price.

Pay with food stamps/ EBT (electronic benefits transfer), WIC and Senior checks. In general, you will pay cash at your farmers market. Many markets are also now accepting forms of government assistance, such as WIC checks or food stamps.

I love that shopping at the farmers market takes all the mental effort out of shopping locally and in season. When I shop at the farmers market I don’t have to decide if I’m willing to eat organic blueberries grown in Chile.  I’m shopping local and in season without even thinking about it.  I have really enjoyed re-learning the seasonality of produce through my farmers’ market. But shopping at the farmer’s market also means that you will not be buying tomatoes in January. If you have been ignoring seasonality for years and buying South American produce in the winter without noticing, shopping at the farmers market will likely require a shift in how you meal plan. Here are some tips to help you enjoy eating seasonally.

Ask what is coming into season next.  You won’t find watermelon in January or apples in June at your farmers market. However, I find that there is a certain joy in waiting for strawberries or zucchini or tomatoes to come into season instead of eating the tasteless wonders at the grocery store year-round. Anticipation is half the fun of the farmer’s market. Around February, I ask the farmers almost every week, “when are you going to have tomatoes?” And then in June I start asking, “When are you going to have grapes?”

Try new things and ask the farmers and other shoppers how to use them. I tried kale for the first time this year. I know all you super-foodies have been making kale chips for years, but I never bought it because I really didn’t know what to do with it. I ended up steaming it briefly and adding it to my stir fry after consulting with a few folks at the market. Delicious (and nutritious).

Learn to cook using what you have. I used to plan the dishes I wanted to make during the week, then make a grocery list based on the recipes, then shop for my list at the grocery store. Now I keep my pantry stocked with non-perishables, and cook based on what is in season at the farmer’s market. Look for cookbooks that recognize seasonality or allow you to cook using whatever you have on hand. Other useful resources include food blogs with seasonal recipes and recipe websites (which often let you search by ingredient).

Interested in shopping at the farmers market? Here are some tips to get you started.

Find a market. In order to get the most out of the farmers market, I recommend first gathering information about the different farmers markets in your area. The website localharvest.org makes it easy to search for farmers markets in your area by zip code. You might also try a simple web search for farmers market associations in your state, county, city or metropolitan area. There are two main farmers market associations where I live, and their lists are more comprehensive than those on localharvest.org. You could also ask friends or check local magazines for information about farmers markets. You might want to try several different markets and see which one has the size, selection, and schedule you prefer. Most markets are on Saturdays or Sundays but some are on weekdays. If you can’t find a farmers market in your area, you can use localharvest.org to search for a CSA (community sponsored agriculture) in your area. I personally shop at the farmers market and participate in a CSA.

Find out what time the market really opens. Officially, my farmers market opens at 9 am and closes at 1 pm each Saturday. After shopping there for nearly a year, I found out that almost all the farmers showed up by 7 am in the summer, and 8 am in the winter. Before I figured this out, by the time I showed up at 9 am or 10 am, farmers were often out of items they had in limited quantity. Now I go at 8 am, especially if raspberries are in season.

Get to know the farmers. For me, having a personal relationship with the producers of my food is one of the most important benefits of shopping at the farmers market. I prefer to purchase from farms that send someone (like a family member) closely associated with the farm who can answer specific questions. For the stands I regularly purchase from, I know where the farms are, how long the family has owned the farm and how many generations have farmed it, and where their ancestors immigrated from. Also, if you make yourself known to the farmers, they will consider you a “regular,” which has certain perks for you and your kids. It is also really convenient to have the farmer know you well enough that you can say, “I want to can tomatoes next week. Could you bring me 20 pounds and give me a bulk discount?” And have them bring you 20 pounds of tomatoes in a large crate and let you take the crate and return it the following week.

Ask the farmers about how they grow their food. Not every small-scale family farm can afford the organic certification process, so it is worthwhile to ask a vendor if they use fertilizers or pesticides if you are interested in their produce.  Some farms might do something in between organic and conventional. For example, I asked one farmer if they sprayed their peaches and nectarines. He told me they sprayed the trees, but never the fruit. This is definitely preferable to sprayed trees and sprayed fruit.

I buy almost all of my produce at the farmers market. It’s the only place I shop on a weekly basis. There are so many benefits that come from this direct producer-to-consumer arrangement.  Here are some of the things I love most about the farmers market.

Price. The organic produce I buy at my farmers market is the cheapest organic produce I can buy.   If you are trying to figure out how to make eating organic more affordable, this is one of my best suggestions.

Taste.  Even if you can find cheaper produce elsewhere, the farmers market almost certainly sells the tastiest produce you can buy. The produce I buy at the farmers’ market is fresher and tastes better than any produce I can buy at the grocery store. Often picked the day before, you cannot beat the freshness of the farmers market.  I’ve noticed that produce I buy there lasts much longer than produce I purchase in the store (which probably spent weeks in storage/transportation).

Environment. Shopping at the farmers market allows me to buy local seasonal foods that require fewer fossil fuels to produce. When I buy food at the farmers market, I’m giving my entire food dollar to the farmer (according to the USDA, for every dollar Americans spend on food, less than 16 cents goes to the farmer; the other 84 cents goes to marketing).  Supporting local farmers helps to promote a local food economy, healthy agricultural land and open space where I live. By bringing your own reusable shopping and produce bags to the farmers market, you can purchase groceries without any packaging waste, further reducing your food’s footprint. Many containers, such as berry baskets and egg cartons, can be returned to farmers for reuse.  Special bonus: no annoying tiny stickers on your produce!

Just Food.  Farmers markets are the anti-Super-Walmart. I like to buy my produce fresh and often, so it is wonderful to have a place where I can shop for just produce and nothing else. No sales displays.  No packaged junk food tempting your will-power.  Just produce (and maybe some bakery bread, pastured eggs, locally raised meat, or handmade soaps depending on your market), plain and simple.

I hope I’ve convinced you to visit your local farmers market. Stay tuned for posts all week about how to get the most out of your farmers market.

What do you love most about the farmers market?