One Way to Eat Local in the Winter

We drove up to our favorite organic blueberry farm along the McKenzie river yesterday, with kids and/or parents from two other families in my car. I had also taken orders for flats of blueberries from two other friends. We picked for about two hours with the kids, and came home with over 25 pounds of blueberries for our family. I also bought a flat, and I'll put them in ziploc baggies and freeze what we can't eat in the next couple of days. This winter, we can eat our local blueberries (and strawberries, and cherries and blackberries and dried apples and plums) instead of eating fruit grown and trucked up from South America or New Zealand.

I'm glad that my kids not only got to have a great time yesterday (we also visited their favorite fish hatchery for a picnic, and the blueberry farm has a big rope swing and lots of kids running around) but that they are connected to the seasons, to actually manually picking their own food, and to the people who run the farm that we always go to. Building relationships with growers and with the land is an important part of the cycle that starts when you try to eat more locally.

I'm about to go and blanch some green beans from our garden as well. This year I planted four varieties, two bush beans, scarlet runners, and blue lakes. We should have lots for the winter!