Every week in DeKalb, there is reason to repeat the magic food word of the decade: fresh.

Surrounding Mary Milbrandt of Sycamore on all sides are stands of produce, plants, wine, crafts and processed food.

“At Jewel, sure the produce is fresh, but here at the [DeKalb farmers] market, the produce is fresh fresh,” Milbrandt said.

Standing in the rainy alley of DeKalb’s weekly farmers market, she chews on her words a bit more, “No, I think the produce here is fresh fresh fresh. That extra fresh is important.”

The national fascination with food used to be “convenience,” then it became “organic,” and now the new wave is local produce.

To compete and survive with corporate markets, farmers have become more accustomed to using pesticides and chemicals for high yields. This practice, know as “conventional farming,” along with planting giant plots of the same crop, has made farming very risky and dangerous for consumers and farmers.

To combat the industrial trend, more farmers are diversifying their crops like a successful investment portfolio, by producing tomatoes, corn, carrots, watermelon, eggplant, beets and honey, as opposed to the single-crop, single-harvest approach to agriculture.

“Working with stores like Wal-Mart is difficult because they set the price of everything. That price may not be accurate to how much the produce is worth,” said Randy Larson of Larson Farms. “Even if the tomato crop didn’t come up strong one year, they won’t pay more per pound.”

Every Thursday, noon to six p.m. from early June to the end of September, the DeKalb market opens in Palmer’s Court, one block North of Lincoln Highway between Second and Third Streets.

Sycamore also has a weekly farmers market Sundays, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the intersection of Route 23 and Somonauk Road.

“We are so busy with our three farmers markets we usually wake up on Thursday morning and don’t sleep until Saturday night,” Larson said.

“That is necessary to satisfy the demand. “Weeks can get busy as the farmers grow and distribute their crops.

“We travel to seven markets in a week,” Mary Talbot, a worker at Norway Produce, said. “We have a stand outside the farm and we supply the Hillside Restaurant with tomatoes, butternut squash and other produce.”Yet, by being in the market circuit, the community branches out.

“Here at the markets, we know the other vendors and our customers,” said Scott Rutton, of Sycamore Winery. “I buy my corn from people I know right over there.”

Often, as with Norway and Larson farms, the produce is picked that day. But with any food product, it is advised to check the quality.