Learning to eat "green" in winter months

I read this in an e-newsletter from the Indianapolis Winter Farmer's Market and felt it was worth sharing.

One of the many wonderful reasons to buy local food, is the savings in "food miles" - the distance food travels from farm to plate - and thus cutting down fossil fuel use required to transport food from great distances. The hard part, of course, is that in recent years we have become so accustomed to having virtually any vegetable or fruit available any time of the year, any day of the week, and pretty much any hour of the day. Transitioning to a more local food diet requires that we also begin to eat more seasonally. Greenhouses ease that transition for us, as we have seen with the lush bounty of salad mix and produce Seldom Seen Farm has been bringing to the Indy Winter Market.

However, in this part of Indiana, there comes a time when in order to eat "green" buy eating local and in season, we have to bid farewell to eating green, fresh produce. ... The greenhouse growing will pick up again in February and March as daylight hours extend, and you'll see more produce options returning to market.

For those for find seasonal eating especially challenging, the good news is that the more we as consumers choose to buy at farmers markets and from local growers, we prove to local growers that if they grow it, we will buy. In other words, following the success of winter markets, more local growers will invest in and plan for year-round greenhouse growing to meet consumer demand. So, consider making it your New Years resolution to NOT BUY California or imported salads, tomatoes, cucumbers or greens this winter!