Already Planning for Winter

Last night, I ordered two books I've had my eye on: The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving and Root Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage of Fruits & Vegetables. My goal for this year is to can, dry, ferment, and store as many locally grown vegetables and fruits as we're able to afford, so we can eat them in the winter. Some of that (I'm hoping!) will come from my own garden, and the rest I'll buy from either the Midtown Farmers' Market or the Minneapolis Farmers' Market.

You'd think it would be noticeably more expensive to buy vegetables and fruits at the farmers' market versus buying them from Rainbow, for instance. Actually, according to a comparison of costs done by Martha & Tom, the goodies purchased at the Midtown Farmers' Market are cheaper than the same at Rainbow and are nearly half the cost of those at The Wedge. Plus, there weren't any heirloom tomatoes at Rainbow, of course, and they also lacked parsnips and celeriac on the day he shopped. The market's only a few blocks away from Cub, Rainbow, and the new grocery section at Target, and likely a better deal on most days. Of course, the market only occurs twice a week for a few hours, which isn't convenient for everyone, I know. We do what we can.

Anyway, I'm planning to preserve lots of food this year. And I'd like to try to turn the storage room in our basement into a “root cellar.” It seems like it could be possible, considering there is a window and shelving in there. I will have to insulate it and use the window to control the temperature, but I think it can be done...we'll see! I'm interested to see what the book has to say.

On the subject of the books, I ordered them from Amazon without really thinking about it. Now I wonder, why is it that I've become more cognizant of where my food comes from, but I didn't think twice about ordering a book from a huge company before trying to find it locally? I've always enjoyed independent and used bookstores, much more so than the big box stores. Yet, it seems like I most often go to these stores without a particular item in mind; instead, sifting through to find a good used classic or an interesting-looking biography. I never once thought to myself that I might look for these books, too. It wasn't until the last three or four years that I started buying books from Amazon. Before that, I always bought books from actual physical stores. I will not limit myself from using Amazon entirely, but I will make a more concerted effort to support a local bookstore first if I can.