The Sunday Farmers' Market at Evergreen Village Square near the Evergreen Valley College in San Jose has become a magnet for the local community. More and more, Americans are saying no to processed and fast foods. You can get a sense of it in the bustling bazaars that farmers' markets have become, now over five thousand, across the nation. Organic, locally-grown food is healthy, delicious and sustainable. 
Prices are no higher than in the large grocery store chains, and often lower. But it is the fact that you feel you have a direct link to the farmers who produce your food that makes the difference. You know them and so you know your food, forging a trust that no grocery chain can replicate.
On this particular Sunday, on the eve of Summer, our farmers' market is overflowing with produce and people. There are fresh mustard greens, sweet peas, fava beans, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes, artichokes, red and white onions, radishes, cucumbers, lettuce, celery, beets, carrots, lettuce, broccoli, chard, squash, leeks, basil, garlic, cilantro, parsley, scallions, cauliflowers, spinach, yams, bok choys, and pumpkins. For fruits, there are cherries, blueberries, oranges, nectarines, apricots, peaches and strawberries. 
Producers are offering generous helpings of their fruits to persuade buyers to buy. A ten-pound bag of oranges cost $5 dollars, a basket of ripe, fat blueberries $4. Products are flying off the, well, tables. There are also jalapeno, hot mango and ginger chutnies, vegetable-stuffed bread, pita bread, and spicy black-bean hummus.
Women in colorful saris and kimonos abound. Smiling fathers in straw hats adroitly maneuver their babies in strollers around crowds. Children scoot around the fountain at the center of the market, laughing hysterically as they splash water on each other. A musician is coaxing mournful sounds from his violin while a guitarist is strumming and singing his heart out next to a table of orchids. Friends and families are animated. Strangers are no longer strangers as they freely discuss the benefits of this and that green. "Each bunch for just a dollar! What a bargain!"A sociologist has estimated that people have ten times as many conversations in farmers' markets as they do in the supermarket. It must be more than that, if this market is any indication. No one is in a hurry. There is time to chat, pause, smile, and appreciate food grown locally with love and care.Farmers' markets are helping to bring the family meal back. Children are learning where the food that they eat come from, which is more than enough reason why you should visit your local farmers' market with your family every week if you can.
The sharp pain in my right ear made me wince. I was having difficulty eating. My throat was hurting. Should I or should I not? Call the doctor, that is. Since the weekend was coming up, I reluctantly made the call. I have a bias against burdening an over-burdened system.The kind and compassionate doctor checked my throat and ear. "No infection in the ear," she said with relief, "but your jaw muscles are inflamed." One possible reason was that I had visited my dentist two day earlier, and opening the mouth wide and clenching for x-ray might have caused the inflammation.She prescribed the tablets that would cure me of my pain and I left with gratitude. Normally, I go straight to my neighborhood pharmacy. But this time I had an idea. Why not give the body one more day to see if it heals itself. I could put up with the pain for 24 hours but not any longer.It worked. The pain began to subside and within 72 hours there was no pain whatsoever.I am not trying to draw any general, high-sounding conclusion from this. It is always better to err on the side of caution than to be cavalier about one's health. Certainly, and in most cases, one should consult the doctor and take the prescribed medication.But too often we underestimate our body when it comes to common ailments. At the slightest hint of a sniffle or a headache, we panic and think that without a doctor's intervention, or without some medicine, we will fall apart physically.The body has its own natural, check-up mechanisms, and as long as we eat healthy food, do not overeat and do some form of regular exercise, the occasional flare-up is actually no cause for concern. The best medicine in such situations is probably to wait for a day or two while taking commonsensical precautions.As ancient cultures know and have practiced for generations, the body has the capacity to heal itself far more than we give it credit for.
Prices are no higher than in the large grocery store chains, and often lower. But it is the fact that you feel you have a direct link to the farmers who produce your food that makes the difference. You know them and so you know your food, forging a trust that no grocery chain can replicate.
Producers are offering generous helpings of their fruits to persuade buyers to buy. A ten-pound bag of oranges cost $5 dollars, a basket of ripe, fat blueberries $4. Products are flying off the, well, tables. There are also jalapeno, hot mango and ginger chutnies, vegetable-stuffed bread, pita bread, and spicy black-bean hummus.
