Planning for 2024

As I spend more time teaching, writing and sharing my recipes and knowledge regarding the importance of living closer to our food sources I find myself pushing myself to be more consistent in my actions along those lines. I want to be more conscientious, consume less, be more engaged with my environment. 

A tall order for sure! My garden is one place where I can do all of those things effectively, and it’s on my mind because I am planning for 2024.

I love gardening. 

Actually, I love harvesting, cooking and preserving.

I don’t love tending to seeds or seedlings.

I don’t love weeding and I always wish my garden would be a place that I find peace and beauty in…not a place that calls me to do more work!

Who doesn’t!? 

And I know that is usually not realistic, at least not without help.

But I also know that the more I learn about gardening, farming, growing seasons and harvesting, the more I want to get away from eating things out of season that have traveled 1000’s of miles to get to my table. Often there is diminished flavor, and there is no pleasure in knowing that I am contributing to climate change by buying food that comes from so far away.

To take part in the saving of seeds, the planting and nurturing, tending and care makes the fruits or our labor joyful. That is delicious-ness. 

I have dabbled as a gardener for years, but I have never really had the time or the commitment to have more than a summer vegetable and herb garden. But my son and daughter in law, Oliver and Faren, have been great guides for the past five years on garden planning. They know me best, understand my inconsistencies, and are thoughtful and realistic. For many years, they did not have their own garden, so we had the benefits of sharing the space - me, always following their lead. It has been a satisfying process for sure and it has also encouraged me to think about eating more year round out of my garden.  

I’m excited to share that Faren recently launched a new business called Kitchen Gardens MV (yes, with a nod to Kitchen Porch, my catering business name for 30 years!). It is a landscape company specializing in culinary gardens

and she is taking on new clients in 2024. I like working with Faren because she is practical, thoughtful, fun and engaging. She does great work.  Here is a link to her website kitchengardensmv.com  where you can check it out. If you are interested in starting a vegetable garden or already have one on Martha’s Vineyard, I suggest booking a consultation in January or February while she still has availability!

I want to be anchored in my garden when it comes to meals, but not stressed by it if I neglect it. Faren helps me plan and teaches me what I need to do to follow through on my choices each season. It’s been extremely helpful building a foundation of a vegetable garden and also for long term goals like more fruit bushes, trees, and pollinator habitat. With that support I can create more time to harvest and preserve. And I must say, I love the rhythm of garlic and potato planting and of planning for four seasons of food harvesting here in southern New England in zone 7A.  

This past August, I planted a packet of carrots in the rows after we harvested the garlic. I had envisioned eating them straight out of the garden all winter. Then on Thanksgiving weekend, Faren dug them all up and my first reaction was Whoah.. Wait! I was saving those..

But she needed to clear the rows and feed them (with compost) and get the beds ready for the late Fall planting of garlic. 

By the end of the day, she had all the carrots washed, dried and  bagged and she assured me they would keep in the fridge for months. 

They do in the stores! 

And what a gift I have each time I open my fridge. I put a few of the bags in my second fridge in the basement and you know, there is something handy about not going out to the garden to dig everytime I want carrots.

Eat the little ones first.

So that’s a little window into my garden life, with which we have bigger plans for 2024.

So as I begin to plan the coming year, I ask myself: 

What is it that I want more of and what can I discard?

Eating more food out of my garden is the first priority. Making time to preserve more, and growing more food in the fall and winter is very important to me.

I have a long list of hopes and dreams for 2024, but maybe I will start with the garden.

I know we cannot all be gardeners, but I do believe that if we take the time to understand the growing of food, to make the connections with those that do grow our food and find out how we can support them, we are all better and healthier. There is a connection between eating and the land and that is very pleasurable! 

Take my carrots for instance- I am enjoying my winter carrots immensely!

I know when our hands are connected to the dirt, that our hearts are connected and there is great reward in that. And when the outside world has just so much to take in, maybe getting to know our community members and digging in the dirt is just what we all need.

When I think of eating, pleasure, farming and getting back to what’s important, I often turn to a favorite poet, inspirational farmer, philosopher, man of many great words, Wendell Berry. Berry describes the importance of understanding the connections to food and farming and he believes that we all have a choice and that food grown on small scale farms is essential to healthy local economies, and that strong local economies are essential to the survival of the species and the wellbeing of the planet. It’s hard to argue that.

I leave you with this contemplation from Berry because I do love to consider what is important and this provokes that in me.

He contemplates;  “How can we live among our fellow creatures in a way that is honorable, just, and as sustaining of our souls as of our material needs?”

What provokes you for 2024?

Maybe you will join me this Fall to the Azores, Croatia or Vermont where we will explore these ideas, meet farmers and learn about the importance of making these connections.

And I hope 2024 brings you armloads of foods from our small producers.

Jan