One of the many ways to get your kids excited about eating fresh local foods is to take them along on shopping trips. Take them to local fruit stands or farmer’s market. Seeing fresh fruit and vegetables outside the grocery store breaks the mystery about where food comes from.

 In an intimate setting like a farm, fruit stand, or farmer’s market, you can get up close and personal with local sellers. It becomes and enriching experience for the whole family.

We went to our local farmer’s market last weekend and enjoyed some delicious strawberries, snap peas, and blood oranges. If you are low on funds. Bring with you a small amount of cash and sample only a few items. Many booths will let you “try before you buy”. You can see my daughter sampling a strawberry in the photo above.



The more you go to farmer's markets, the more you will know how certain booths price their fruit; which ones are certified organic and which ones have organic practices, but don’t have the certification.
If you can’t make it to the farmer’s market, your local grocery store may carry organic and local alternatives (and don’t forget to to check what’s on the clean 15/dirty dozen list). but, be sure to do your research.

I made a delicious spring salad (recipe below) with the strawberries we bought.


Spring Salad with Strawberries, Goat Cheese and Balsamic Dressing





Ingredients
Organic salad greens with spinach
Fresh sliced local organic strawberries (about 1 basket full)
Goat Cheese (4-8 oz, crumbled)
Favorite Balsamic dressing

**Toss together and serve!