My oldest daughter has been in college for three years so of course when she comes home she brings all kinds of interesting ideas including, at the end of the past semester, about food.

She is not yet a vegan, thank God, but she came home all excited about being a “locavore,” a person who eats only food that is grown within 50 miles of wherever she lives. Locally grown food is better for the environment because, for instance, it isn’t moved long distances in refrigerated trailers. The practice also supports small farmers who aren’t big enough or who can’t afford to participate in the global food market. The practice causes shoppers to think more about the food they buy, perhaps therefore leading to healthier choices.

In fact, the more she talked about it, the more the whole idea made sense. Now I’m all about eating local food, as long as it doesn’t involve kale.

So it was with great excitement that I visited the opening session of the CityCenter Farmers’ Market, which runs every Friday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Kennedy Park near Main Street. There I found Willow Schulz, who can fulfill many of my locavore needs.

Schulz and her husband Jeremy own Clatter Valley Farm in New Milford, and when I arrived at her tent in early afternoon she had already sold out of raspberries, beets, radishes and squash.

She still had corn and big, luscious tomatoes. My tomato plants bear a few green knobs that I hope will someday turn red, so I questioned whether hers were from Florida instead of just up the road. Schulz was patient with me and explained that they were the result of putting something like an individual greenhouse around each plant, an aid to spur the maturation process.

Also at the market was local honey, baked goods, more fruit and vegetable stands, and clams, harvested by Pepe’s Cream of the Crop of Stratford, a real locavore find.

Neither Schulz nor her husband grew up in farm families but they both discovered a love of the land at an early age and, after meeting at the University of Connecticut, started their own operation. They ran the popular Berry Farm on Route 7 in New Milford for several years until expansion of the road caused them to close.

Now they support themselves mostly by selling annual subscriptions of vegetables and fruit they grow each year. They also sell some beef but at the moment you have to reserve half a cow or so. Someday, Schulz said, they hope to offer more of a retail meat operation.

There is a demand for what her farm offers, Schulz said. A few years ago, almost all their customers were from New Milford or a couple of towns over and their reputation spread through word of mouth. Now, half their new customers find the farm through the website – people looking for a particular food lifestyle that is healthier for themselves and the planet.

If you’re the parent of a college student or otherwise into that kind of stuff, the CityCenter Farmers’ Market will run every Friday through Oct. 28. Parking is plentiful on Main Street, Kennedy Avenue or Elm Street.