Three (or Four) Season Harvests

A few years ago, friends bought a house with a cold frame. They're not gardeners, so they gave it to me. I'm still perfecting the planning involved it making the best use of my cold frame, but this year the weather cooperated and provided a great crop.

For those who don't know, a cold frame is basically a small un-heated greenhouse that relies on sunlight for warmth. Many gardeners use old window sashes for the tops. (Note: Beware of lead paint if using old sashes). Last year, we harvested greens until early January when a hard frost killed everything. While the weather was tough in the northeast this year, with snow on the ground from December until yesterday, snow is an excellent insulator. Several feet of snow kept the temperature in the cold frame just right for our crops.

Last week, once enough snow had melted, we looked inside and were pleasantly surprised to find spinach, swiss chard, arugula, mesclun mix, beets, carrots, parsley, and rosemary still growing. They're not the huge leafy plants we get in the late spring and early summer, but they're tender, local, and fresh. We enjoyed a lovely meal of brown rice and tilapia atop fresh arugula. What a treat in early March! Knowing they had planted and harvested the very arugula that arrived on their dinner plates, my kids ate every bite and wanted more.

If you think you'd like to try your hand at four season vegetable gardening, I recommend the book Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long by Eliot Coleman

Now is the perfect time to plan for your fall/winter garden. If you want a cold-frame, you'll need time to purchase it and install it or build it from scratch. You'll also need to plant in it by late summer. The plants need sufficient time to grow before the cold weather arrives. Little growth happens during the winter months- rather you harvest what has already grown.

For the locavores in my readership, this is a perfect way to enjoy fresh, local greens all year long without the added environmental impact of transporting them from somewhere warmer or having to heat a greenhouse. If the word Locavore is new to you, check out my previous post, The Locavore Way.

Like I've mentioned before, you don't need to be the perfect gardener to get good results. Don't let perfectionism stop you from jumping in. My kids and I were pretty haphazard about planting our cold frame and we planted our seeds a bit late- it was nearly September. But we watered them well and the weather cooperated. We ate greens until December when it was first covered in snow. Then we left it buried until last week. I'm sure we could have had more productivity if I were better organized, but even one salad in the middle of winter is fantastic! Give it a try. And let us know how it goes.

The Locavore Way

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know how much I support local farmers and gardening. In earlier posts (here and  here), I offered suggestions for planting vegetables with kids (A reader recently told me she planted lettuce in a window box after reading my post. I hadn't thought of that. Great idea!) I also shared stories about our garden successes (here, here and here ). Joining CSA's or visiting farmer's markets has also been discussed on this blog by me and others.

By patronizing farmer's markets, you can meet the people who grow your food, meet your neighbors, and support local agriculture and the economy. By bringing your children to the market, you help them learn that produce does not come with stickers on it or in plastic bags. If you and your children interact with the farmers and other vendors, they can learn about life cycles, farming in general, and economics, to name a few subjects. Many times, the farmers at farmer's markets will welcome you to visit their farms and some encourage volunteer work in exchange for fresh produce. This is "Mucking about and meeting the locals" at its best.

Just this week at the ORR Farmer's Market, I talked to Zack from Lucky Field Organics who encouraged me to try kohlrabi. He suggested several ways to prepare it before sending me on my way with my purchase. I took mine home, peeled it, sliced it thin, and cooked it in a cast iron skillet in a little olive oil. The only seasoning was a little salt and pepper. Even though I need to perfect my cooking technique, my son still loved it! Next week I'll buy another one and use it in an Asian style slaw also featuring a lovely savoy cabbage from our garden. If Zack had not suggested kohlrabi and offered cooking tips, I would not have bought it. This is the kind of service and interaction you can expect from a farmer's market.

For those of you who are new to the idea of being a "locavore" (someone who seeks out and savors locally grown and raised food), I recommend The Locavore Way by Amy Cotler as a great place to learn more about this endeavor. She offers practical tips for getting started, including a point I've made here: start small and add a little bit at a time. If you can attend one farmer's market this year and purchase produce for one great meal, that's terrific. If you belong to a CSA or have a small garden, great. But don't think you need to be like Barbara Kingsolver and become a complete locavore (Her book about a year of eating locally, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life is a great adult read). As much as I strive to eat locally, the truth is I'm not a "full-time" locavore.  Being a locavore in the Northeast is hard during the winter and spring. And then there are the things I'm not willing to give up such as coffee, or chocolate, or even the occasional mango). I eat more locally than some but not as much as others and that's Ok. Find the amount that's right for you right now and keep looking for ways to support your local farmers, bakers, beekeepers, etc. It's good for your family's health, the planet's health, and the local economy.

Here's a  quick recipe for this time of year.

(If you're fairly skilled in the kitchen, it truly takes 30 minutes from start to finish. If you involve your kids in the cooking, as I suggest, it will take longer!)

Fresh Tomato Sauce over Pasta
Ingredients:

An assortment of tomatoes. This week we used cherry tomatoes and a variety of others we purchased at the farmer's market (I used one small box of cherry plus 5 larger tomatoes. Cut cherry tomatoes in half and cut the other tomatoes into bite-sized chunks.)

An onion or two, sliced thin
Chopped garlic (I used 5 cloves, but we LOVE garlic)
fresh basil leaves, torn or chopped (I used roughly a cup, maybe more)

salt and pepper to taste

Olive oil to saute the onions
grated Parmesan or Romano cheese (optional)
your favorite pasta

With fresh ingredients, it's almost impossible to mess this up, so don't worry about exact measurements.
Procedure:

1. Put the pasta water on to boil.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to the skillet. When the oil shimmers, add the onions. Saute them until nearly soft. Then add the garlic.
3. Cook the garlic for 2-3 minutes, then add the tomatoes.
4. About this time, put the pasta into the boiling water.
5. Simmer the tomatoes, onion, and garlic over medium-low heat until the tomatoes are soft (roughly 10-15 minutes), adding half the basil about 5 minutes in and the rest at the end.
6. Salt and pepper to taste (likely very little, if any will be needed)
7. Drain the pasta. Serve the pasta with the sauce and a sprinkling of grated cheese, if desired.

Add a nice green salad or maybe a focaccia from your local baker and you've got a delicious meal.

Are you a locavore? If so, what region or country do you live in? Are there times when eating locally is harder for you (such as winters here)? If you're not a locavore, would you consider trying to eat more locally? What roadblocks might you face? How might you work through them?