Fresh Produce Hard to Find During Winter
One of the more difficult tasks that arises once my local farmer’s markets close down in the Winter is trying to find fresh produce. If you live in some of the warmer parts of America, then you may not face the same problem as I do. The growing season for the Northeast only exists until about October and only starts to pick up again in April/May. In search for ways to find fresh produce during the winter, I was able to find several ways that can help you make it during this tough time of the year.
Hoarding During the Summer
Why not try hoarding food just as many animals do during the winter months. When a particular fruit or vegetable is in growing season, try buying bulk quantities from a local farm or you can grow your own. Whatever you don’t use you can either jar/can or freeze. Either method will allow you to have you quality harvest during the winter months. The only problem with this method is that you cannot have any of them raw. Well, you can, but they are just not as appetizing as they were when you first bought or grew them.
Buying Frozen/Canned
You can always buy your fruits and vegetables frozen or canned instead of having do go through the process of buying them fresh and doing it yourself. You have to be really careful when you buy them this way. Just make sure you know where they were grown and anything used in preserving them. If they were grown in another country, then there is little chance you know how it was grown and that is just generating more greenhouse gases than necessary.
Markets
Farmer’s Markets
This may seem like a strange choice considering I just said that it’s almost impossible to find fresh produce locally during the Winter in may parts of the country. In some parts of the country, farmers are still growing some fruits and vegetables despite the cold temperatures. They are able to still grow some root vegetables like potatoes and grow vegetables in greenhouses. The farmers that choose to grow in greenhouses tend to choose easier vegetables to grow like greens. This seems like a great way to still buy locally if you are able to find a farm or market in your area that still is growing. It is still probably far cheaper and much more fresh than at a grocery store.
Organic Markets
Organic markets are probably the best choice to finding many of the regular fruits and vegetables during the winter. They will usually have fresh produce and try to find produce that are locally grown. Be careful though as not everything is local and could be the same as you would find any a typical grocery store.
I recommend using Local Harvest to find a local farm, market or organic grocery store.
Grow Them
This is probably a difficult task for most during the winter, but it is possible to grow some limited items. One way to get a lot of fresh vegetables is to grow sprouts. They are quick and easy to grow and you can have sprouts in the matter of days. Also, there are many varieties to choose from including broccoli, bean and alfalfa. All are nutritious and go great in many dishes. You can also grow many different varities of herbs in pots right next to a window during the winter. It’s probably hard to get all of the produce you need from just sprouts and herbs, but this reduce the amount of produce you need to buy.
Please share what you are doing to get your fresh produce during the long winter months.
Comments
Thank you for this article … excellent suggestions. In NC we have farmer’s markets that stay open all year long. At this time of year, in addition to farmers who grow winter produce, we have farmers who have preserved fruits and veggies in the summer and offer them for sale. I suppose the same rules apply when buying these items as apply anywhere else … be sure to ask about what’s in it, if it’s organic, etc.
Small Footprints
http://reducefootprints.blogspot.com
Great tips for eating fresh in the winter, thanks, great post.
Nice tips indeed. I visit farmer’s market every Saturday, and get my supplies there. Would love to go more often, but the schedule doesn’t allow it. And yes, veggies are definitely fresh there. I never buy them at grocery stores.
Argghh, sprouts.
Mrs.Dirty Boots loves them but they are my worst veggie nightmare!
She does preserve loads of stuff though. Tons of pickles, Olives, saurkraut and the list goes on. Sundried tomatoes kept in the freezer are also great.