Happy New Year! Hope your holidays were filled with joy! Thanks to the Green Room community for making this space an informative and interactive go-to about green living and achieving sustainability within a generation!
Following the holidays, I still have a bowl of delightful clementines to enjoy. But for how much longer will these foreign fruits brighten winter days and palettes? When I was a kid, and their sweet aroma arrived in November, it was a sure sign of Christmas coming (it still is). Usually grown in Morocco, Spain, and California, clementines have been available from mid-November through January for many years. Receiving one in a Christmas stocking has been a treat for generations – an orange in winter? How exotic!
For years, these juicy imports have come in by the thousands of cartons and as the denouement of the holidays approached, so would the last of the tastiest clementines. What would the holidays be without special treats? Then again, how would the holiday spread be if it was strictly native and local foods?
Traditions for treats aside (and detoxing from the holidays’ decadence in mind), the crisp start to January has inspired me to eat local during winter months, just like so many of us so easily do in summer. Apples, cabbage and potatoes don’t have to become dull. The green leaves of kale and Savoy cabbage brighten winter’s dreariness. And if we were busy at harvest, the art of canning and preserving can tastily take us through this hibernation. Thanks to some greenhouses, locally-grown salad fixings aren’t hard to come by.
Were your holiday meals local? Share your methods for buying and eating local during the stark winter months.
The new year presents opportunity to turn a new leaf. But first, let’s catch up on some notes from our readers that came in before the holidays. Perhaps they’ll trigger reflection on how you and yours celebrated them, and how we’ll keep a green conscience and the spirit of giving with us year-round! ~ Elizabeth
