I learned in the middle of this week that tomorrow is the last farmer's market of the season. They won't start up again until early June. I'm sort of feeling a sense of panic! We missed the market last week because when we got there about a half hour before close, everyone had left early. The weather was pretty bad and there weren't enough customers.
The only farmers who do a winter CSA do meat only - no veggies. But things like onions, carrots, and potatoes store well over the winter. They don't even have to be processed. I don't actually know how to store them though - that will be part of the learning next year. Anyway, I wonder why no farmers here offer this service? Maybe they think people only do CSA's for fresh produce and that people won't be willing to pay for local storage crops. A few farms in Eugene offered this, but only to CSA customers - so you wouldn't even hear about it if you didn't know the right people.
I guess this is when I should say to myself that the costs of going through winter without veggies outweigh the good. When the only option is not good for my health, maybe it's time to just buy produce flown in from South America. Or at least buy more frozen vegetables this year. But studies show that the longer you wait to eat vegetables after they're picked, the more nutrients they lose. And they really don't taste as good. So maybe I'm not missing that much. I will miss the farmer's market potatoes. They are truly in another world from conventional potatoes!
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