What we eat in the winter.

People always wonder how we can manage to provide our own food even in the winter months, especially since we eat no meat. I have to admit, there are times when I crave something like an avocado. But then I realize that we have plenty to eat that is free of GMO's, herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides, and it is just a passing 'want' rather than a 'need'. Being food self sufficient requires you to refine your palate a bit. But it is by no means a life of deprivation. We still have hundreds of jars of  home preserved fruits and vegetables (and homemade wine-lots of wine) not to mention a freezer that still seems to be just as full even though I take something out of it everyday. There are buckets of assorted dry beans and grains. For our fresh food cravings we still have our various fermented vegetables. They start to get a little less crisp after a few months, so I keep the crocks on the cold back enclosed porch to slow the process. They still taste great and supply us with much needed healthy probiotics, vitamins, and minerals. 

Pull back a row cover in the unheated  greenhouse and you still can find lots of homestead currency. The true greenbacks.

We can still manage a salad or some cooking greens everyday. By late February, the greenhouse will start growing with a vengeance and supply us with more food than we can use. That is the benefit of planting only 'cut and come again' vegetables.

The root cellar is doing a fine job of preserving the crops. We have eaten our way through the leeks and celeriac, but the carrots are still holding their own. Some have sprouted, but that makes no noticeable difference in taste.

And I still have at least 75 pounds of potatoes left. Some will be eaten, and some will be used as seed potatoes in the 2012 garden. Onions and garlic are less abundant, but will still last us a few more months.

The only food that I do buy is a 1/2 gallon of whole, unhomogenized milk from the local dairy down the road every week or two. I get to support this young dairy owner, and I have an ingredient that helps pull together a few recipes or I turn it into a farmers cheese or yogurt. That brings our grocery bill for the winter months to $5. If I buy a dozen eggs from the  84 year old neighbor (my birds don't lay in the winter) , I can add another $1 to the total.  

Now it did not happen over night that we got to a point where we can produce this much of our own food (and wine, don't forget the wine). There are always many, many failures along the way. And for six months out of the year I work my tail off from sun up to long after the sun goes down to grow and process enough food to get us through the year. Don't believe the naysayers,  it can be done. Even if you start with just a tomato plant in a pot on the porch, you are taking back your right to choose. You are regaining control over your life and health, and taking  away the power from the corporate chemical companies who control our industrial food system. Every bite of food you can say that you knew when it was a seed, is a victory for you. We can win this war, one meal at a time.