Growing Food at Home (and in Season)

One aspect of my new home that I'm very excited about is the ability to grow some of my own food.  I eat mostly vegetarian so this is a real possibility for me.  Here is the census of fruit trees in my yard.


3 Avocado (1 Hass, 2 maybe Pinkerton, they're HUGE!)
1 Orange (don't know what kind, eg. Valencia or Navel)
1 Blood Orange
1 Lemon
1 Lime


Pretty sweet.  I actually eat far more vegetables than fruits, however, so I'm really looking forward to having a small vegetable garden.  And the first to be planted? Tomatoes.  I love 'em.  I probably eat more tomatoes than any other food.  And the best part is I don't have to eat the awful tomatoes that are so commonly found in grocery stores.  NPR had a nice article today explaining why most tomatoes are so bad.  Basically, we insist on eating them year round, which requires growing them in Florida, in nutrient-poor sand, requiring huge amounts of pesticides/fungicides, and then transporting them thousands of miles.  As one farmer attested, "I don't get paid a single cent for flavor.  I get paid for weight."   mmm... tasty, tasty weight.  


So, yes, a big part of eating sustainably is eating seasonally.  That way we we're not fighting nature and transporting food thousands of miles.  Until about five years ago, I had no idea in which seasons different crops were harvested.  This changed when I was supposed to make a vegetable dish for Thanksgiving dinner a few years ago and I bought ... wait for it ... asparagus.  FAIL!  I remember it was the last bunch in the store and they were huge, fibrous, and had little taste.  Asparagus is a spring vegetable, and I had bought it in precisely the wrong time of year (I believe it was shipped in from South America, as is much of our out-of-season produce).    

Fortunately, if you weren't raised on a farm and don't know when fruits and vegetables are in season, you can easily find out.  A quick Google search can get you seasonal harvest charts for your area.  Here are some harvest season tables for fruits and vegetables in Southern California.  Give them a glance.  It might just change a few of your eating habits.