Discover the Legion Park Farmers Market in Miami
A farmers market is a great place to spend your Saturday morning.
Get thee to a farmers’ market! That’s my new mantra. I’m obsessed with the good-for-you-and-the-world goodies you can find there. Read more to discover what’s so special about this obsession and to get some ideas about what you can buy at the Legion Park Market in Miami.
Local markets give you a taste for a region’s culinary life.
Farmers’ markets all over the world share many similarities; stalls, farm grown produce, probably some cheeses and meats and home-made goods. And yet each one is different. Going to a local market gives you a feeling for a city’s culinary life and a taste of what the soil and the weather can actually produce.
Plus it’s just more fun buying real stuff from real people. They are happy to tell you about what they grow and make. They are happy to support all the other people selling at the market.
Tell me that shopping at Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods is more convenient and I’ll agree. It serves its purpose. But, for me anyway, selecting plastic wrapped fruits and vegetables imported from a huge, impersonal farm probably far far away takes some of the joy out of the shopping and some of the tastiness out of the eating.
What you’ll find at the Legion Park Farmers’ Market in Miami.
Look for the beautiful Spanish oak-draped banyon tree and views of the water. The park is small, quiet, filled with locals. On Saturday morning at 10, there is a popular yoga class you can join.
Hungry when you arrive? You can immediately buy coffee, freshly-made juice, bakery items like muffins and croissants and empanadas. Eat them under the trees or at the waters’ edge.
Then explore the fresh-tasting, nutritionally-rich and visually beautiful produce from iconic farms like Little River Cooperative and French Farms.
Chris French launched French Farms 3 years ago. He sells to local chefs directly and was named "best farmer in miami" by the Miami New Times! He uses organic practices and is in the process of applying for official organic certification from the USDA. Heralded as a natural born farmer, he also happens to have an engineering background. He’s known to have or create a tool for every task. He occasionally hosts very special dinners at the farm in Homestead.
Seriously, how could anyone resist these naturally grown veggies that no pesticide has touched:
Paradise Farms is known for creating the most nutritionally dense and delicious harvests by using regenerative farming techniques. They offer the edible flowers (shown above), sweet tomatoes and a large assortment of exotic mushrooms. Check out the photo below to see the simple way I prepared a lunch with these ingredients. There’s a recipe there as well!
Bonus: A recipe for a simple farm-to-table lunch at home.
When I got home from the market, I wanted a delicious, healthy and easy to make lunch from some of the things I bought. I was also starved and needed it to be fast.
I sliced and pan-fried some mushrooms in butter and served them with sliced tomatoes, fresh basil, chopped fresh scallions and a dab of cilantro chutney from Nisha’s for lunch. To finish it, I sprinkled it with some salt and dribbled some olive oil over the plate. That’s the recipe. The result is beautiful to look at, taste-y to eat, nutritionally rich. What more can you ask for?
Have I convinced you yet? If not, here’s “my close” about why to go to a farmers’ market.
Go to be part of a community who recognizes and celebrates the value of local producers.
Go to explore the products the community is producing.
Go to meet and buy directly from growers/makers. The market is a deeply personal experience for these hard-working, creative folks. They care about producing foods in a way that supports the environment and their customers. They want to meet you and the other producers.
Go to buy local and support sustainable farming.
Go to enrich your lives and your bodies.
You won’t regret it.
Want the food but not the trip to the market? That can be arranged.
Urban Oasis Project is a nonprofit gem you need to know about. They bring together and promote local growers in the greater Miami area. They run several farmers markets.
And the best news yet: if you don’t want to go to one, you can order directly from them and they will deliver this amazing food right to your door.
Legion Park Farmers Market
6447 NE 7th Ave.
Miami FL 33138
305-795-1826
You’re so right about getting stuck in the rut of going between Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods: it’s convenient, it’s easy. But nothing beats going to a farmer’s market. Foremost for me is the visual appeal—the explosion of colors. I get a little heady!! And you’ve just convinced me to get out of my rut!!☀️
Thanks for the reminder of how wonderful farmers markets can be! I’m lucky that there are so many here in Southern California, including a small but excellent one in the town where I live. I visit whenever I can and always want to buy everything I see, especially now as fresh fruit arrives in such colorful abundance. The FM you write about in Miami sounds terrific.