Solutions?

I have read and enjoyed the books you mentioned, and I do try to eat locally. It is, as you, and I here in New England, and others have discovered, pretty darn hard, lol.

Do you have an organic store near you? The one near me has some local produce. Obviously, it's not all local, but there is some.

Personally, I rationalize with myself. I buy beef from a local farm through a CSA. My chicken and pork come from an organic store which sources from local farms. I work at another local organic farm in the summer, and grow lots of my own vegetables. What I don't grow, I buy during the season from local farms (either the one I work at or the vendors at the markets I sell at). I freeze tomatoes, corn, and beans for the winter. I may attempt canning next year.

I also this year started experimenting with cold frames, and tried lettuces, spinach, other greens and carrots. I'm not doing nearly well enough to call it a success this year, but it's a start.

So, with all that, I allow myself to buy fresh produce at the supermarket during the winter. I do try to find some somewhat local stuff (for example the salad mix I buy is from Mass., and I'm in CT) but since I do so much the rest of the year, I don't make myself feel guilty about buying bananas or oranges. And when you say you rely on canned and frozen vegetables, do you mean YOUR canned and frozen, or commercially? Because really, the canned or frozen vegetables we buy are no more local than the fresh produce we buy in the store this time of year.

I keep telling myself that it will get easier. I think there is a growing market for local items, and hope that more farms (with greenhouses in the colder areas, obviously) will grow throughout the year and offer their produce. I also hope to grow more of my own stuff, and more importantly, I'm trying to expand my admittedly very limited palate to include some of the winter vegetables that grow here in New England (squashes/gourds in particular). I'm not a very adventurous eater, and I'm trying to change that.

But I don't think I will ever give up chocolate, tea, oranges, bananas, sugar, etc. I do the best I can in other areas and allow myself those items.

Hoping some others have some good ideas to share here!
:)
Dee

Shelly t I think that some things you just can;t get fresh in the winter, you can grow some herbs under lights, but not big food crops. Things like carrots and potatoes are good, there are also watermelons and winter squash that last for months. You can also look at extending your season with an insulated green house if you have the space for it, I would recommend reading the book "Four seasons harvest" if you are planning on exploring this rout.

Google "root cellar" and find out how to do this the old fashioned way. Basically, cold (above freezing but ideally less than 40 degrees)dark and humid storage conditions are what you want. You need to separate the things that give off ethylene gas from those that respond to it by sprouting.

If you use a cold frame, you can grow your own greens until late in the fall and start in early/mid- spring. Cold-hardy greens like kale, chard, and spinach can be available longer than lettuce, so you may not have a traditional green salad very often in the depths of winter. Sprouts make great winter fresh greens.

I have always been a seasonal eater, including the 15 years I lived in Wisconsin. I eat radishes and asparagus in the spring, tomatoes, strawberries, and peaches in the summer, and pumpkin and apple pie, roasted root vegetables and beef (or venison, if I can get it!) stew in the fall and winter. I do buy coffee, bananas, citrus, and wine from distant places. Citrus has a season, too - I don't buy it in July.

My father (now 85) grew up in western North Dakota during the depression. He still remembers and vividly describes the taste of the first spring eggs (hens stop laying when the days get short) after a winter of mostly potatoes. This was often part of his "even kings don't eat like this" speech, which he launched into when we sat down to a midsummer feast of just-picked sweet corn, string beans, and sliced tomatoes and cucumbers. The speech might even be called out for a midwinter meal of beef stew served with corn bread, a fruit salad (made with canned or frozen berries, a special treat), and topped off with peach a la pear for dessert - a jar of home-canned peaches mixed with a jar of home-canned pears.