It’s the time of the year to think about fresh vegetables from local producers.
Vegetables are beginning to appear in farmers markets, and you can’t beat produce grown locally for flavor. It hasn’t gotten too hot yet, so you can still find a few cooler-season crops such as lettuce, kale, bok choy and carrots.
Also available this time of the year will be peas, onions and strawberries, as well as year-round offerings like eggs, honey and cottage food items such as jams, jellies and breads.
If you’re somehow not enticed by any of these, it won’t be long before warm-weather crops begin to come in. Soon, you’ll find tomatoes and peppers, cucumbers, beans, peas, summer squash and sweet corn on the tables at our local markets.
There are several to choose from, but the extension service works most closely with farmers markets in Crestview and Fort Walton Beach.
Crestview's market is at the corner of Stillwell Boulevard and Industrial Drive, and is open 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Fort Walton Beach's market — open the same hours and days — is located on Lewis Turner Boulevard beside the courthouse annex.
Evan Anderson is an agent at the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension office in Crestview.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: ANDERSON: Vegetables available at a farmers market near you