Day 13: Buy Local Food #30DaysofGOOD

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Welcome to The GOOD 30-Day Challenge (#30DaysofGOOD). Each month, we challenge our community members to do something that will improve the world around us—and our own lives. The challenge for October? To get healthy. In an effort to help us all rise to the occasion, we're going to assign one small task every day. Each morning, we will post the challenge on GOOD.is and Twitter, along with a testimonial from someone on the GOOD team who's already completed it. We invite you to complete all 30 mini-challenges with us! Today, we challenge you to:

Buy local food.

I always love going to my neighborhood farmer's market to find ideas for what to eat. I love vegetables, but I have a tendency to get in a produce rut. Walking into a supermarket, I'll slip into autopilot with my tried-and-true weeknight staples like kale, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and asparagus.

That's why I hit the farmers market on Sunday—they don't always have my old reliables if it's not the right season. One of my favorite booths is run by a family whose farm is about an hour away in Ventura County. They have a lot of great produce, but my favorite thing is their grab bags, which go for $1. Each week is different. One time I got three eight-ball squashes and a zucchini. Another week it was small Italian cucumbers and 2 Japanese eggplants (how international!), and I remember once trying cauliflower that was purplish colored. For a buck, how can you go wrong trying something new? And the best part is that the produce is always a medley, so you'll get a taste of a lot of local flavor each time.

-Elisa Huang

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Ready, set, go! Good luck completing today's challenge. Share your experience on Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook by using the hashtag #30DaysofGOOD, or let us know how it went in the comments section below.

Tomorrow's challenge: Switch up happy hour for a physical activity.