shopping local and eating seasonally

This is relatively new territory for me, so bear with me while we learn a few things together in this post!

If anything positive has come out of COVID, it’s the reinforcement of the “support local” message. While buying close to home is naturally better for the environment (hence the fewer emissions needed for transportation to a faraway place), it is also better for your community as a whole with regards to employment and health.

But not everyone sees these benefits when they think of what supporting local means. For many it means less convenience at a higher cost. I like to break it down and find my whys when there is a perceived inconvenience factor that may be hindering my do-good habits.

Why buy local?

You’re helping your neighbours. When you purchase from your farmers’ market, you are supporting locally-owned farms that can’t necessarily compete with the larger factory farms delivering produce on a much larger scale from the United States and internationally. That means more money circulating within your community rather than being sucked up by large corporations.

You’re choosing to support businesses that have ethics. Typically, local farmers are paying their workers a fair wage and often are paying attention to sustainability and water consumption, unlike many large-scale farm operations.

You’re fostering the development of new jobs. In Canada, small businesses are the cornerstone of our economy, making up 69.7% of the total private labour force in 2019, accounting for about 8.3 million people, according to Statistics Canada. The more we invest in small businesses, the more they will stick around. I don’t know about you, but I would hate to see a Canada wherein all we have are big box retailers and chains.

Why buy seasonal?

It’s cheaper. Buying produce when it’s in season is a great example of the supply-demand relationship at play. When items are in season, that means there is an abundance of it, thus driving the price down. Buying strawberries in the winter is going to cost you. Buying berries in the summer will save you.

It’s fresher, healthier, and tastes better. Studies have shown that vitamins and minerals begin to break down after a fruit or vegetable has been picked from the source. The longer the amount of time needed to pick the produce, transport it hundreds (sometimes thousands) of miles, place it on display at the store, sit until someone buys it and transports it home, the less nutrients remain intact upon consumption. So an avocado imported from Mexico is not going to be as vitamin E-dense as an avocado plucked from a nearby farm.

Now that we understand some of the pros of buying locally and seasonally, I want to clear the air. I am in no way here to tell you that you should not be buying certain fruits and veggies at certain times of the year. I’m not saying that you need to spend your hard-earned cash on more expensive locally-sourced food either, because I’m well aware that not everyone can afford to do so and not everyone has access to farmers’ markets or farm-to-table programs. I’m simply learning about and considering the timing of my purchasing decisions. I want to gain a better understanding of agriculture.

Although I grew up surrounded by farms, I was never involved in the agricultural industry nor did I have a green thumb. As a result, I’m not entirely aware of which produce belongs to which season and I am admittedly accustomed to waltzing into a store and grabbing the first thing I see without checking where it was produced.

I’ve made the following table as a loose reference for my shopping moving forward. Of course this table may vary depending on your climate where you live. I’ve underlined the produce in the first month of its season so you know when harvesting season begins. This is a comprehensive, detailed list but I’ve also indicated on the far left a generic view of each season.

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Keep in mind there are produce available year-round, like potatoes, bananas, avocados, onions, leeks, olives …

If you live in Canada, Sobeys also has a comprehensive diagram where you can set your location and see what’s in season in your area. You can check it out here.

The bottom line: we all need to eat. Lifting the veil to understand where our food is coming from is an important step to supporting our local communities both financially and economically. We can’t necessarily always buy local, but when we can, it does make an impact. After all, we vote with our money. I hope moving forward I can do my best to vote for my community, my neighbours, my friends when possible. I also hold hope that buying local will have fewer barriers in the future as our government begins to prioritize the wellbeing of small businesses.

As always …

Stay real,

— K. JO