Embracing the Bounty of the Seasons: A Journey of Eating Seasonally as an Organic Farming Family
Written by: Savannah Kilpatrick of The Farm on Central
In a world where the aisles of supermarkets offer a dizzying array of produce year-round, there's something deeply grounding about reconnecting with the rhythm of the seasons. As an organic farming family that grows all year round in various greenhouses and high tunnels, we have a lot of options throughout the year. But still, no tomato is ripening in January, and you won’t find fresh fruit in our house until May. This choice was born out of our desire to eat as much of what we can grow, and wanting to help our children understand that just because you can go buy something doesn’t mean you should. Everything comes with a cost on top of the price tag, and eating seasonally requires you to take that into account.
Sowing the Seeds of Change
My husband has been farming since he was a wiry 16 year old, full of ideas and grit. He’s still full of ideas and grit, but he’s married to me now with 3 kids and counting. The farm he built on his parents land for a decade is no more, but every lesson he learned in those 10 years is evident in how we run our farm on 8 urban acres in downtown Carlisle, OH. Cover crops, seed varieties, wash and pack efficiencies, high tunnel placements, equipment worth investing in, it’s all culminated into quickly growing our operation during a pandemic to the fallout afterwards…which has mostly been a community of people longing for something real to connect too and food they can trust.
With that comes a lot of education for a consumer that is used to strolling the isles of Kroger, getting the bell pepper a recipe called for in February. Or the cucumber for the asian salad in March. You’ll find vacuum sealed bell peppers in our farm store, and pickles instead. Both usable treasures, but not what you had in mind for your meal plan. Changing the way you eat is one of the hardest changes a person can make, but I argue it’s one of the most important. And our farm with its on-farm store is making every attempt to ease that transition. But for a family, I think each season offers some really practical and doable tasks that can slowly help you transition away from relying as heavily on the supermarket and more on what your garden or local farmer can provide.
Spring: A Time of Preparation
Spring has quickly become my favorite season, but it’s truly an exhausting one. You feel like you're behind before you’ve even begun, and everything is muddy. However, this is the season when Micheal starts bringing in the “first treats” as I like to call them. The strawberry that ripened in spite of frosts, the handful of cherry tomatoes from the greenhouse, the first handful of twirly garlic scapes, a bundle of asparagus someone traded for herbs. It's in this season that I fully understand why we chose to forgo getting whatever we want when we wanted it from the store, because we all ooh and ahh over the treasures like the gifts they are. Kids get to try asparagus again and find out this year they like it. They get to bite into a broccoli floret and remember again how it’s like eating a tiny tree. Or they burst open a cherry tomato again to realize the texture of a tomato is STILL not for them. And who is gonna argue with a sun ripened strawberry? No one. They are gonna fight to the death over that treasure but we all know more is coming.
More is coming. And that’s the key. This is the time to make some space in your freezers for quart bags full of berries picked at the u-pick patch, or borrowing a dehydrator from a friend to dry some herbs that are flourishing already in your little herb patch. Don’t ever diminish what you can grow in some pots and empty spaces in even the smallest of yards or back porches. And don’t think it’s too small to not worry about preserving. Springtime is for dreaming and preparing for the more that’s to come.
Summer: A Cornucopia of Plenty
As the days grow longer and the sun reaches its peak, our fields explode with abundance. Juicy tomatoes, hot peppers, and delicate summer squash all beckon from every corner of the farm. In the kitchen, we revel in the simplicity of summer cooking, letting the natural flavors of sun-ripened produce shine. This is when you enjoy the bounty to the max, because fresh cucumbers are here now and even though we are a family that loves a pickle, nothing beats a sandwich made of freshly baked sourdough, topped with every fresh veggie in sight, then drizzled with your favorite dressing. (Ours is a homemade ranch;) Think of it as a salad you smashed between bread slices, making it wholly unlike a salad but somehow the world's best sandwich.
I teach several classes from my kitchen throughout the year. Sourdough bread is by far the most popular, and it's such a cozy class to take in November or February when you just want to warm up and eat soup with freshly baked bread. But in the summer I heat up my kitchen for canning classes. We keep it simple. Salsa, crushed tomatoes, jam. Straightforward recipes, with simple methods for the canner. Without fail though, every class someone asks me what they should do if they DON’T want to use the water bath canner, and I tell them to use the freezer. Every tomato product can be frozen, freezer jams are ever popular, and aside from fermented items like pickles and sauerkraut, you can slice, blanch, or shred a lot of abundant summer vegetables and throw them in a ziplock for your soups, casseroles or baked goods come fall and winter. It’s a full season with plenty of fun activities to pursue, so making life simple for ourselves and making small changes is so helpful. Grate the zucchini and pre-portion for some zucchini bread in the fall. Blanch some tomatoes and throw them in a bag for chili some weekend. Toss whole jalapenos in a ziplock for the freezer and use them any time a recipe calls for one. Don’t overthink it!
Fall: A Harvest of Plenty
As summer's warmth fades into the cool embrace of autumn, our fields offer up one final bounty before the frost sets in. Hearty root vegetables such as carrots, potatoes, and squash take center stage, their earthy flavors providing nourishment as the days grow shorter. In our kitchen, we turn to comforting soups and stews, infused with the rich flavors of the season. But this is also when I am the most busy preserving the last of whatever we produce. It’s a time for making stock from leftover bones I froze over the summer, putting up some applesauce so we don’t miss our fresh apple snacks too much in the deep winter. Getting some sweet corn and spending one laborious day shucking, blanching, shearing, and bagging sweet corn for the freezer. (Oh and deep cleaning my kitchen afterwards because sweet corn makes a sticky mess like no other. It’s worth it though.)
I’ll often roast a bunch of sweet potatoes and pumpkins for baked goods in the winter, or make some pear butter if my parents' trees produced a lot. But mostly, I am relishing in whatever summer offers me, knowing that I’ve got one last push and then - hypothetically - I can rest. Tender cabbages become sauerkraut that will fortify our bodies when the winter brings its seasonal ailments. I stock up on honey, invest in some local grassfed beef to fuel the next few seasons, and bake. Autumn, to me, is the inverse of spring: busy, bursting, and lively. But not because of the work and fruit that’s to come, but because of the festive seasons of rest and togetherness that are around the corner. Approaching seasonal eating in an effort to fully enjoy the work we’ve done is my goal, so that when we pop open a can of peaches in December it’s like a visit from an old friend.
Winter: A Time for Rest and Reflection
As the land lays dormant, we turn our attention inward, relishing the restorative power of winter. My basement shelves are lined with canned goods, the freezer is full and hopefully semi organized, and we dive into our planning for next year while eating the harvest of the former. In the kitchen, it’s more stews and soups, roasted chickens and potatoes with garlic and dried oregano, and summer jams to brighten morning toast. I really love winter and its coziness, but I also love how this season makes us so grateful for the bounty and hard work. This is the season we’ve been planning for. It’s taken me years to experiment and figure out what we like to eat and what's worth my time in making, and those reflections happen in the winter. No one likes zucchini relish, and only a few of us like canned beans, so I don’t stress too much about either of these items. If I get to it, great, if I don’t, it’s also fine. But spaghetti sauce and salsa? An absolute must! Canned crushed tomatoes for fast tomato soups with grilled cheese or stews, I rely on them heavily. We love baked goodies in the winter too, so I pop out the zucchini or pumpkin from the freezer for quick breads that perfectly pair with an afternoon cup of tea while we read aloud from whatever book has captivated our imaginations.
Winter isn’t all cozy lounging though. We are a four season farm. Customers still arrive, the crew is still working, and life’s many details continue to drag on. Many a winter afternoon Michael and I bundle up to go cover tender greens in the hoophouse so the cold night doesn’t kill them. Spinach, lettuces, bok choy, kale, and microgreens are all growing to keep us fueled with something fresh through the winter, and remind us of what is possible even in the cold. So we rest, we keep moving, and we enjoy all our hard work.
Conclusion: Nourishing Body and Soul
In embracing the bounty of the seasons, we have discovered a deeper connection to the land and its rhythms. Eating seasonally isn't just about what's on our plates; it's about honoring the cycles of nature and cultivating a sense of gratitude for the gifts it provides. Farming isn’t for everyone, but it's a journey we feel privileged to undertake and feel so honored that our community wants to be a part of it. My hope for anyone who desires to eat seasonally is to approach it with much joy. If preservation is also a goal, make sure that’s joy filled too. No one will make a change when it's drudgery, so if you don’t love canning, use your freezer. If you hate peppers, leave them alone. But instead figure out the foods and staples your family relies on, and attempt those. As we know, every failure is a lesson, and a step towards understanding what our food system truly costs.
Keep in touch with Savannah & Michael Kilpatrick through their farm in Southern Ohio; The Farm on Central.
