October 5th, 2009

By Christopher Peake
Green Right Now

Eating locally can be a healthier, wiser way to go — fresher food is more nutrient rich. But shopping for local produce means we must learn to take control of our menu, work with what’s in season and let go of what’s heading out.

Now that it’s fall, we have to say goodbye to berries, hello to pumpkins, and dig through our cookbooks for that squash soup recipe.

Farmers insist we’ve still got plenty of choices — especially if we froze or canned summer fruits and veggies — but the simple truth is where we live, the soil, the sun-rain equation, the habits of local growers and the climate all combine to winnow what’s fresh at any given time.

And then, it’s not always crystal clear what’s local, what’s regional, and what’s been shipped in. The US is teeming with apples at the moment, mostly from Washington, New York and other northern states. But a few farmers are still able to bring raspberries and blueberries to their stalls at the farmers market. This may cause some head scratching in New Hampshire, where rival-farmers have been heard to grumble that some of the berries have been trucked in from large greenhouses in New Jersey where crops are grown year round. But then there are a few hearty blackberries clinging to the bushes in New England. So who’s to say?

Take Texas. The heat zapped most tomatoes long ago, way back in July. Or did it? The late summer weather’s been milder, and there are tented tomatoes and hot houses. Some of those local tomatoes may be genuine.

But don’t get discouraged. There are plenty of ways to sniff out the freshest food, and fill your tote with mostly produce:

• As always, your local farmer’s market is a good guide. Look at what local vendors are selling and you’ll spot the trends. Better yet, ask where things came from. If you don’t get a ready answer, you may want to plum more amenable territory. Something missing from the market? Ask. Maybe the black-eyed peas just aren’t in from the fields yet.
• Check with your local County Extension Service. They should be able to tell you when pecans are typically harvested, or whether bell peppers are still on the vine or if there’s late sweet corn in the area.
• Many groceries help you harmonize with local growers by clearly labeling what’s local, and what’s organic. Local tends to trump organic, if you’re thinking about nutrients and your carbon imprint and faced with that choice. Some veggies and fruits, in fact, don’t need much in the way of chemicals to do just fine. Zucchini thrives in the right soil; many farmers can honestly tell you they were grown au naturel.
• Local Harvest.org can help you sort out the chaff from the wheat, so to speak. Type in your zip code and they’ll tell you what local farmers are raising. You can also find Community Supported Agriculture or CSA farms to join, which will supply you with a selection of plant food, fresh from the field, and may offer eggs and meats too.

Some groups help by offering recipes for local foods. Glynwood Farm, a working farm and farm advocacy center, in New York’s Hudson Valley has an extensive recipe list on their web site. Check out their Butternut Squash and Pear Soup recipe.

Glynwood reasons that you should look at options when deciding whether to buy local or mass-produced food: “Higher quality local products may well cost more than conventional products, but you may find it possible use them if you design more cost effective meals. There is a reason the free range chickens cost more than those raised in confinement – and once you have tasted the difference you will want to serve the best.” And an option to chicken breasts if the budget is tight: chicken casserole.

Eating locally means adapting your menu and meal expectations to what’s available at the moment: CSA’s and CSF’s, for example, can only supply you what they grow or catch. If blight hits the tomatoes or bad weather keeps boats at anchor then you’ve got to take what you’re offered. Being understanding may mean that your favorite Golden Delicious apples might not size up but the pear crop is plentiful.

We chatted with a few farmers around the country to bring you these notes on what to look for in October:

Region: Midwest

There is still plenty of good corn available, but move quickly. There are peaches, pears, nectarines and apple season is in full swing, but the apples and pumpkins have suffered from the excessive rain this year.
“We’ve had lots of rain,” says Cheryl Hackbarth, store manager at Kuipers’ Family Farm in Maple Park, Ill., “We’ve had to thin our apple crops because so many apples grew this wet summer and our pumpkins suffered from the wet ground. We’ll probably have to truck in pumpkins from other farms.”

And where does a pumpkin farm go to find sturdy pumpkins? North, to Michigan and Wisconsin, where the soil has a higher concentration of sand, where the soil drains better than thicker soil does. Hoekstra’s Market and Greenhouse in Fox Lake, WI. has the sandy soil that produces cantaloupe and watermelon.

Kathy Peterson at Bloomsbury Farm in Atkins, Iowa, also talked about unusually heavy amounts of rain and cool days, which kept the sun from drying out the ground and warming the corn, gourds and pumpkins. “But,” she said, mustering some Midwestern pragmatism,  “the soybeans are looking good.”

Region: Southeast

Linda at Legare (pronounced “lagree”) Farms on Johns Island, S.C. says, “We have squash, collards, cabbage, broccoli and egg plant.” And Legare Farms has noticed increasing participation in this nationwide trend of buying fresh produce: “We have an active First Local organization … fresh produce is very popular in the region and our CSA has lots of members.”

Because of adverse weather in the southern states Panorama Orchards in East Ellijay, Ga., is having to delay picking some of its apples. Asst, Manager, Brian, says “We can’t send our pickers out there when it’s raining.” Recent rains have done tremendous damage to much of Georgia and neighboring states.

Region: Southwest

Arizona has had “unseasonably dry summer”. That’s what John Holcomb, owner of Apple Annie’s Orchard in Willcox says. “We didn’t size up on some apples and the Asian pears but the reds, goldens and others sized up well. And we’ve got a good crop of summer squash, okra, black-eyed peas, field tomatoes and sweet corn.” His pumpkins are “better than ever” but the berries are done.

“If we’d had more rain we’d have had a better crop” of cantaloupe and watermelon, said Angelina DiIorio at DiIorio Farm in Hempstead, Texas. “It was a fair year.” And they’re planting winter greens, including collard, mustard, spinach and carrots which they plan to harvest in time for Christmas.

Region: Northwest

Out in Grants Pass, OR. organic grower Mary Alionis has had a very good year despite some unusual 100-degree-plus summer days. The season was dry, but that’s always true: “No rain in the summer out here, we irrigate.

Alionis’s Whistling Duck Farm grew much the same crops as other farms across the country: salad greens, peppers, carrots and beets. Luckily, those hot days fell right after harvesting their first lettuce crop and planting the second one, so there was very little crop damage this year.

Mary and her husband are planting their winter vegetables including leeks, cauliflower and cabbage.

A good crop, a large yield, a successful year — all depend on the weather. Farmers are the supreme optimists — when they’re not being pessimists — and all those we spoke with say they’re expecting a good winter, which, come the early months of the New Year will give us a wide variety of the produce we need to stay healthy.

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