Plan, plan, plan

I started my facination with the local, slow food movement in the spring of last year.  Right as the farmers markets opened for business and my garden expansion was well on its way.  I had high expectations for what we would grow in our own backyard and I knew we could live off the land for most of the growing season.  The more I learned, the more I wanted to live locally all the time, and not just in the bountiful months.  The only problem?  I had no idea what we would eat in January when there was a foot or more of snow over our garden and most of the local orchards and farm stands had closed for the season.  I wish I could say I had put away freezer bags full of garden fresh produce, but we lost our deep freeze in a flood in early spring.  I wish I could say I had canned all those fresh, juicy tomatos for sauces and pizza, but I haven't yet learned the art.  Most of all, I wish I could say I had staggered my harvest to give me a backyard full of veggies all summer long.
What did happen is that I gained a fresh appreciation for PLANNING.  I kept at my furious pace of local shopping, gardening and eating while I could, and then I was thankful for the end of the growing season.   I eagerly awaited the new arrivals of the spring seeds catalogs and I dug out some notebooks and a blank calendar for a season of planning.
What I am left with (just in time for the season to begin!) is a calendar full of notes for the best planting times for each seed variety I chose.  I have plans for how to have a continuous harvest of salad greens, beans, carrots, and more.  I also chose tomato varieties based on, among other things, fruiting time.  I hope to have different tomatoes ready for picking, slicing, and eating from July until the frost comes in the fall.
I also planned for expansion of the garden with not just earth tilling, but also some container grown varieties.  I plan to grow most of these in my own yard, but also move some to my parent's home just down the hill (don't worry, mom, I plan to do all the care for these!).  The point?  To avoid the destruction that can happen when all plants are grown in one location when disease or pest problems strike (remembering last year's blight).  My hanging baskets this year will contain Sprite tomatoes and strawberries rather than flowers, allowing my family to be nourished from the beauty of our front porch.
I have yet to do the second part of planning, but now that the growing part is well thought out, I am ready for it.  Deciding how much my family of four (plus extra for my parents) will eat in the non-growing season of our long winters here in upstate NY.  We have a plans for a new freezer, to be purchased and delivered when the ice thaws enough to lift the hatch into our basement again.  But, I also need to learn other ways to preserve our foods.  Last year, I perfected the art of blanching and freezing in small batches.  This year, I will move to drying and canning.  And how much is too much?  How much is not enough?  I really love frozen fruit to mix in with my cream-on-top yogurt or in smoothies, and I'd love to have canned tomatoes for easy use in pasta and pizza sauce. I don't want to store more than we can eat, but I want to get as far into the winter as we can without buying from the supermarket.
The final aspect of the planning phase is remembering to schedule our days around the best times for local food hunts.  Being free to visit our weekly farmer's market, pick up our CSA box at the farm and have time to spend with the farmers, and making sure to arrange vacations around peak growing times for our garden.
I never said being a localvore wasn't without work...but the effort pays off in more ways than you can imagine...if only you plan, plan, plan!