Walk the whole market first
Prices and quality vary more than you expect inside one market. One lap tells you what is abundant, what is expensive and who is actually growing what they sell.
Farmers markets
Farmers markets in Sample City
A market is the only food guide that updates itself: what is on the table is what the season is doing. Here is the calendar we are building, and what we check before a market goes on it.
Sample city. The week bar below shows real calendar dates, but no markets are listed because none have been verified with an organizer, venue and season.
This week
Zero verified markets
No markets listed in Sample City yet
A market needs four confirmed facts before it appears: the organizer, the venue, the day it runs and the dates it opens and closes for the season. We would rather show an empty calendar than a market that moved two years ago.
Submit a marketBefore we list
What we check about a market
Markets are easy to get wrong because they are seasonal. A market that ran every Saturday for a decade can quietly move indoors, change its hours, or close for the winter. A guide that does not say which season it is describing is worse than no guide.
- Organizer. Who runs it, and whether they publish the schedule themselves.
- Venue. A real address, not "downtown".
- Season. Opening and closing dates, including winter hours.
- Day and time. Confirmed for the current season, not last year's.
If a market accepts SNAP or offers a matching program, we will note it once the organizer confirms it. We do not guess at benefits any more than we guess at hours.
Shopping it
Three habits worth stealing from chefs
Buy the ugly box
Seconds are the same produce with a bruise or an odd shape. If you are cooking tonight rather than photographing tomorrow, they are the best value on the table.
Ask one real question
"What came in this morning?" gets a better answer than "is this local?". Growers will tell you what is at its peak, and often what to do with it.
Also in Sample City: food trucks, the city guide, and what is in season this month.