Where does you food grow? When is it at its most flavorful? How was it grown? After you buy that weird shaped squash, what do you even do with it?

Sometimes it can be hard to figure out everything that is available at your farmers market. But really, the diversity is a good thing! That means that you’re exposed to things you might not find elsewhere, and even if some things aren’t familiar, markets are an extremely valuable resource for shoppers. Farmers can let you know what practices they used to grow the produce (how to use it!), and chef demos can show you a brand new way to cook something. Even other market-shoppers will have tips on what’s extra delicious this week, and if you ask, they’ll probably give you a proven recipe too!

That’s why this week, we’re asking our market supporters to take the Eat Local Challenge for a chance to win $25 at your favorite CFM managed farmers market! After all, our theme this week for #eatlocalyall is Learn About Food, and what better way to learn about food than to share it with the world?

It’s simple to enter:

• Go to the farmers market and buy something—it can be prepared or produce.
• Snap a picture of your market find and tag #eatlocalyall as well as your market (#decaturfarmersmarket, #eavfarmersmarket, #grantparkfarmersmarket, #poncecityfarmersmarket, or #westsidefarmersmarket). Maybe you made an incredible dinner using all local ingredients, maybe you made lunch with just a single market ingredient, or maybe it’s a picture of you eating some delicious, locally-sourced market food like Kushina Catering: it doesn’t matter, as long as you share a photo of it!

We’ll choose a winner from each market next Monday, September 19th, and those people will win a $25 gift certificate to spend at any of our markets. That means there will be 5 different winners!

Need some inspiration?

Read Cicely‘s Eat Local Challenge log from last year, take a peek at some of the recipes that are on our blog, take a look at Georgia Organic’s Good Food Guide to see where you can buy local food at restaurants and farmers markets, or see some of the entries from last year:

We can’t wait to see your entries!