Eight inches of snow. While perfect for my husband to lose himself in garage organization at the new house….not so good for Colorado vegetable exploration.
We did manage to get out to the home improvement store and squeeze in a stop at a grocery store with the words “farmers’ market” in the name. Camera in gloved hand, I was ready to snap some pictures of Colorado-grown produce, encouraged by the sign at the front of the store.
Local Product! From the Great State of Colorado!
After ten minutes wandering among the produce displays, I saw a lot of produce “grown in the USA,” but none that called out Colorado specifically. Surely a winter squash, greens, maybe some carrots, or stored potatoes or onions could be from Colorado. I checked with a produce employee. She confirmed. “Sometimes we have melons, corn, apples and green beans from Colorado. But the sign would say so. We probably don’t have anything right now.”
Really, I hadn’t expected to find local veggies in this store. I’ve researched some local farms, and am ready to make a trip this week. But the sign…. It got my hopes up. I skulked through the parking lot, head down, on the way back to the car. My husband offered his condolences, while the guy getting in the car adjacent to us glanced at me with a look that said “wonder what’s wrong with her?”
This trip to the store made me simultaneous appreciate locales that can feed themselves from the land immediately surrounding them, and those that feed themselves via access to a complex food and transportation system. Could as many of us live in the Colorado Front Range if we relied on the land around us to nourish us?
Cristin,
Welcome to Colorado and our unpredictable weather! You have just missed our wonderful open air farmers markets in Denver. We totally enjoyed the fresh farm produce and easy friendships the markets provided this past summer. I am already missing the tortilla vendor with whole wheat tortillas made with canola oil ! Not a vegetable, but there were trucks of all kinds and colors every week.
My gardening partner and I still have fresh spinach, spring greens and herbs that we planted in large pots in August and kept outside until this past week. We watch the weather closely and covered the pots as needed. Fall and winter gardens of this type can be covered with cold sheds and actually gardened outside all winter in our area. We hope to learn more of this and expand our fall/winter gardening next year.
Thanks for your wonderful explanations of unusual vegetables and links to recipes. Variety may keep us all interested in vegetables through the snowy winter.
Barbara
Hi Barbara -
Thanks for the encouragement! I was able to get in a visit to a couple Denver farmers’ markets on previous visits and was impressed with their variety. Too bad our move couldn’t have been a week sooner to catch the end of the season, though I do think that Metro Denver Farmers’ Market has a holiday market coming soon.
I got really spoiled in Portland with a year-round farmers’ market within a mile from our house. I am hoping to explore some local farms that take advantage of the sunny winters and creative growing techniques to keep the vegetable variety coming this winter! I’m sure they’re out there – and maybe if demand keeps growing, there will be room for a year-round market in Denver too.