Yesterday I attended a great set of presentations on social media strategies for the RD. I got thinking about this blog, and realized its focus has changed from September to present.
Then I realized why.
I started this blog to share my experiences with local foods. As 20" of snow blanket the ground outside and farmers markets are a memory of the past and a fantasy of the future, I haven't had as much to talk about on this front. It reminds me of the tone of Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal Vegetable Miracle during the cold winter months when the food situation sometimes seemed dire without a splash of fresh, homegrown tomato or the crunch of a freshly-picked cucumber. It also prompted me to take a deeper look at what I can do to support local foods in Massachusetts during the snowy, cold winter when not much is growing.
So how has my diet changed since I've not been getting a weekly box of fresh fruits and vegetables?
- I focus on eating the bags and bags of vegetables I froze from my CSA. Just this weekend, I made a killer mushroom and kale quiche with leftover kale. I've been boiling frozen, cut beets on a regular basis. And staining the stove red every single time.
- I focus on hearty, somewhat "seasonal" foods, even if they are not grown locally. I've been eating tons of citrus, pomegranates, and sweet potatoes. I still use local honey in my tea, locally-made tea, and local grains from the Pioneer Valley Heritage Grains grain CSA!
- I experiment a lot with legumes. From simple rice & beans to lentil soup to lentil curry, I have the opportunity to explore these staples I don't get to as much during CSA season.
- I spend more money at Trader Joe's.
- I started to grow my own!
And I dream of spring.
March is National Nutrition Month! I have some fun posts in store...
• sprouting
ReplyDelete• winter CSA share (Brookfield Farm, Amherst)
• ordered two boxes of citrus in December to be trucked up from Florida for a school fundraiser - put them in our basement, and they're still feeding us!
• a little bit of our own preserved food (basically jam and dried rosemary)
• just bought a half gallon of maple syrup at the Hanging Mountain Strawbale Cafe this morning!
• And, like you, we're spending more money at the grocery store - River Valley Market for us, and they do have some local greenhouse greens, local sprouts, and local foods that keep well: dried mushrooms, storage vegetables (not that we need more after the CSA share!!), and prepared foods like tofu, miso....
thought of two other things!
ReplyDelete• made wine last fall from a wine kit with grape juice from Cold Spring Orchard in Belchertown - have been drinking it since Christmas, and there's 2 gallons left!
• we keep chickens - they are picking up on their laying now that temperatures aren't subfreezing so much, but we kept getting a trickle of eggs through the winter. When we need more, we buy local eggs at River Valley Market.
Great ideas Jessica... what do you grow? do you grow it inside? I tried cilantro and basic in small pots but they didn't survive...
ReplyDeleteIf you're into a lentil soup recipe, check out this one here: http://practicalnutritionbydietitian.com/2010/02/22/middle-eastern-red-lentil-soup/
Stay warm!