Spring and Wellness

When April rolls around, the sunlight beams a little brighter, the days last a little longer, and I start to think about spring cleaning. The piles on my desk that I haven’t moved in a month twitter with concern as I slide the letter opener, shredder, scissors, and pens closer and settle down for the completing of tasks that should have been done sometime in the Jurassic. Hours later, I’ve pared the mounds down to molehills. I’m an Edward Scissorhands of efficiency, leaving workplace topiaries of “to-do” and “done” that sing with delight, free from the yoke of lesser priorities. Ah, spring – it is a time of renewal.

Nature itself is reminding us of this renewal. Our bodies and minds crave wellness and health right now. As the days get warmer and coax us out of doors, the first spring fruits-berries are starting to arrive. From a fruit standpoint, spring is a time of growth but limited harvest in terms of variety. We’ve had some fresh blueberries from the Santa Barbara area in the last few weeks, and these will pick up as the weather holds. Some wonderful organic strawberries are starting to come out of the fields of our farmers in the Watsonville, Santa Cruz, and Salinas areas. We’ll have to wait until May for the first of the regional stone fruits, usually cherries and if we’re lucky, early peaches. But it’s all about the weather – if we get too much rain or not enough heat things can be delayed.

I write this because many of us “feel” spring-like (warmer and sunnier) and expect our produce to be the same. But nature does not grow the fruits we associate with warmer and sunnier weather until later in the season (May into June). This confusion also comes from the fact that you may see peaches, nectarines, and plums in produce stores right now, but remember that these are mainly conventionally-grown fruit coming from warmer regions outside of the United States. Depending on the mix you get from us (local-only or variety-priority), these fruits from other regions may be in your crate.

We now have an online resource that lists all the fruit in our mixes by region. You can check it out here.

Feel free to email me with questions. chiefbanana@fruitguys.com

Enjoy and be fruitful! – Chris Mittelstaedt