We all have our reasons why we love Penn State. For many of you it’s probably football, or maybe the Creamery. But for me, it’s the farmer’s market downtown.

On Tuesdays and Fridays from 11:30 to 5:30, Locust Lane (right across from the HUB Lawn) is transformed into the local farmer’s market. The colors of the produce and the buzzing of the people walking through illuminate the usually quiet street.

The market is “producer only,” which means that the person behind the table is the person who made the product. And while not all the products are organic, they are all local. Raymond Fisher, a farmer from Sprinback Acres, explained that it’s “more interesting producing and selling right to the consumer.” Buying local is an important practice, for economic reasons as well as environmental.

The experience you get at the farmer’s market is very different from the one you get at the fluorescent-lit grocery store. For example, you can buy milk literally from the cow’s utter to the bottle, without all the homogenizing and pasteurizing that comes with the milk you get at the grocery store.

If you’re looking to make a meal, everything you need is there. From zucchini to raspberries, the farmers offer their best of the current season. The Bieler Family Farm sells organic meat and poultry, like grass-fed beef and kindly raised pigs and chickens. Captain Dan Brigham, a local fisherman, sells his fish at the market. Every summer, “Captain Dan” goes up to Alaska to catch salmon, and in Pennsylvania he raises trout.

As Halloween gets closer, it’s a great place to pick up a pumpkin and decorative gourds. And for any guy looking to score points with the girlfriend, flowers always work.

Even if you’re not looking for anything in particular, the market offers great grab-and-go options. Maybe it’s a mini-pumpkin pie, a scoop of homemade ice cream, or apple slices drizzled with caramel that you crave. Either way, you only need a few dollars to walk away satisfied.

So, on Friday after class, before you start making regrettable mistakes and blacking out, give it a walk through. The market runs from May to November, so you better hurry up before the season ends.