Quote Originally Posted by sfa View Post
We used to spend our summers going to all the local farms and picking whatever was in season--strawberries, cherries, peaches, blueberries, apples--and then my parents would spend the next week furiously canning, freezing, or making applesauce and preserves/jellies from all that we had collected, then these fruits kept us in fruit all winter long. My father's garden also took up about half of the backyard in our suburban development, and he'd can or freeze the produce from there too.

I wish I could continue this practice as an adult, but I think the only thing that made it possible for them was that my father was a teacher and my mother a SAHM and they had the free labor of six kids to harvest the fruits and vegetables. Now with two parents with two FT jobs, the best I've managed to do is freeze some of the produce from my own tiny garden.

Sarah
This is why I don't bike much, anymore. My husband and I both work FT and we have no kids for 'cheap labor'!

We do can, dry and freeze as much of our own produce as possible in the summer and fall to last the winter and spring. We also start many things in early January (indoors) to extend our season. We actually have some green tomatoes in our greenhouse, already! Today, I have home canned pears from last fall to eat with my lunch.

I agree that eating local and in season is hugely important. In the past, people did it because it was possible and it was cheaper. Now, thanks to agribusiness, it's often more expensive to eat local! That's just plain wrong, but there just aren't enough small farms left these days (though, they are increasing in numbers again).

We too try to buy local for all things we don't produce ourselves. Off season, we do get the occasional tropical fruit, and I do buy oranges every once in awhile. Honestly, it's tough to make the choice between organic and local. Ultimately, I'd like both, but when that's not available I tend to choose local over organic (or I opt out altogether). It's not easy when we've spent our adult lives having whatever we wanted when ever we wanted it. Some things are so much better in season that buying them out of season is just stupid (like blackberries), but when the only way I'll ever have a banana or an orange is to get one that has travelled long distances, it's hard to justify always abstaining, you know?