Our hunter-gatherer ancestors traveled long distances to find sustenance. When they found a fruit-bearing plant that was acceptable for consumption, they took what they needed and probably ate it rather promptly. And look at us now! We often drive several miles to reach food stores. I use the word “store” literally, for in spite of the colorful facades and attractive displays, in truth a supermarket is an enhanced storage unit, no more. But wait, there is more.
In 2004, the Leake family, South Carolina, took part in a self-imposed adventure. They went 100 days without eating a single ounce of processed food or refined ingredients. Their initiative was inspired by author Michael Pollan; more specifically by his book titled “In Defense of Food.” The Leake family did extensive research as part of their project and in an attempt to understand modern nutrition.
Knowledge leads to new choices and sometimes knowledge is made of shocking facts. In an article titled, “How far does your produce travel?” the Leake family observes that, “Produce from your local grocery store chain (whether it is organic or conventional) travels on average 1500 miles from the farm to your plate… the farther your produce travels the less nutritious it is by the time you eat it.” According to author Michael Pollan, “If you shop at your local farmers’ market you will automatically eat food that is in season, which is usually when it is most nutritious.”
A 1992 New York Times article titled “For Fresh Salads In Winter,” explains that Gardening author Eliot Coleman and wife Barbara Damrosh, landscape designer and gardening writer as well, enjoy fresh mache, carrots, kohlrabi and leek even on the coldest day in January… straight from their cold frame crop. In Maine, their home at the time the article appeared, the ground is frozen from December to March, though as any New England residents will tell you, winter here really lasts at least six months (some swear the actual length is eight months).
What grows well in a cold frame? That depends on cold-season weather conditions in your area, of course, but according to, shall we say, cold-frame enthusiasts, it is not a science that is set in stone. “I’ve learned what I can grow up here by trying all the things I was told were impossible,” says author Eliot Coleman. The key word here is “learn.” Gardening is an eternal classroom, isn’t it?
On the blackboard today, two words: greenhouse and cold frame. What is the difference? According to the dictionary, a greenhouse is a structure, primarily of glass, in which temperature and humidity can be controlled for the cultivation or protection of plants. A cold frame, by comparison, is defined as an unheated outdoor structure consisting of a frame and a top of glass or clear plastic, used for protecting and acclimatizing seedlings and plants. Lesson number one: Definitions are not set in stone either.
As with everything else in our environment, we adapt the structures we use for cultivating as much as we adapt the structures in which we live. Some cold frames, in spite of their names, are heated to turn them into hot beds, and not all greenhouses are made of glass.
Cold frame gardening quickly becomes second nature for many. The winter crop brings to the table more than a welcome harvest; it brings a sense of pride and the satisfaction of overcoming the elements, somehow. Ha! the wind it rages and the air is chilling to the bone, but we lack nothing and what we do have is here because of these two hands and a bit of work that reminds us, every day, that it is good to be alive.
“Winter Gardens. Just When Most Tillers Are Preparing To Plant, Cold-framers Are Harvesting,” begins a March 1990 Chicago Tribune article. Cold-framers. Is this in the dictionary? Twenty-two years have passed, but I could have omitted to mention the date and we would never know it. Like New Englanders who brave the storms of their “everlasting” winter, some practices endure. Cold framing (since we are in the mood for new words and definitions) is one such practice. “Spring has arrived in all its temptation for vegetable gardeners eager to get started, but for some, this is harvest time. The dead of winter was the height of the growing season,” continues the article.
I could not help but include another Chicago Tribune headline, this one from October 1995. “Poor Man’s Greenhouse – A Cold Frame Gives You A Jump On The Growing Season.” The second statement is right on the money. As for the first one… “Poor man?! Poor man?! It is not me who is poor,” says the cold-framer, “my harvest is rich and my table abundant with the fresh colors and flavors of the earth, and I have spent but pennies per plate and have not had to defrost the car to drive to the store in months. I am blessed.”
Cold Frame, a new definition: A treasure box.
Also Read: The Lettuce & The Catapult
#1 by thekalechronicles on 01/24/2012 - 10:43 am
My lettuce travels 87.7 miles from Riverdog Farm in Guinda, CA to Berkeley (I just looked it up). And maybe another five miles to my home, so let’s call it 92.7. Not bad: most people consider a hundred mile radius reasonable for a food shed in the modern era.
#2 by Granny on 01/24/2012 - 10:52 am
Most acceptable indeed, considering where it comes from and the certain quality of the produce you acquire. treasure boxes come in all shapes and sizes after all. Thanks for making an appearance at the Parlour. I always enjoy this very much. Have a grand day.
#3 by bunglinbee on 01/24/2012 - 12:34 pm
I have taken to growing my own lettuce because I like to know that I am eating clean healthy food. So many recalls of all types of produce in recent years has made me pay more attention to such things. I am just grateful to God that I have a place to grow it and thankful to my own “Granny” for teaching me how to garden and preserve my own vegetables. I enjoy your articles and hope that one day soon I can get back to full-time home-making. My current job is agriculture-related so I do have the best of both worlds in a sense, but I long to be at home on the farm every day.
#4 by Granny on 01/24/2012 - 1:21 pm
Thank you for stopping by and for sharing your experience, thoughts and dreams. I am sure others who visit this Parlour will very much relate to your sentiments. And thank you for acknowledging your Granny. We so often forget those who have made us who we are today, in small or great measure, but always in a very significant way.
#5 by ceciliag on 01/24/2012 - 1:38 pm
Shocking isn’t it, how far food travels. I grow my winter lettuce in containers in the big south growing window, otherwise we do not eat it. In fact we are just finishing up the last of the cabbage, which enjoyed a long growing season this fall and was stored in the fridge.
We are out in the midwest. It is a forty minute drive through the fields To a store. I do not eat processed boxed foods. So we rely heavily on what I have frozen or canned during the summer. We are trying to live the old fashioned way. And it is simple. But not gourmet. And also we must concede that we just cannot have everything we want.
So when the asparagus finally pops through I am drooling. When we get a ripe tomato it will be 7 or 8 months since I tasted one, except in my jars of sauce. That is just how it is. We eat a lot of sprouts in the winter!! We do have a cold frame and soon a glasshouse but they all have to be made from recycled or found materials so it takes time. We do make life hard for ourselves don’t we!
I love the challenge of it though.
Lovely to see you granny c
#6 by Granny on 01/24/2012 - 2:08 pm
Thank you so much. Lovely to see you as well. I enjoy it so much when visitors share a wee bit of their own experience. I know these bits and pieces inspire many more readers besides me. And no, working hard for your food when you are actually putting physical time and effort right to the ground is not making life complicating; it is making it rewarding… why else do so many people dream of working less at a desk and more on the land? But you knew this already, didn’t you?