Tuesday, March 18, 2008

The girl who cried freezer! (or the awesome thing that is Grow Alabama)

Having just found out about this wonderful program called Grow Alabama I must admit that I'm particularly bemoaning my lack of freezer space. Grow Alabama is a program that works to make in-season, locally grown, all-natural/organic fruits and vegetables available on a weekly basis. If you look on their website they have a harvest chart of when certain fruit and veg will be available throughout the year. Their boast is that every delivery is 48 hours away from the field. My challenge with this sort of program is learning to eat seasonally. Being a former hamburger second helper I'm still learning to eat my veg. Tomatoes better be in a sauce. Squash better be hiding under a lot of something else. If I had to pick three vegetable to live off they would be onions, carrots, and broccoli. However, Grow Alabama wants to tantalize me with freshly picked bok choy, ripe eggplant, turnips, persimmons, and okra. My ideal solution? Load up on vine ripened tomatoes, just plucked apples, fresh leeks, and delicate mushrooms and start prepping them for the freezer. Imagine. My own diced tomates with chilies. My own apple butter. My own sauteed mushrooms waiting in the freezer for the perfect steak dinner. My own pasta sauces. Unfortunately my freezer is small and would never stand for it. Never. I'm already storing beef in my in-law's freezer as is. Still, if you have a freezer, or you enjoy the challenge of eating in season I really sugest you check Grow Alabama out. It's local, healthy, and a thrifty (or so it seems) alternative to the various Whole Paycheck establishments popping up across the nation.

Hmmmm, I wonder how much a freezer really is.....

1 comment:

Elisa M said...

I have been looking into CSA's for a while now. There is also Snows Bend that does the same sort of thing. This May-October you can get produce from both places (as well as Jones Valley) at Pepper Place market...one of my favorite things about Birmingham. they have a website too.