Have you noticed how fruits and vegetables are so much better when bought in season?

Here in Fairbanks, fall is the only time of year to get freshly harvested local carrots. They are so bright, crispy, and deliciously sweet they seem to be a different vegetable altogether than the imported variety we get the rest of the year.

And if I want squash, I need to get my fill now, because come March, though there may be a few lingering in grocery bins, they’ll be dry and shriveled.

I know not to buy summer fruits like tomatoes in December because they’ll taste like nothing, and if I want non-mealy nectarines I’ll need to wait until June.

Depending on where we live, seasons affect not just what we eat but often where we focus our time and energy as well…