Over millions of years plants have adapted and grown with the rhythm of those seasons.
Each plant has its own short time of peak freshness, taste and goodness. After we began to cultivate the wild flora we simply worked with those cycles.
We ate the food that nature offered to us.
Of course, in the same way our bodies adapted to eat foods at certain times of the year. Rich sweet and vibrant fruits in the heat of summer, mellow squashes, roots, and fungi in the autumn. Then the tough winter plants along with dried meat and preserved vegetables. Finally in spring the vibrant and bitter greens to purge and refresh after that long winter.
Modern supermarkets though demand the eternal summer and the presence of so called superfoods throughout the year.
Many of these plants are grown artificially or picked early and flown around the world preserved with gases and chemicals.
Here though we see the antithesis of this modern supermarket living.
The Blue Zones are where you find super foods not superfood.
As we move into autumn so it is the time of the heavy, lush Italian plum tomatoes, basil and sweet red peppers.
All that’s needed to accompany them is the rich local olive oil, previously harvested garlic and some sea salt from the nearby Atlantic.
Already though my thoughts are turning to the needs of digging the soil and enriching it with the manures and composts in readiness for the autumn rains.
Soon the rich earth will rejoice to the burgeoning of spinach, broccoli, chard, lettuce, carrots, cauliflower, artichokes and many others that require the cooler times and abundant rain.
The role of men is changing in the 21st century. Want to keep up? Get the best stories from The Good Men Project delivered straight to your inbox, here.
Photo: Produce from my garden at Saladaviciosa. Courtesy of the author.