In Issue #45 May/June 2022

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR:
Just because we can get everything year-round, doesn’t mean we should.

I bought a bag of Lay’s Sour Cream and Onion potato chips the other day. Sure, I was hungry, and they were the logical choice at the gas station, but I also love them. They have their place. (Ask chef Skylar Bush about breading chicken with them.)

But routinely, I eat with the seasons. The farmers markets (year-round in Nashville) inform what’s happening in my kitchen. And it makes cooking a lot easier when you cook with what is in season. Truly in season.

Growing up in the 70’s, that wasn’t so easy; all our food came from the grocery store. Farmers markets were only around briefly in the summer. Then, I didn't understand eating with the season, because I didn't understand the seasons, not when it came to food. Sure, tomatoes and sweet corn were summer, pumpkins the fall (although we only ate canned), but why lamb and peas in spring? I had never seen plum peas growing on their vines in May or June nor baby lambs in the fields. And I certainly didn't see real chickens to know they lay best with sunlight and the longer days in March.

Many of our ancestors were farmers and grew their own food. They had no other way to eat. Canning was a routine to preserve what they grew for the winter. But once you could buy everything year-round, the “seasons” ceased to exist.

Being connected to the earth not only informs what we eat, but what we do. How we live and work and celebrate. This issue celebrates the earth whether it’s farming or gardening. Its stories are for us, whether you shop at the farmers market or own a small farm. Whether you raise chickens in your backyard or eat grass fed beef and chicken from a farmer.

Sure, you can cook anything anytime with ingredients from the supermarket, but basil and mint from your garden make it a whole lot better. And we don’t even need to discuss tomatoes or peppers.

We certainly can't grow everything we eat, but we can grow some. Try it. You'll be glad you did. But now, back to the potato chips. 

Happy growing. Jill