How do you know which food is in season?

ceridwen

thriftlady wrote: »

I thought bananas and citrus came by boat?

I've always stuck to homegrown or shipped F&V and avoided airfreighted produce.

Hmmm....but if the airfreighted stuff isnt available when OTHER people come to buy it - then they will also be after the homegrown fruit and veg.

.....wanders off remembering my old Economics teacher talking about the Law of Supply and Demand. There will likely be more demand for homegrown produce and a correspondingly higher price charged - unless the level of supply increases.

Oh well....I'm doing my tiny bit...I put some extra lettuce plants in a few days ago (to have some extra for other people) and am planning on cramming in as much fruit/veg as I possibly can - to have all the "spare" I can manage on my little patch.

ceridwen

Caterina wrote: »

I agree with Lola321 about the possible impending shortage of imported foods. DH and I discussed this just earlier on, and wondered whether this occurrence (the volcanic ash thing) will be a wake-up call for people to stop relying on expensive and unnecessary imports, and try to become more self-reliant (we hope!).

A recent book purchase I made is "A Nation of Farmers" by Sharon Astyk and Aaron Newton. YOu might be interested to put "A Nation of Farmers" into Googlebooks. There is a long extract from this book there. Sharon is America's answer to Rob Hopkins (of Transition Town Movement fame). The gist of the book is telling Americans that loads of them are going to need to "go back to the land" and start growing food again - ie about one-third of them (and presumably us as well).

A conclusion they reach at the end of this book is there will some time soon be a "Threshold Moment" (as they call it) - at which point things will change very rapidly (maybe literally overnight). They say they dont know when this Threshold Moment will be or what it will consist of - but come it will. I read this a few weeks ago and thought "I think they're right and there IS going to be a Threshold Moment at some point soon - and I wonder what it will be".

I am wondering right now if this is it right here right now - in the shape of a load of volcanic ash. It may be all over bar the shouting next week - it might continue for some months. We dont know.

So - right at this moment - in between literally "seeing the silver lining to the cloud" - no planes going overhead:D:T - peace/quiet/etc......I've been planting up extra veg. for the last few days...just in case...

Maybe...just maybe....this might go on for just long enough that people have started planting up rather more food than they normally do and realising how much nicer it is - and also realised just how much better life is without planes flying round constantly overhead and might start moving away from using them so much...

lola321

Thanks for all the replies. I am definately going to get some of my own salad stuff growing this year. I've never done it before but I figure I can't go too wrong with some lettuce, any suggestions for a good beginners variety?? I've heard about some good hanging basket tomato varieties.

Lola

Dustykitten

I wonder what will happen to all the food which was ready to fly?

Will the suppliers still get paid?
Who will pay for the loss
Will the food simply rot?
Will it be given to local people?

Whilst most of us will be able to do with out our mini sweetcorn (often wonder who buys that stuff and why) the fact is the stuff has been grown, harvested and packed ready to go.

frosty

lola321 wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies. I am definately going to get some of my own salad stuff growing this year. I've never done it before but I figure I can't go too wrong with some lettuce, any suggestions for a good beginners variety?? I've heard about some good hanging basket tomato varieties.

Lola

cut and come again lettuce is a good one to plant.You keep it in a plantpot and just pick off a few leaves at a time and it keeps growing.4 plants kept us supplied last summer.

ceridwen

Dustykitten wrote: »

I wonder what will happen to all the food which was ready to fly?

Will the suppliers still get paid?
Who will pay for the loss
Will the food simply rot?
Will it be given to local people?

Whilst most of us will be able to do with out our mini sweetcorn (often wonder who buys that stuff and why) the fact is the stuff has been grown, harvested and packed ready to go.

I just heard the tail end of something on the radio about food being left to rot in the fields:(:mad:

It would be good - as you say - if it could just be given to local people (at least try and make sure it got put to good use).

I think one thing we can bet on for sure - ie the supermarkets will make darn sure and certain THEY arent the ones who suffer any of the financial losses from this.:cool:

ceridwen

frosty wrote: »

cut and come again lettuce is a good one to plant.You keep it in a plantpot and just pick off a few leaves at a time and it keeps growing.4 plants kept us supplied last summer.

In that case - I've deffo got a lot of lettuce coming up to give away - I think I've got 24 lettuce plants out there....:)

Ladyhawk

Dustykitten wrote: »

I wonder what will happen to all the food which was ready to fly?

Will the suppliers still get paid?
Who will pay for the loss
Will the food simply rot?
Will it be given to local people?
.

No, not if they supply to retail
The farmers will bear the cost
Most likely as it will not be economically viable to harvest
Probably not

ceridwen

Ladyhawk wrote: »

No, not if they supply to retail
The farmers will bear the cost
Most likely as it will not be economically viable to harvest
Probably not

I had a feeling it would be the farmers getting it in the neck again:mad:

Bitsy_Beans

lola321 wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies. I am definately going to get some of my own salad stuff growing this year. I've never done it before but I figure I can't go too wrong with some lettuce, any suggestions for a good beginners variety?? I've heard about some good hanging basket tomato varieties.

Lola

I am growing some Lolla Rosa lettuce this year, you can buy it from probably most garden centres and it's lovely You just cut and it grows again. Also grew some little gem lettuce last year, far nicer than the tastless icebergs in the shops.

I've never had much luck with tomatoes for some reason I think my hanging basket just wasn't deep enough in previous years and growing it in a terracotta pot last year I don't think I watered it enough