This Week at Smart Markets Lorton Farmers' Market

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For some reason that has not been explained to us, our banners have been removed from the Workhouse Arts Center, and we are now even more dependent upon our great core shoppers to maintain the market through the end of the season in November. That’s you, of course, and we appreciate your continued support.

We appreciate it so much that we are working hard to get local, free-range turkeys for your holiday feasts. We have a farmer who supplies turkeys to our Mennonite co-op at our Oakton and Reston markets, and also to a vendor who comes to our Springfield market. We are working a way for you to preorder at our tent, pay a small deposit, and pick up your turkey at one of our markets on the last Thursday before Thanksgiving. We may even arrange a special pick-up one day during Thanksgiving week. But if we decide to bring them the Thursday before Thanksgiving, they will be fine in your refrigerator until Thanksgiving, as they will have been processed one or two days before that and will have a sell-date span of at least 10–14 days after processing.

We will announce next week what we will be doing, and you will have about six weeks to place the order.

In the meantime, we have plenty of other local, free-range, additive-free meats for you at the Lorton market. This week we will have grass-fed, grass-finished beef at both Winfield Farm and Holly Brook Farm, and Mike Burner at Holly Brook will have beef, pork, chicken, lamb, goat, and veal. That leaves you little room to talk yourself out of enjoying local meat that has no antibiotics or hormones introduced through vaccination or the food. There’s no arsenic in their chicken feed, which Maryland has banned but which Virginia permits for its commercial poultry industry. Imagine what that does to the local water supply, not to mention your body.

Check our Facebook page for additional information from the vendors about what they will bring this week.

See you at the market!

From the Market Master

It’s always fun to pass along good news in the world of health and nutrition, especially when it broadens our understanding of the importance of a healthy diet to our overall good health. The Washington Post pointed out Sept. 23 that a large majority of older men and women are now taking calcium pills and spending a total of $1.2 billion on them. Surprise! They don’t really need to and maybe shouldn’t be.

According to the Post, “recent evidence suggests that getting calcium from pills might not be as safe or effective for some people as getting it from food.” The article recommended food-based sources of calcium, including dairy products, leafy greens, and fortified foods.

And what do we have in abundance in our farmers’ markets now? Leafy greens — not just several varieties of kale, but chard, collards, mustard greens, and beet greens. Just imagine the farmers we would have competing to sell at farmers’ markets if even half of the expenditure on calcium pills was diverted to greens!

McDonald’s once again deserves a nod for its renewed and expanded commitment to introducing more fruits and vegetables as alternatives to french fries in their adult-oriented value meals and to aggressively promoting healthier beverages for its Happy Meals. This is a long-term program that will be phased in slowly — primarily to develop the supply chain, I suppose — but there is no doubt that these efforts will have an impact on the American diet. Since McDonald’s began encouraging children to choose milk instead of a soft drink with their Happy Meals, their milk sales have increased by 50 percent since the mid-2000s. They have also learned from experience that they cannot dictate those healthier choices, but they can offer them and let the customers move to them at their own pace.

There is reason to believe that those choices will improve over time. Science has finally caught up with the common sense of centuries, and proof is pouring in that what we eat can make us healthy, wealthy, and wise. How and what our children eat can affect their their ability to learn, as well as their ability to earn. The choices we provide as responsible adults influence and maybe control what they eat as kids. Those choices also build a foundation that affects what they choose for themselves as adults.

This process must involve — and ideally be led by — our schools, where all of our children are exposed to some of the worst foods they can eat. Even in our area, there is progress here too. Visit Realfoodsforkids.org to learn more about what is happening in Fairfax County. They need volunteers to expand their good advocacy work throughout the county; check out what you can do for the school in your neighborhood.

And one last thing: Guess what? An apple a day can keep the doctor away! According to a Sept. 26 Post article, apples were recognized for their health benefits by ancient Roman and Anglo-Saxon civilizations. More recently, apples have been proven to lower bad cholesterol when eaten every day and also seem to prevent strokes. The Post also pointed out that apple skins are loaded with fiber and quercetin, a phytochemical with anti-inflammatory and heart-protecting qualities, and may reduce the spread of cancer cells.

With all those locally grown great greens and appealing apples out there now, this is the time of year to get healthy, and I can’t imagine two better-tasting ways to do that. Buy a mess of greens and a bushel of apples and get crackin’.

And remember the children out there who aren’t yours when it comes time to devote some of your valuable time to a valuable effort such as improving the health of the community.

Photo by Sarah Sertic