A Year of Food Adventure

Our industrial food system has made us believe that there are no seasons for vegetables & fruits. We can get almost any piece of fruit we want at anytime of year in our convential supermarkets, many having some serious jet lag from traveling (likely farther than most people ever travel in their lifetimes).

Fortunately for us, as Garden Clubbers, we will all become very well educated with what vegetables and fruits are in season here at home. In preparation for our adventure, I wanted to suggest some great reading to get you geared up. Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is a fabulous chronicle of her family's year long local food quest. If you don't have time to read the book, the family has also put together a great website (http://animalvegetablemiracle.com/). We'll be trying some of their recipes this season.

One of my favorite parts of the book is Kingsolver's ficticious plant deemed the "vegetannual." This imaginary plant can help you visualize what types of produce will be available as the growing season progresses. The first edibles will be the shoots (think asparagus, green onions), then small leaves (baby greens), then larger more developed leaves (kale, chards). Then come mature heads of leaves and flower heads (broccoli, cauliflower), followed by small green fruits (baby squash, cucumbers, green beans) and then larger, brightly colored fruits (eggplants, tomatoes, peppers). As autumn approaches, the fruits become harder-shelled with more developed seeds (melons, winter squash, pumpkins), and finally the plant pulls of it's energy underground and develops tubers, bulbs, or roots (potatoes).