Our ancestors knew this season very, very well indeed; it was the time of year to make friends with turnips or some other survival food that would see them through the winter famine.  It’s that season now and there is no better time to begin a relationship with a turnip, a swede, perhaps a parsnip or a kohl rabi.  I’m into winter, I love the way that the foods that are in season are often the ones you really suited to keeping you well or warm – the feijoas,citrus and kiwi full of vitamin C or all those root vegetables and dark winter greens perfect for slow cooked stews and soups that you eat and add to through the week. 

Now with refrigeration, canning & bottling, season extending greenhouses we go without over winter in a very limited way. And if I find myself bemoaning the lack of winter variety in my fridge or fruit bowl I stop for a moment and try giving a nod to our ancestor farmers, who dreamed each year for 600 generations since the dawn of agricultural time of having enough food to get through to the next harvest.  And that usually does it. Read more …