This morning I enjoyed half a fresh fuyu persimmon sliced over my breakfast cereal. I’m not kidding when I say fresh. I picked it from the young tree in my front yard just before eating it.

Richard and I planted this young tree about three years ago. This is the first year that it has borne fruit, and only a single persimmon this year.

The satisfaction afforded by growing some of our own food is enormous. It is also an adventure and a lesson in what foods are in season when. Growing your own food saves energy. No gasoline was needed to transport this orangey orb from the tree to my kitchen. It was picked at the peak of ripeness. Sweet and satisfying.

My test for the ripeness of apples, persimmons, and other tree fruits is to gently pull on the stem. If the fruit comes free, it is ready to enjoy. If it would take some force to pick, I let it ripen for a few more days.

Of course, most of us are not farmers. But many of us do have a patch of space in our yard which would support a fruit tree, a few tomato plants in among the flower beds, a small garden.

Gardening is an environmental act. Buying locally-produced foods is good for the earth.

The local market has started labeling foods by their place of origin. Many are from local farms. Others travel further from around the state. The least desirable and the biggest gas hogs are those that come from far away. While most of us are not ready to give up our grown-far-away coffee, tea, and bananas, it is not a big stretch for us to buy as much as we can from producers who live close rather than far.

Being aware of the local cycles of nature will not only make us smarter consumers, but will also fill our plates with the freshest, most tasty foods. It may be tempting to purchase pears from Argentina in the spring and kiwis from New Zealand in August, but waiting until they come into season locally treats our palates to the specialties of the season.

The crunch of a fresh apple holds more pleasure than the mealy feel of one retrieved from cold storage. We can experience the intensity of looking forward to fresh grapes in the fall when we haven't been eating imported ones off season. We can recapture the joy of eating fresh oranges at Christmas.

Eating fresh food in season affords exquisite pleasure.

—Debbie Bulger

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