What's in Season.... hmmmm that's a tough one, it's January

Well here we are, the merriment and fun of the holiday season is almost past us and it is time to start to look to the new year! 

Our next Copper Pot meal is just a week and a few days away... perhaps next year let's remember this and take a weekend off between New Years and a CP dinner - my waist band needs a rest! 

This is one of the best times during winter, the holidays are over so it must be time for those seed and garden catalogs to start rolling it!  I have already received my Bakers Creek Heirloom Seeds and of course Burpee.

I am really looking forward to the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange , they are a Virginia based company that specializes in heirloom seeds for the Mid-Atlantic region.  Last year the Reston Farm Market - no, not the one a Lake Anne, the one over on the corner of Barron Cameron and Rt. 7 - carried their seeds.  I hope they do again this year. 

Time to start planning that square foot garden for 2011!  I would like to start earlier this year and try to get some more cold weather seeds in the ground.  We had a pretty good crop of peas and lettuces last year, I think spinach and beets might be added to the list this year.  I was really hoping to winterize the square foot garden last year, but alas the time got away from us.  Better luck with that in 2011.

So on to what is in season... oy.  Unless you were successful an overwintering and covering that fall garden, you got nothing!  However, lets pretend that we had a bountiful crop of root veggies and we were able to put them up for the winter:)  We'll also pretend that we were able to can more than just apple sauce.  Think pantry veggies for January...

So items that I think would work for "seasonal" in January:

Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Winter Squashes - Hubbard, Acorn, Butternut, etc.
Onion
Garlic
Apples
A trip to the local Farm Markets (the few that are open all winter) might also net you some greenhouse greens and cabbages
Windowsill Herbs
Any other ideas??

FYI - A USDA survey finds that farmers markets operated more than 7 months of the year had three times the sales revenue and twice as many customers per week as those who didn't.  Come on Reston!

One last thing... during these long winters nights if you need something to read and you love food, may I recommend The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister.