Thursday afternoon I
managed to sneak off
solo to nab some final
goodies. The weather
was nice, the fall colours
were just beginning to
wane, and the vendors
were ready with lots
of great food.
I bought tomatoes, purple brocco-flower (broccoli? cauliflower?), white cauliflower, zucchini, summer squash, bell peppers, eggplant, lettuce, kettle corn, and loaves of bread...including Nate's requested "farm bread" which means white bread...though I got some extra seed bread to freeze.Now comes the long dark winter...what to do? There is a farmer's market a few towns away that runs for another month. And there is the year-round Haymarket in Boston. Otherwise, in addition to our monthly winter CSA share, it's back to the supermarkets. I pay close attention to the little stickers on everything, denoting location and growing method. When all else fails, I head to one of warehouse stores for a giant bag of organic broccoli and freeze the extras. I've got quite a bit of soup veggies frozen from the farm, but the failed tomato crop will either keep me making brothy soups or buying tinned tomatoes. And I'll likely treat myself to a few trips to the various asian markets.
So tell me, how do your eating habits change when the cooler weather arrives? What fall/winter crops do you look forward to most? I always reminisce about a December trip to Australia we took, when the local avocadoes and mangoes were in season. Sometimes it makes me long to live in a warmer locale.
1 comment:
Our next overseas trip is going to be to Australia. I think that will be fun. I'm wondering if fresh, in season avocados would taste better than what we buy in the stores here? Probably, just like everything else. A fresh mango not shipped in from thousands of miles away probably tastes like heaven.
Our farmers markets are done here. I think they really should go a bit longer, but I don't have a say. Next year I will have my garden (I wasn't physically capable of maintaining one this year) so I won't have to rely so much on the markets. I really, really love winter squash and I actually find that I crave it when this time of year rolls around. I stock pile it like there's no tomorrow. And when nothing fresh, local and in season is available, I rely on what I canned or froze over the spring and summer months to sustain us through the winter. I work all spring, summer and fall to put back for the winter. Certainly saves on the grocery bill and right now, since we both got pay cuts (at least we still have our jobs), that means more now than ever.
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