What Am I Going to Eat?

I am native to Texas. In Texas, people are planting right now. Something deep in my nature feels very nervous about the fact that pretty much all food is out of the ground by now up here in Massachusetts. Plus, it's cold. Very, very cold. Always.

I moved here in October and responded to the cold with a natural hoarding instinct; I went to the farmers' market and bought more local, organic produce than I could reasonably carry home in my carless state. Once, I carried it home. Another time, I gratefully received a ride. And I fermented all of it...I think it totals around four-and-a-half gallons. For the sake of organization, I'll leave it at that here...but my next post will be dedicated entirely to kimchi, so read on to learn about my secondary obsession, fermentation....

Additionally, the universe has somehow graced me with a room rented in a house with urban homesteaders. Synchronicity never ceases to amaze me. Although, after years of ecovillage living, Permaculture and Ecovillage Design Training, and writing an undergrad thesis on community gardening, I was obviously tuned in to the urban homesteading vibe, I nonetheless did not voice my desire for such a situation. I simply started saying to people, "I would like to live in Western Mass," and the first person to respond with a concrete idea said, "Hey, I have a room to rent," so I showed up, still oblivious to the situation until my first night in my new, eco-friendly home.

All that is to say that my new living situation included automatic linkage to the amazing local foods network in Northampton. I have thus been blessed with various joint memberships to two local vegetable CSAs, one local meat CSA, and one dairy CSA complete with milk delivery to your front doorstep in good-old-fashioned glass bottles. All of the CSAs are organic. These things, of course, to supplement my kimchi staples...