FOLLOWING THE SEASONS

By: Christine Stevens

It has been a particularly long, grey and very wet winter, the wettest for some years but within a couple of weeks we will see signs that the next season is not far away. The first blossoms will soon appear on fruit trees, unfurling as if by magic from bare twigs and the march toward spring will begin.

Over ten years ago I decided suddenly that I was no longer going to purchase fruit that is out of season, and within weeks I added tomatoes and vegetables to that list. I grow a lot of my own produce, but the top up shopping list needed to change. The main reasoning behind this? The fact that a strawberry eaten in June tastes like polystyrene and a winter tomato tastes of virtually nothing at all. I felt conned, but there are more important reasons to honour the seasons.

Anything grown out of season uses up a lot of electricity, a luxury we simply cannot afford to squander. Tunnels for growing out of season produce use electricity and cold storage facilities designed to keep fruit edible for months after it has been picked and use vast amounts of power to keep produce at a desired temperature. The other option, eating fruit imported from another hemisphere, carries with it a weight of global warming worries and costs a small fortune.

Following a seasonal diet is something that was a way of life not so many years ago, before farming became more of an industrial activity. It encourages you to grow more produce at home and support local farmers and growers; it is a community-based action that is healthy for everyone. In Stanford, this is easy as we have wonderful local produce available at a weekly market. If we support them, more local produce will become available.

Stanford also has a good climate for gardening and growing vegetables, and now is the ideal time to start. Crops such as salad leaves, peas, beetroot and carrots can be sown now simply by sprinkling a few seeds; within weeks the soil will be warm enough to plant out tomatoes and courgettes for an abundant summer harvest.

From a health perspective, eating more fresh seasonal produce ensures we get nutrients the body requires when we need them. Personally, once I started to eat only seasonal food, my hay fever symptoms reduced, and it was if balance was restored. I just felt healthier.

Following a seasonal diet changes your perspective on food. It adds value. Preserving fruit and drying, freezing or bottling tomatoes in summer gives you a flash of sunshine midwinter, but more importantly you regain that anticipation of a new seasons produce. Waiting for that spring strawberry or summer peach is like waiting for a gift: it rewards, and you become incredibly grateful that they grow at all.