idk i would personally rather give up access to certain products seasonally or locally than have people enslaved to give me the ability to have any product any place any time. i think i can go without tomatoes in january.
Think how much tastier the tomato will be, when you can only get it in season (in part because then you don't breed for 'does it travel well' instead of taste).
Last year I signed up for a local Farm Co-Op. I am lucky enough to have a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) 6 miles from my house. Every week, for about 10 weeks, I was able to go and pick up a bag of freshly grown fruits, vegetables, and herbs. The Farm serves 300 local families, and the cost for me works out to be about $45/week. If I purchased the same food at the supermarket it would easily be double, if not more, for the same food.
Last year I was able to pick 10 full pints of raspberries.
Thats part of the labor of this CSA. Part of the harvesting is done by you. There are group harvesting days to pick carrots, beets, garlic, onions, anything that can be done en masse. Some of the harvesting is by pint or quart and is done weekly. This week was green beans, last week was snap peas, I am looking forward to raspberries, tomatillos, and tomatoes soon.
Last year I harvested a 5 gallon container of tomatoes to can. I am not good at canning yet, but I am decent at freezing bags of freshly made tomato sauce. It was only 5 gallons of tomatoes, but I had fresh tasing tomato sauce in the freezer through February. Was it a chore? Yes. It took days to process it all. Was it worth it? 100%. Am I fortunate enough to have this available to me? Yes, and I have to thank the people that have been paying for their memberships to this CSA for the last 30 years. Without that support I could not benefit from this.
With the latest Cyclospora outbreak, I knew where my lettuce was from. I knew I could trust it. If something happened, well I know the farmers, personally.
Finding a CSA in your area might not be something that you can do, but I would suggest looking. Especially if you want vegetables filled with flavor. If you are interested in getting involved with learning how CSAs function from the inside there are many farms that run mentorship programs. Teaching from the field.
If you have no access to something like a CSA or accessible farm markets, try to start canning or freezing. I am getting more confident with jellies and fridge pickles (still a bit too afraid of pressure cooking canning). You can always start somewhere small; like quick pickles, or frezzing a pesto you made in the blender. Process your seasonal foods now, when they are cheap[er] and eat them later. You will thank your past self.
