In Our Winter 2016 Issue

FROM THE EDITOR

Winter Pantry

How does winter make you feel? Do you accept winter gracefully or fight it? Do you appreciate whta the days bring or grumble about the weather? Is the down time depressing or restful for you? Are you invigorated by the snow, or frustrated by it? Do you worry about surviving winter or is your pantry full enough to feed you until the longer and warmer days?

Did you answer "all of the above?" Me, too!

For farmers, gardeners, restaurateurs, brewers, every eater in our foodshed, it's the same. Winter might bring a welcome change of pace, just not one that's welcome for long. By December, it's easy to long, at least sometimes, for the fresh tastes of spring, summer and fall again.

Yet here in the North we know how to stockpile food for these long winter months. Pantries can be filled with jars of sweet summer fruits and tangy pickled vegetables. Root cellars for the roots, freezers for the frozen goods, plus there's still maple syrup from last winter and honey in the cupboard from the fall. Even livestock farming is a way to stockpile the summer growing season, with the hay and grains that feed the poultry and cattle for our fresh meat, eggs and dairy.

This winter issue illustrates how to eat locally in winter and celebrate the stories of our pantries and year-round food production. Get some onions out of cold storage and make a warming winter soup. Watch for steam coming from a nearby woods and follow along until you find someone in their sugar shack making maple syrup. Shop at one of the weekly winter farmers' markets for fresh local foods and locally raised meats and find some much-needed socializing while you're there. Inventory your pantry and freezer and rediscover the wealth of food you once put away—then invite some friends over to share a meal, and share a pantry story or two as well.

We are northerners and our winter foods have longer stories to tell—stories that include not only the summer rains and the hands that planted seed and picked fresh crops but also tell of traditions, of the forethought and skill of processing and the careful hands that tend to teir storage. Seek out these foods and their stories, it will help pass the time through the winter months in a most delicious way.

Warm winter thoughts,

-Barb Tholin, Publisher