Blueberries Ripen in June in South Alabama
We all pack up and drive 5 hours South to pick blueberries and Grandmama Dollihite’s home.
We go out early to avoid the bugs and the heat and by 10:00 a.m. we have enough to freeze for the next year.
It occurred to me that part of why we enjoy this so much is the berries taste better than they will taste the rest of the year.
Seasonality depends upon your hemisphere
Depending upon the season, as much as 70% of the fruit and vegetables that Americans eat is imported. That doesn’t mean that American farmers can’t grow food year round. What it means is that certain foods are only available in their ripest, most nutritious form during certain times of the year. But given the American obsession for instant gratification, we expect all fruits to be available year round.
Would you consider planning your “food calendar” around the produce that your local CSA could provide? It would give incentive to your local growers to know there is a market for what they can produce and it would bring the spirituality of delayed gratification to your life.
Why Seasonal Sharing Works
1). It opens your heart so that the issues of greed, possession and permanence are kept in perspective.
2). It turns the “karma wheel” so that at some point you have a goody “coming your way”.
3). It builds the fabric of community. It may be the one time when “co-dependency” is not a bad thing.
4). It teaches you to respect what others have. Just wait until someone returns “your stuff” in less than a pristine manner to understand what I mean.
5). It teaches creativity. Our friends gave us “pickled eggs” this year. It seemed a bit exotic, like pickled pork feet or pickled okra. It was real joy that I hope to learn how to do.
6). It paces the order of life.
7). Embracing seasonality tempers the desire for immediate gratification and teaches us temperance, patience and gratitude.