Locally Grown Produce: 3 Yummy Alternatives for Ultimate Freshness

Locally grown produce vs shipped from far away…Are you tired of unripe and tasteless fruit? Mealy peaches that are brown around the seed because they froze during shipping? Bright red tomatoes that taste exactly like water ? (Yep, if you want to kill the flavor of a tomato, just refrigerate it.) Avocados covered in brown concave spots? 

What do you expect from an avocado that’s traveled 500 plus miles in an 18-wheeler, where it rattled around and was banged to smithereens.

I’m fed up with buying avocados like this.

It recently dawned on me that I throw away 75-90% of the avocados from the supermarket, including Costco, Trader Joe’s, and Sprouts. No more.

What if you switch to only local avocados or USA origin avocados (Yes, you can get USA ones at the Walmart on Ventu Park)? You’re in for a different experience. Switching to locally grown is a move away from the mass-produced, nutrition-less produce. 

Why is our food so mundane when we live in perpetual sunshine, in one of the best growing areas of the country? What’s up with that?

Our Southern California location has close to 365 days of sunshine. We’re not Maine or Montana. There’s no reason we shouldn’t have fresh California-grown, fresh-from-the-farm produce all year round, from OUR state. 

Why on earth are we shipping produce in from other states and countries when we already grow it here?!

Think about it. We see farms as we drive along Santa Rosa Rd from Moorpark to Camarillo and along the #101 from Camarillo to Oxnard. Why can’t we have THAT produce? Or at the very least, shipped from the California Central Valley.

This is my favorite local farmer’s market because of the size and variety. Underwood Farms even has a booth there, too.

I’ve bought amazing oranges, fresh herbs, bread, fresh and dried jujubees, persimmons, pea shoots, baby bok choy, and all sorts of unusual veggies from this farmers market.

This one is in the Oaks Mall parking lot, just east of the movie theaters. It shows as “Ventura County Certified Farmers’ Markets” on the map, but most people call it the Thousand Oaks Farmers Market because that’s where it occurs.

It’s in the middle of the day when most folks are working, so a lot of people don’t know about it unless they venture out at lunchtime. It’s not crowded at all.

My favorites are the strawberry booths (I love the ones from Oxnard), flowers (I’ve seen enormous dahlias, peonies, sunflowers), various oranges (blood oranges are delish), and fresh eggs. Moorpark’s Apricot Farms even has a booth (from the “Biggest Little Farm” movie).

FYI the Ventura County Certified Farmers Markets were open all through the Covid shutdown. At a time when supermarkets had long lines and scarce supplies, you could count on the farmers markets!

This was another great resource during the early days of Covid. Remember the supermarket lines? This was a perfect alternative if you only needed a fruits and vegetables resupply.

There’s also a petting zoo and u-pick section. Keep an eye on this place for seasonal events. They typically have a harvest festival, a winter-themed festival, and an Easter festival. You’ll see tractor rides as well. Extremely fun place to take the kiddoes. I’m not sure how they’ll do things going forward with the virus, but they are open.

Once the shutdown hit, right off the bat, public health officials declared farmers markets as essential services, but shopping rules had to be modified. The good news was that unlike supermarkets, there was not a big line.

Here are the new rules:

I only buy certain things there. I pick and choose. My pet peeves are avocados, tomatoes, and peaches, and I’m super-opinionated about those, so I’m willing to pay more for my favorites.

These aren’t your only choices. Trader Joe’s had good peaches the last time I was there. Gelson’s is another choice.

I pick my battles.

On the other hand, supermarket carrots can tolerate storage, so they’re fine for me, and they’re cheap. Besides, they live in a refrigerator drawer and the flavor doesn’t seem to suffer. Same for lettuce (not much taste there), broccoli and cauliflower.

For peaches and nectarines, you need vine-ripe. If you can’t smell it or if it’s green, it’s not ripe. If they don’t have a fragrance, don’t buy them. Let your nose be your guide.

So I pick and choose what and where to purchase. I only buy certain items at farmers markets and farm stands.

Happy produce shopping!