The start of the new year is now past. Everyone is seemingly falling back into the routine of life, myself included. December was nuts. I didn’t make it to a single farmers market in the month of December. Part of me enjoyed the break from having to be at a set place at a set time to pick up produce (oh how convenient our big box grocery stores are.) But by the end nothing can come close to what you can find at the markets. I was happy to return.

The winter market is in full swing. By full swing, more than half the vendors are gone for the winter thus making the selection and variety much smaller. Which means I need to supplement a bit more than I do in the higher production months. Spring will be here before know it though. And until then, I am more than happy to revel in winters bounty of citrus!!! And finding it for a $1 per pound?! Overbuying is happening.

So yes, I did go last week and I did go today. I have been a little slammed with things. I’m not giving this up though. I love being able to look back and see what I am buying. I have considered including the supplemental produce I buy to get a bigger picture of our produce consumption but I am not sure I want to complicate this post. I LOVE its ease and simplicity to do… hence why you consistently see these posts every month.

Anyways onto the fruits and veggies.

So for 1/3 I piked up:

• kale
• Pea shoots
• Kohlrabi
• Green cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Green onions
• Yellow onions
• Garnet yams
• Tomato
• Ginger

The Kohlrabi is very new to me. I picked it up on a whim. Apparently it is very similar to broccoli stems. I can’t say for certain because I haven’t cooked it yet. Soon though. And Pea shoots! I can’t wait to talk more about pea shoots. These were an awesome discovery that have been right under my nose for a while. Liv grew a bunch of these in the garden this last summer and I didn’t quite grasp why or how you eat them. Basically they are the tendril tops of sugar snap peas. They are tender and taste like peas in the fraction of the time it takes to grow the pea pods. Incredible addition to salads.

• Pomelo (pink flesh)
• Blood oranges
• Cara Cara oranges
• Satsumas
• Pink lady apples

And for today’s haul:

• Curley kale
• Garnet yams
• Red bell pepper
• Jalapeños
• Tomatoes
• Green onions
• Celery

Kale and chard were about the only greens one could find in the market today. No leaf lettuce, spinach, pea shoots, and not even lacinato kale. And yes, I had lots of greens on my list this morning. Kitty decided to get in my shot and started inspecting things. Which resulted in her taking a few bites out of the celery leaves.

I think she wanted to know why I was questioning her inspection.

• Blood oranges
• Pink Lady apples
• Lemons
• Satsumas

I was telling my citrus lady that I really like that they have been leaving on the leaves and stems on the oranges (adds so much to a photograph) and she told me that they started doing that to cut cost. By not stripping the leaves and stems off and not washing them they are able to offer the citrus to us at a lower cost (and less labor for them). I am more than happy to scrub my oranges clean and shiny… I wash all my produce anyways.