We are obviously big fans of farmer’s markets and local and community driven agriculture. As are many of us. The downside of this new trend, especially in cities, is that inventory can go fast. For the sellers, they can charge an almost unlimited amount for their wares when they can find a big enough audience. But we are all tired of getting up earlier than we prefer on a weekend and still missing the one thing that you rose so early to nab.

This article may be very obvious to many of you, but we wanted to share the little tricks that we do that are far from perfect, but can sometimes help us to avoid heartache and end up with more swiss chard than we want.

This is an old story, but a long while ago before they leveled up their production, we used to chase farmer’s markets every month looking for Merf’s Electric Lime hot sauce. And sometime between those days and today, where you can just find a store on their website, we used to comb various farmer’s markets and food festival websites, looking for another place if we happen to miss it.

Nearly every festival and farmer’s market has a website or app now. They usually list who is going to show, and if you are really on the ball, write to this group and see what they are bringing.

Another spot where we have been particularly successful when it comes to fresh seafood is using aggregators. My husband is from Maine and we had been hunting for ways to get fresh lobster that didn’t involve hassling his old friends and relatives and sometimes not ending up with the best result. In our attempts to buy lobster online for a surf and turf party, we found Quality Seafood Delivery. They aggregate companies who ship fresh seafood, such as lobster, salmon, crab, crawfish, halibut, and smoked salmon. They are free to use, and while they

It’s important to note today that the world has figured out ecommerce better than even four years ago, and you can mostly buy direct and skip the festival or market once someone is established, but until they are established these are the methods that reduce our frustration and FOMO.