Quote of the Day: Alice Waters
“The things most worth wanting are not available everywhere all the time.”
We’ve just passed the solstice and the days are getting longer. The solstice also officially kicks off winter, the lean months. When you try to eat locally and seasonally, this time of year can get to be a little long; especially when you’re used to eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Lately, I’ve been craving something green. For now, that spot in my diet is filled with sauerkraut, cabbage, rutabagas, turnips, carrots and potatoes.
Of course I could go to the local supermarket and get lettuce and any other green thing I wanted, but that kind of defeats the purpose. If I did, I probably wouldn’t enjoy them as much when I was harvesting them fresh from my garden.
What fruit or vegetable are you missing that’s out of season?
Filed under Quote | Comments (24)
Tomatoes. I won’t eat tomatoes unless they’re vine ripened. They’re not my favorite vegetable so to enjoy them, they have to be fully ripe. In Maine, I’m limited to late June or early July til October (high tunnels make early and late possible).
to Robin Follette's comment
A world with potatoes is not a bad world :-)
to Brenda's comment
Have you thought of sowing salad in big pots and keep them in the house, maybe on a south facing window?
You may not get a lot, but enough to give you a bit of diversity once a week.
3 largish pots, with 2 or 3 salad plants each, rotating the sowing time would give you one or two per week.
to Bettina's comment
I do have a lot of herbs in the house and use those frequently for flavor & greens. I hope to have a small greenhouse next winter for growing/harvesting some cold hardy spinach and other greens.
to Susy's comment
I have lettuce and spinach in my greenhouse right now. I don’t know the variety of spinach (I can look up if you want to know), but it’s great! It’s even planted outside and doing well for now.
It was 60* two days ago in the greenhouse, so I know you will love having one.
to Andrea's comment
Melons and berries are what I miss in the winter. But I’m not complaining because I have home-grown lettuce now. That’s what I miss in the summer. It all works out…
Great suggestion about containerizing the lettuce. I’d love to see you give it a go!
to daisy's comment
I miss tomatoes. We are fortunate that our local farm grows spinach and mesclun through the winter, but it isn’t the same as a head of lettuce. Another veggie I love this time of year is celeriac, though the farm may be running out of it soon.
to Emily's comment
I’ve had the same cravings, been eating a lot of kale and broccoli. Very thankful for a sweet friend whose broccoli is already ready, mine is still probably two weeks away!
to Melissa's comment
Peaches and apricots.
In the garden: lettuce, onions, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, mustard.
No roots crops due to nematodes.
to Maybelline's comment
I miss the fresh greens. I have canned but it is not the same as fresh : )
to Canned Quilter's comment
Herb–fresh basil. I saw Lidia Bastianich chopping some yesterday on her show and I could almost smell it.
I suppose I could keep some in a pot indoors, but . . . well, I don’t.
to kristin @ going country's comment
I always start basil seedlings indoors under grow lights in October. This year I also purchased a basil plant at the grocery store, separated it and ended up potting 4 plants. Right now they are all ready to be trimmed back and I get “fresh basil”. It works!
to Eliza J's comment
While I’ve been able to adjust my taste buds to root veggies and cooking greens from Olivia’s, I really miss tomatoes. I would love to have a tasty tomato sandwich for lunch.
to Jennifer Fisk's comment
Fresh basil is what I miss most. We freeze up lots of pesto, but it’s just not the same!
to Joan's comment
I dont really think I’ve been missing much of anything. We were still participating in our CSA until Dec 22nd, and I had a family size box so we still have quite a lot of fresh veggies. They had green house grown tomatoes in several of the fall/winter boxes and I still have cherry tomatoes that are ripening from our last picking, but they sure arent the same as those Purple Cherokee I picked from my garden during the height of summer. I saw a pic of the Purple Cherokee yesterday and my mouth watered, so I guess that’d be the one I miss.
to KimH's comment
I miss tomatoes and salad greens the most, followed by fresh potatoes! Looking forward to CISA’s Winter Fare coming up in about a month in Northampton. They won’t have tomatoes, but they have lots of other wonderful stuff.
to Eliza J's comment
I purchased some store-bought lettuce the other day for the first time in probably 10 months or so. It tasted so bland! I could not believe the difference! Actually – I guess I could. It just took tasting to know the difference.
to KimP's comment
Is it cold over there ? It is here ! :) :(
to Twitter Bird :)'s comment
It is cold here and we have a lot of snow too!
to Susy's comment
Tomatoes!
to Songbirdtiff's comment
I don’t really miss the summer fruits and veggies. I do look forward with anticipation for the season when each food is in it’s prime though. I love seasonal eating and now is the right time to focus on roots and sprouted seeds. I also have a few jars of peaches canned, some jam, and a few bags of frozen blueberries. Reminders of summer past and summer to come. I’m also not adverse to buying a bunch of bananas or a few oranges during the winter. That may be a cheat, but I never buy them during the summer.
to Sheila Z's comment
We only eat seasonally and locally produced where ever possible – mainly from our garden or the local farmers’ market. A great book to read is “Animal, Vegetable, Mineral” by Barbara Kingsolver which is right on this subject. Sharyn
to Sharyn Whiting's comment
Why don’t you grow some sprouts on the kitchen sink? I have a sprouter and can grow snow peas, alfalfa, Mustard, Mung Beans, Lentils, Fenugreek, Alfalfa, Radish, Broccoli etc. What temperature is it in your home?They need temps of about 18 to 24 degrees Celcius, and only 3 to 10 days to grow.
to Norma's comment
I miss tomatoes and fresh fruit other than apples and the occasional “desperation” banana, though the frozen blueberries from the summer are pretty damn fine. We missed the winter market due to the holidays and resorted to “foreign” greens since our garden is currently buried. Provides the nutrients (at least some of them) but they don’t taste the same.
to Teresa's comment