Farmers Market Holds Grand Opening, Offers Healthy Foods
FLORIDA CITY (CBS4) – In a time when many are tightening belts some South Florida produce growers are going to be helping by offering fresh vegetables and fruit at farmer markets Saturday.
The market's grand opening on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the old historic race course, 445 West Davis Parkway, and will feature festivities that include crafts, a bounce house and face painting for the kids.
The first 200 families will be given a $10 coupon that can be used to purchase produce.
All produce sold at the Florida City market will be locally grown and marketed by the growers themselves. These farm workers, many of them formerly migrants, have come together with offerings of local in-season produce.
Choices for Saturday may include string, pole and snap beans; six varieties of tomatoes, yellow squash, bell peppers, cabbage, corn, cucumbers, onions. Root crops such as malanga, boniato, yucca will be offered beside fresh fruits such as star fruit, plantains, bananas, strawberries and lemons, according to the Coalition OF Florida Farmworker Organizations, Inc. web site, COFFO.org.
The market serves several purposes; it provides local farmworkers with an opportunity to sell their own crops and put down roots of their own by establishing themselves in the community while also offering the public healthier choices for the dinner table.
Fresh produce is healthier because of its fiber, according to the Mayo Clinic which recommends adult men under 50 to eat at last 38 grams of it day, women 25.
Eating higher levels of fiber can normalize bowel movements, relieving irritable bowel syndrome, maintain colon health, lower blood cholesterol levels and controls blood sugar levels, according to Mayoclinic.com. It also helps in weight loss, according to the web site.
In addition, the Urban Farmer will be at the weekly GreeenMarket Pompano Beach on Saturday from 8a.m. to 1 p.m. The GreenMarket is in the city's historic downtown area at Dixie Highway and Atlantic Boulevard, specifically at Northwest CRA at 1730 N. Powerline Road, every Saturday.
The Urban Farmer, the only vertical hydroponic farm in Pompano Beach, grows more than ten varieties of seasonal fruits and vegetables, as well as herbs of many types.
