Farmers Markets: Help Us Help You

In doing research for an article on farmers markets, it was surprising to see there wasn’t a single, comprehensive list out there for Houston. When you’re ranked #2 in population growth, this means a whole lot of people new to the area will have a hard time finding a farmers market near them–and that’s just a shame.

Syd Kearney has put together the best list I’ve seen thus far of farmers markets in Houston and surrounding areas. What’s extra nice is that it’s broken down by day of the week.

But more and more are cropping up all the time. We have to look to the farmers markets organizers to put themselves on lists. Here are some lists that seem worthwhile to request being added to:

* Greater Houston Visitors and Convention Bureau
* Texas Department of Agriculture
* Texas Certified Farmers Markets
* USDA’s National Farmers Markets Search Engine

And if you’re thinking about starting a farmers market in Houston, you’ll need to know how and apply through the City of Houston. (Did you know that the City of Houston HDHHS also has markets for underserved areas? Go COH HDHHS!) It’s not clear to me why they wouldn’t have a listing on their Green Houston website. Does that seem crazy to you too?

There a ton of good reasons to go to a farmers market. But really, if you haven’t been to a farmers market yet, go and decide for yourself–especially, while the weather is so beautiful! A fun way to do it is with Bayou City Outdoors which has a great bike tour of a few of the inner city farmers markets. What better way to Support Local, Grow Together?