"Fresh and Local" is best!

“Fresh and local!” We hear a lot in magazines, newspapers, and on TV about eating local and seasonal food—especially after several contaminated food scares with large companies. Many people want to eat “fresh and local,” but have lost track of what that means after years of eating supermarket produce shipped from California, Florida, Chile, Mexico, Brazil, and even China.

So what’s fresh and local in July in Coshocton County? In spite of giant strawberries still on supermarket produce shelves, strawberry season is officially over—our area does not have strawberries from February to October. (Those are shipped from far, far away.) Our strawberry season is actually quite short—from three weeks to a month, usually the month of June, but it’s worth the wait. Nothing beats the sweet, “sunshine” flavor of local strawberries. Then come the peas, and that season is winding down, too.

In July, you’ll find basil, beets, blueberries, carrots, cherries, cilantro, cucumbers, garlic, green beans, herbs, leeks, onions, peaches, plums, potatoes, raspberries, summer squash (including zucchini), summer apples, sweet corn, Swiss chard, and turnips. At the end of the month, there might be vine-ripened tomatoes (but there’ll be lots more in August), sweet and hot peppers, eggplant, and okra.

Some of our vendors speed up or extend the seasons by using greenhouses and row covers, or by continuous planting and careful watering. So you will probably still find lettuce and salad greens for most of the summer, and you might find some early tomatoes. If you want to eat only local and seasonal produce, just ask the vendors, “Did you grow this?” and “How do you use it?” They’ll be happy to talk with you.