“Pick the very best cantaloupe for me. I want to go home and eat it immediately,” I said to the farmer. He sent me home with the assurance of a great cantaloupe. It cut and tasted like butter and I silently thanked him as I ate the warm cantaloupe at my kitchen counter.

Personal touches like this are just one of the reasons I prefer to buy my produce directly from the farmer versus the grocery store. Each Saturday I visit the farmer’s market to stock up on my fruits and vegetables for the week. My CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) pickup is there so the Stranger Creek Heritage Farm table is always my first stop. The farmer, Doug Doering, will often pull out a unique item, something I haven’t tried before like kohlrabi or rampicante squash, and explain its uses and benefits. Each week he’ll also email all the CSA participants a few recipes to try. My personal favorite this year was beet greens with pasta. I’d never eaten the greens from my beets before—so now, rather than wasting the tops when prepping the beets, the greens are a new favorite.

After I pick up my CSA items, I’ll check out what the other farmers have available. I usually stop by the New Roots for Refugees table to see what they have growing. Mary Nguyen, with Cultivate Kansas City, mentions them in her Eating Well in Kansas City column this month in Evolving Magazine.

Just like the change of seasons brings new offerings at the market, Evolving Magazine is in the midst of a new season. It brings me much joy to offer the magazine in a higher vibe format as a glossy magazine. You’ll find the same soul-nourishing articles and artwork but in a shinier package.

Here’s to Eating Well in Kansas City. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed creating this new evolving version of the magazine. Read the August edition here. And please join us in celebrating the new magazine with a Launch Party on August 29.