My wife loves eating healthy.

Of course, the benefit I get is that when she eats healthy, I do too.

Not that I can say I love vegetables, but I know they are our friends.

Almost any day we want, we can run by the supermarket and make a purchase.

For my wife, though, there is nothing like going to a farmers market. She just loves it. She feels like she’s contributing to the local economy, not to mention getting healthier foods. We leave home with serious intentions, and she browses each stand.

I say all this because it’s about that time of the year when the markets open.

I’ve never lived anywhere that didn’t have a farmers market, but they just seem so much more accessible and appropriate in a rural community.

Maybe because there is a good chance you can drive by and see those items growing in a field — and, maybe in some way, you feel connected to them. That said, I don’t feel the same way about my hamburger and cows.

There is also the advantage in a rural community of running into vendors. All summer, I see stands and trucks on the side of the road selling — well, everything. Honey, apples, squash, cantaloupe, you name it, someone is selling it.

It reminds me of when I was a child growing up in the city and people would drive through the neighborhood selling fruits and vegetables.

Not that I cared. My interest was the ice cream man. My grandparents were the ones who cared about all that other stuff. And then we would shuck corn and snap peas. I know, I know. It was a different time.

And as strange as it sounds, those vendors remind me of the bookmobile when I was a child.

The point of the bookmobile is to make the services of the library available to those who might not otherwise be able to get to it. Once at school, they brought the bookmobile and we walked through it. It was the same time that we were being reminded that reading is fundamental.

So how is a bookmobile and vendors alike? Well, I also know there are communities — mostly in cities — where fresh fruit and vegetables aren’t sold. Of course, we really shouldn’t assume that the problem is restricted to urban areas. The truth is that vegetables really aren’t cheap — well, not bag-of-potato chips cheap, and some people — for whatever reason — don’t really want to eat healthy.

So we have to groom appreciation for healthy eating and encourage it like we once did reading.

Hey, healthy eating really is fundamental.

Jamie Ruff is a reporter for The Kenbridge-Victoria Dispatch. He can be reached at jamie.ruff@kvdispatch.com.