You are what your food eats

We’ve all heard the saying, you are what you eat.

Around here, we like to say, you are what your food eats.

Last week, we explored why knowing who grows your food matters. Avoiding foodborne illness is certainly one good reason to shop at the farmers' market. Knowing who grew your food and how it was handled matters. But what if we told you there was another - perhaps even more compelling - reason to fill your basket here each Saturday?

There's growing evidence that food grown in healthy soils and enjoyed soon after harvest can offer nutritional advantages over food that has spent days or weeks in storage and transit. While nutrition depends on many factors, healthy, living soils support healthy, productive plants, and produce harvested at peak ripeness may retain more of its vitamins and beneficial plant compounds when it's eaten soon afterward. Studies also suggest that grass-fed and pasture-raised meats, eggs, and dairy products can provide nutritional advantages of their own, reflecting the quality of the pasture and forage that nourished them.

The food we consume draws its nourishment from the soil and pasture that sustained it. The healthier those living systems are, the better they can nourish healthy crops and livestock - and ultimately healthy people.

At our market, you'll find some incredibly nourishing vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, meats, eggs, cheeses, and honey. Our farmers are paying attention to how they care for the land and soils that sustain life on their farms, and the response from Mother Nature is truly life-giving.

On some farms, that means enriching the soil with cover crops and compost. On others, it's protecting pollinators, rotating livestock, and managing healthy pasture. Some vendors are Certified Organic, Certified Naturally Grown, Certified Biodynamic, or pasture-raised, while others have developed production practices uniquely suited to their land. Different methods, shared values, and one common understanding: healthy soil is one of their greatest assets.

After all that care, almost magically, the land gives back.

As we roll into August, our market is bursting at the seams. Sweet corn made its long-awaited debut last week. Tomatoes of every color, shape, and size are stealing the show. Asian pears have made their first appearance, alongside new varieties of apples and peppers arriving week by week. Wildflower honey is flowing, and shelves are filling with pickles, ferments, seasonal menu offerings, and all the delicious ways our vendors preserve and prepare the height of the growing season. The late July and August harvests of the High Country are nothing short of spectacular.

Much of that bounty is harvested within hours of reaching our market tables.

It’s as fresh as it gets.

The flavors are richer. The textures are crisper. Instead of traveling hundreds or even thousands of miles, this food comes from just down the road. It spends less time in storage and more time growing as nature intended - ripening in the field or grazing on healthy pastures - before arriving at your table at its very best.

When you shop at the farmers’ market, you aren’t simply choosing between local and non-local food. You’re choosing between two food systems. One is alive, visible, and cared for by people you know.

If you could choose food with exceptional flavor, vibrant freshness, careful stewardship, the shortest possible journey from field to plate, and the potential nutritional benefits that come with all of those things... why wouldn’t you?

Fortunately, that choice is waiting for you every Saturday morning.

This week, The Children’s Playhouse returns to the Kids Corner with hands-on fun and imaginative play. The Watauga Heritage Museum will be sharing stories about our region’s rich agricultural heritage, while The Three Top Serenaders fill the Music Tent with old-time favorites. And don’t forget to stop by the Donation Station, where Casting Bread will be collecting fresh food for neighbors in need.

The food we eat becomes the very substance our bodies use to build every cell and every tissue. We are, quite literally, made from what we eat - and in turn, from what our food eats.

So let’s choose food that has been nourished well.

Food rooted in healthy soils, raised on healthy pastures, harvested at the height of its season, and grown by people who care deeply for the land that sustains us all.

When we recognize that the health of our bodies begins with the health of our farms, the choice seems clear.

See you Saturday.

—Michelle, Market Director