Here, last weekend marked the final Farmer’s Market of the year. While it’s a bittersweet passing of time for growers — the loss of convenient, weekly contact with customers is never a welcome thing, but the late fall and winter downtime that is a result of a lightened market schedule is imperative in the planning of the next year’s crop — it’s mostly just bitter for shoppers. Especially those new to eating local and those who are not accustomed to... → Read the rest of this article
While other months may be able to stake claim to being most bountiful October is probably one of the most interesting months during which to eat local. Many places, even in the cold northern regions, still have the tail-end of summer harvests trickling in as the short-season, cool-weather crops we saw at the beginning of spring make their reemergence and the long-season, fall-specific crops make their debut. It makes for a combination of flavors and textures that cannot be... → Read the rest of this article
August, the eighth month; a time when there is no longer any denying that what stands just on the other side of these long, hot days is autumn. The year is two-thirds over. And, I loathe to admit, in many locales so is the growing season. Last week the ripening of my tomatoes came on in earnest. Just in time, as a sick and demented cosmic plot twist would have it, for me to leave town for 5 days. While it’s a time, as I mentioned in both On Inheritance and Cooking Up... → Read the rest of this article
Last month, as March ushered in just slightly warmer weather and a little more sunlight, our guide to shopping in-season at local farmer’s markets focused on seriously cold weather crops. This month however, as April in most regions brings in moderate temperatures and days with a significant amount more sunshine our list of local foods available gets longer and more interesting.
Those cold weather crops we discussed last month — lettuces, spinach, kale,... → Read the rest of this article
Whether your farmer’s market is officially open for the season now or just holding a few special winter edition sale dates until warmer weather really ushers in most are now operating in one way or another. If they’re not they likely will be very, very soon.
But what can we — and maybe more importantly, should we — be shopping for now? That’s a very good question; one that can only be answered with the following: Thank goodness for greens! The... → Read the rest of this article
