4 Ways to Keep Eating Fresh Food after Summer

With the end of summer, a lot of us think its also the end of fresh food straight from the garden. Many families switch to frozen and canned in order to take care of all their fresh vegetable and fruit needs. It might be a little harder, and require a little out of the box thinking, but you can can keep feeding your family fresh food after summer. There are a lot of resources out there for fresh food, and once you know where to find them and how to use them, eating fresh year round becomes the easy way to feed you family.

Use these four ways to continue feeding your family fresh food after summer and your garden has finished producing vegetables for you.

4 Ways to Keep Eating Fresh Food after Summer

Bring Gardening Indoors

Indoor gardening is not new, but a lot of people still do not know how to bring parts of their garden indoors so that they keep producing. Everything from the vegetables that you decide to grow to the containers that you use need adjusting. Choose compact varieties of easy to grow indoor plants like carrots, peppers, greens, onions and even peas. With just a little space and a few containers you can keep a steady supply of fresh vegetables producing at all times.

Frequent the Local Farmer’s Market

A lot of us are used to heading to the Farmer’s Market in the summer months, even if we have gardens that are producing. What you might not know is that a lot of the farmers at the market continue to grow and sell during fall, winter and spring- and your market might even have a dedicated winter market. Talk to the local farmers and find out if any of them offer private purchases for local families, or participate in a winter market.

Visit Local Vendors & Restaurants

You are not the only one concerned with eating fresh food, and there are bound to be local stores, restaurants and other businesses in the area that purchase local fresh goods to use in their kitchens and sell. When you do head out for dinner, do so at restaurants that choose to serve fresh food from local suppliers. Find fresh markets that carry produce that is in season, and buy vegetables that are in season, the more customers requesting local produce will lead to these businesses making an effort to work with local producers.

Join a Community Supported Agriculture Group

Community Supported Agriculture, or a CSA, is a group of self-supporting farmers and consumers that enter into an agreement on monthly shipments of produce. Because there are several different types of farmers within a single CSA, you will still be able to get winter deliveries of fresh produce that includes food grown in hothouses and cold frames. Local Harvest is the most comprehensive source to finding a local CSA, and every group is different.