The Modern Victory Garden

For those relying on the garden for a substantial part of their vegetable and fruit needs (or all of it) the lean season comes every year just as the garden is starting to fill up with the promise of great abundance to come.   The lean season is that period of time when the overwintered items have started to bolt or been removed to make room for the new spring crops; the preserved and stored items from the prior summer’s garden bounty is dwindling down from heavy use all through the dark days of winter; and the new spring crops are growing but not quite ready for anything but the lightest of harvests.                                             

By definition the lean season is a time of decreased resources and an increasing desire for that which is currently not available.   Some would view this as just depriving yourself needlessly considering that there are vast displays of produce at every large supermarket in America, exotics and not so exotic produce trucked from warmer lands further south (sometimes half a world away) to meet every need … and desire.   But I choose to wait for my own garden and region’s abundance to return.   The wait is not long and the rewards are great.     

Eating seasonally requires some patience and a little self-restraint.   During the lean season the anticipation and hunger builds for the first tender greens of the year.   When the first small harvests are finally made, they are treasured, savored, and truly appreciated.   The memory of this time when the produce is limited stays with me even as the abundance of the harvests grows overwhelming during the peak of the late summer growing season.   This real awareness of the natural cycle and resulting constraints on local food resources gives motivation for putting food by for the coming dark days of winter and to feel true gratitude and appreciation for the simple abundance that the end of each lean season brings.     

Laura

kitsapfreedomgardener