I’ve railed numerous times against the common practice of exclusively growing avocados & mangoes in south Florida. I very much enjoy both of those fruits, but this is a grossly myopic view of the subtropical paradise we get to call ‘home.’

If culinary curiosity doesn’t persuade you to explore the foods that grow near you, surely economics should. Eating food that is not in season and/or must be shipped from far away is more expensive. This has always been the case, but as grocery store prices continue to rise, I’d encourage you to consider becoming a locavore. Locavores choose to source their food primarily from their local area. You get to decide how wide that area is for you, but- thankfully- there’s plenty of locally grown food to choose from in south Florida.

I recently purchased several mamey sapotes from my favorite local fruit stand.

When ripe these tropical treats taste better than roasted sweet potato & only cost me $1/lb! Plus, I now have several mamey sapote seeds to plant, so that future me can pay even less for the fruit in the years to come🤲🏾.

Compare this, for example, to the current cost of a pound of Granny Smith/Honey Crisp apples: ~$4/lb🤯! These apples are shipped (usually) from the Pacific Northwest (USA). As your food miles (the distance your food travels to you) increase, so does your cost. There is an inverse correlation between the food miles & the food quality, i.e. the further your food travels, the lower the food quality due to early harvesting to accommodate shipping, rapidly deteriorating nutritional content beginning from the time the produce leaves the plant, sprays/coatings added to the produce to delay spoilage, etc. You don’t have to accept that!

I still have a few spaces available on my ‘Salad Lovers’ list for those who would like to be notified when I have bags of our premium salad mix (& other seasonal goodies) available for pickup in Indiantown.

You don’t have to buy from me, but you can do yourself a favor by buying as much of your food locally as possible. Supporting small farmers is an added bonus😉.