The Seasonal Basics

Here is what Kingsolver presents as the season of foods. The basic premise is that you can imagine the seasons by imagining the life cycle of one plant. Seed--leaves--flowers--tender baby fruit--vibrant colorful fruit--hard shell, protecting the seed for next year, tubers (think getting in the soil to be ready for the next go-round). I've laid out her ideas below, with pictures, because they make everything more appealing (okay at least cute, interesting, or pretty things...) and even did links to recipes for each of the foods mentioned. (Yep, I'm that cool...or just have a whole day of sabbath, or something...)

Early Spring (probably April)


Asparagus (apparently it's a finiky plant and only grows for about two weeks at the beginning of spring. Who knew?! And when you harvest it, you can really only get the stalks on 1 particular day. Now, they produce each day for those two weeks, but you have to get them on the right day)

April-May


leaves: Spinach, kale, lettuce, chard

May-June:


flower heads: Broccoli, romaine, cabbages, cauliflower

June:


tender baby fruit: snow peas, baby squash, cucumber

July:


green beans, green peppers, small tomatoes

late July-August:


colorful fruits: beefsteak tomatoes, eggplants, red and yellow peppers

August-September:


hard-shelled fruits: Cantaloupe, watermelon, squash

Last fruit of the season:


root crops