These are the days of spring, but unfortunately outside, in addition to the beautiful abundance of pink, red and yellow flowers –the corona virus is thriving.
It's not easy. A lot of attention is given to those who are ill, a lot of weight is given to the importance of quarantine, but little attention is given to the difficulties accompany it. Humans are social beings. We need communication and contact to maintain ourselves. Although there are those who prefer less communication with others, and some need a lot of interaction and company and contact — none of us will be happy in quarantine over time.
I have recently come to read a lot of good advice about how to cope best with the challenge of quarantine (I'm not even talking about the lack of a routine, and the challenge to work from home while the children are climbing up the walls, dangling from the curtains and attempting to build a small nuclear reactor in the toilet).
Most of the advice can be summarized in several key recommendations: rest, allow the emotions to rise, maintain your strength, establish a new routine only for these days, try to keep your sense of humor (I will be happy to share funny mems with anyone who feels they haven’t seen enough, let me know)perform physical activities and no less important, eat well.
What does that actually mean?to eat well? Each one of us has our own body, our own taste preferences and our own cuisine we grew up with and are accustomed to. Some prefer cooked food, while others – lots of raw food. Some prefer vegetarian or vegan foods and there are those who love animal source foods.
There are plenty of experts out there, not to mention gurus, methods, wonder diets and regular diets, approaches, cookbooks ….as well as people who want their bodies to feel good.
My principles for maintaining a good nutrition are pretty healthy, and in general I don't feel that I need an instruction book to know what I should eat and what not. Yes, if I try to break it down into a few guidelines, it will look something like this:
1. I prefer to eat fresh. Not only “not frozen”, but fresh – which was picked most recently. If I were the one who picked it – even better. Vegetables that still have the scent of soil and fruits linked to a fresh leaf always seem more appealing to me.
2. Consistent with the previous line, I also prefer to eat local as much as possible – I assume that what grows here is compatible with the climate, and therefore also suitable for my body, which lives here in this climate. Of course, there are some unique ones that were brought here from remote tropical countries and are prospering here – and I am friendly with them too. Anyway, “local” means that it requires as little transport as possible, and thus is kept fresh.
3. I prefer to eat what is in season now, for similar and also other reasons: I like getting excited about what I find in my plate. Excited because I know it’s time is now, and later it will be the time of a different fruit or vegetable, and I will miss it. I'm passionate about peaches because I know it is summer outside, and am thrilled by loquat – because the season ends so quickly and will soon give way to something else. Pomegranates for example. I also assume that these fruits and vegetables, when in season, contain the supply of minerals, vitamins and other good things my body most needs during that season.
4. I eat what I can identify and its contents are obvious, which requires less handling and packaging until it reaches my plate. Less processed, less colored, less starched, stabilized, oxidized, amplified, emulsified and everything else. If it was cut – great. Maybe spiced – fine. I can steam it, sauté it, bake it – good too. Fermenting is also a good idea. Everything else I can do without.
Take care and stay healthy!
Yours,
Maggie's Garden Team
Forecast:
In the ORGANIC vegetable baskets we expect (draft only):
Cucumber
Tomato
Lettuce
Potato
Onion
Celery
Parsley
Cabbage
Swiss Chard
The Large organic vegetable baskets also include:
Colrahbi
Coriander
Kale
In the ORGANIC fruit baskets:
Bannana
Orange
Melon
The large ORGANIC fruit baskets also include:
Pomelo
Clementine
The ORGANIC Green Basket:
Dill
Spinach
A kind of lettuce
Mint
Sprouts
Swiss Chard
Kale
Argula
