Ten Apple’s Local Sixteen

It’s easy for a Maine homesteader to feel daunted, and even limited, by our short growing season. When my mother in Kansas describes her eggplants, bowed down by plump fruit, and I’m still waiting for my peas to flower, I can even get a little grouchy. We’re not hard core locavores—I start the day with (fair trade, organic) coffee and we all enjoy a good avocado—but our family does try to eat as much from our land as possible. So it was heartening to find this link in a recent newsletter of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA):

Maine’s Local Twenty

MOFGA recently compiled a list of twenty foods that Mainers can produce, put up, and enjoy year-round. Of those mentioned, we produce, in varying quantities, sixteen: potatoes, apples, dairy products, blueberries, eggs, maple syrup, carrots, tomatoes, garlic, onions, greens, poultry, root veggies, winter squash (well, not this year, due to last season’s creepy bug infestation), cabbage, and preserved summer veggies. Such bounty! So what if we can’t have ratatouille in June?