Last week at the farmers market I picked up some spinach from organic farmers Ron and Angie Ackerman.

I was intrigued by something Ron said.

For this time of year – cooler – they grow a more hardy wonderful almost buttery tasting Heirloom Bloomdale variety.

photo by karen hanrahan

I have gotten so used to store bought baby spinach that it didn’t occur to me that spinach has a season.

Different varieties are grown for different times of the year.

Truth is our grocery stores do very little to help us cook seasonally.

Sure we get asparagus in the spring and at a better price,  but we actually also get asparagus all year!

How do they do that?

We get our so called seasonal organics all year too – but often they travel all the way from California – certainly not local.

another thing occurred to me

If I eating according to what my local farmers are growing right now ?

I would be eating a ton of chives, green onions, spring radishes, tender lettuces, arugula and of course spinach!!

Guess what I bought today?

photo by karen hanrahan