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Quote of the Day: Alice Waters

December 30th, 2012

“The things most worth wanting are not available everywhere all the time.”

Alice Waters

We’ve just passed the solstice and the days are getting longer. The solstice also officially kicks off winter, the lean months. When you try to eat locally and seasonally, this time of year can get to be a little long; especially when you’re used to eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Lately, I’ve been craving something green. For now, that spot in my diet is filled with sauerkraut, cabbage, rutabagas, turnips, carrots and potatoes.
purple cabbage
root vegetables 1
root vegetables 2
Of course I could go to the local supermarket and get lettuce and any other green thing I wanted, but that kind of defeats the purpose. If I did, I probably wouldn’t enjoy them as much when I was harvesting them fresh from my garden.

What fruit or vegetable are you missing that’s out of season?

24 Comments to “Quote of the Day: Alice Waters”
  1. Robin Follette on December 30, 2012 at 6:09 am

    Tomatoes. I won’t eat tomatoes unless they’re vine ripened. They’re not my favorite vegetable so to enjoy them, they have to be fully ripe. In Maine, I’m limited to late June or early July til October (high tunnels make early and late possible).

    Reply to Robin Follette's comment

  2. Brenda on December 30, 2012 at 6:46 am

    A world with potatoes is not a bad world :-)

    Reply to Brenda's comment

  3. Bettina on December 30, 2012 at 6:59 am

    Have you thought of sowing salad in big pots and keep them in the house, maybe on a south facing window?

    You may not get a lot, but enough to give you a bit of diversity once a week.

    3 largish pots, with 2 or 3 salad plants each, rotating the sowing time would give you one or two per week.

    Reply to Bettina's comment

    • Susy on December 30, 2012 at 8:17 am

      I do have a lot of herbs in the house and use those frequently for flavor & greens. I hope to have a small greenhouse next winter for growing/harvesting some cold hardy spinach and other greens.

      Reply to Susy's comment

      • Andrea on December 31, 2012 at 9:30 am

        I have lettuce and spinach in my greenhouse right now. I don’t know the variety of spinach (I can look up if you want to know), but it’s great! It’s even planted outside and doing well for now.

        It was 60* two days ago in the greenhouse, so I know you will love having one.

        to Andrea's comment

  4. daisy on December 30, 2012 at 7:54 am

    Melons and berries are what I miss in the winter. But I’m not complaining because I have home-grown lettuce now. That’s what I miss in the summer. It all works out…

    Great suggestion about containerizing the lettuce. I’d love to see you give it a go!

    Reply to daisy's comment

  5. Emily on December 30, 2012 at 8:29 am

    I miss tomatoes. We are fortunate that our local farm grows spinach and mesclun through the winter, but it isn’t the same as a head of lettuce. Another veggie I love this time of year is celeriac, though the farm may be running out of it soon.

    Reply to Emily's comment

  6. Melissa on December 30, 2012 at 9:55 am

    I’ve had the same cravings, been eating a lot of kale and broccoli. Very thankful for a sweet friend whose broccoli is already ready, mine is still probably two weeks away!

    Reply to Melissa's comment

  7. Maybelline on December 30, 2012 at 10:17 am

    Peaches and apricots.
    In the garden: lettuce, onions, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, mustard.
    No roots crops due to nematodes.

    Reply to Maybelline's comment

  8. Canned Quilter on December 30, 2012 at 10:54 am

    I miss the fresh greens. I have canned but it is not the same as fresh : )

    Reply to Canned Quilter's comment

  9. kristin @ going country on December 30, 2012 at 11:05 am

    Herb–fresh basil. I saw Lidia Bastianich chopping some yesterday on her show and I could almost smell it.

    I suppose I could keep some in a pot indoors, but . . . well, I don’t.

    Reply to kristin @ going country's comment

    • Eliza J on December 30, 2012 at 3:14 pm

      I always start basil seedlings indoors under grow lights in October. This year I also purchased a basil plant at the grocery store, separated it and ended up potting 4 plants. Right now they are all ready to be trimmed back and I get “fresh basil”. It works!

      Reply to Eliza J's comment

  10. Jennifer Fisk on December 30, 2012 at 11:43 am

    While I’ve been able to adjust my taste buds to root veggies and cooking greens from Olivia’s, I really miss tomatoes. I would love to have a tasty tomato sandwich for lunch.

    Reply to Jennifer Fisk's comment

  11. Joan on December 30, 2012 at 12:48 pm

    Fresh basil is what I miss most. We freeze up lots of pesto, but it’s just not the same!

    Reply to Joan's comment

  12. KimH on December 30, 2012 at 1:11 pm

    I dont really think I’ve been missing much of anything. We were still participating in our CSA until Dec 22nd, and I had a family size box so we still have quite a lot of fresh veggies. They had green house grown tomatoes in several of the fall/winter boxes and I still have cherry tomatoes that are ripening from our last picking, but they sure arent the same as those Purple Cherokee I picked from my garden during the height of summer. I saw a pic of the Purple Cherokee yesterday and my mouth watered, so I guess that’d be the one I miss.

    Reply to KimH's comment

  13. Eliza J on December 30, 2012 at 3:16 pm

    I miss tomatoes and salad greens the most, followed by fresh potatoes! Looking forward to CISA’s Winter Fare coming up in about a month in Northampton. They won’t have tomatoes, but they have lots of other wonderful stuff.

    Reply to Eliza J's comment

  14. KimP on December 30, 2012 at 4:05 pm

    I purchased some store-bought lettuce the other day for the first time in probably 10 months or so. It tasted so bland! I could not believe the difference! Actually – I guess I could. It just took tasting to know the difference.

    Reply to KimP's comment

  15. Twitter Bird :) on December 30, 2012 at 4:47 pm

    Is it cold over there ? It is here ! :) :(

    Reply to Twitter Bird :)'s comment

    • Susy on December 31, 2012 at 12:27 am

      It is cold here and we have a lot of snow too!

      Reply to Susy's comment

  16. Songbirdtiff on December 30, 2012 at 6:50 pm

    Tomatoes!

    Reply to Songbirdtiff's comment

  17. Sheila Z on December 31, 2012 at 12:46 am

    I don’t really miss the summer fruits and veggies. I do look forward with anticipation for the season when each food is in it’s prime though. I love seasonal eating and now is the right time to focus on roots and sprouted seeds. I also have a few jars of peaches canned, some jam, and a few bags of frozen blueberries. Reminders of summer past and summer to come. I’m also not adverse to buying a bunch of bananas or a few oranges during the winter. That may be a cheat, but I never buy them during the summer.

    Reply to Sheila Z's comment

  18. Sharyn Whiting on December 31, 2012 at 8:53 pm

    We only eat seasonally and locally produced where ever possible – mainly from our garden or the local farmers’ market. A great book to read is “Animal, Vegetable, Mineral” by Barbara Kingsolver which is right on this subject. Sharyn

    Reply to Sharyn Whiting's comment

  19. Norma on January 3, 2013 at 6:16 am

    Why don’t you grow some sprouts on the kitchen sink? I have a sprouter and can grow snow peas, alfalfa, Mustard, Mung Beans, Lentils, Fenugreek, Alfalfa, Radish, Broccoli etc. What temperature is it in your home?They need temps of about 18 to 24 degrees Celcius, and only 3 to 10 days to grow.

    Reply to Norma's comment

  20. Teresa on January 3, 2013 at 5:08 pm

    I miss tomatoes and fresh fruit other than apples and the occasional “desperation” banana, though the frozen blueberries from the summer are pretty damn fine. We missed the winter market due to the holidays and resorted to “foreign” greens since our garden is currently buried. Provides the nutrients (at least some of them) but they don’t taste the same.

    Reply to Teresa's comment

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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