My local farmers market fruit supplier is out of apples. It's out of season. It's the only fruit one of my family members will eat. That and bananas. So I go to the local market and get the apples shipped probably from washington. In the past I wouldn't have given it a thought. I do give a thought now, though I'm still buying 7 apples a week. I'm almost starting to feel a little bad about it, but only almost.
How old is this family member who's only fruit intake is apples and bananas? Maybe it's time to try them on something more adventurous. Pears? Peaches? Next year, when local apples are in season again, you'll have to make more applesauce and pies. Dried apples are tasty, too, but may not be as popular with that certain family member with the picky eating habits.
Attributes of slow money and slow food is that you support the local economy. You eat local fresh fruits in season, not transported one-half way around the earth out of season. You know where the food is grown, who grows it and how it is sustainably grown. Food has higher nutritional value and money is reinvested in the local economy. Everyone makes an investment in the soil. You make an effort to avoid industrial agriculture and chemicals. You become a localvore where everything tastes better and is sustainable.
At least one local orchard here stores its apples (in nitrogen?). They have local apples all year. I can't even guess what the energy cost is (if any) for their long-term storage. Might be somebody does that in your area. (Duh: Sorry, I guess if you've been buying apples up to now, somebody does that in your area.) If it's the transport cost that bothers you, if you drive to your farmers' market, the bulk of the transport fuel is probably in that trip, rather than the cross-country transport of the food. Here's a reasonable-looking estimate: 90 ton-miles per gallon, by truck, assuming the truck deadheads the return trip. Estimates of Total Fuel Consumption in Transporting Grain from Iowa to Major Grain Countries by Alternatives Modes and Routes I think that's a reasonable estimate because a full-loaded semi is about 20 tons of freight and gets about 5 mpg. Or used to in the old days. Which would be 100 ton-miles fully loaded. No idea how U Iowa came up with 90. At that rate, shipping a pound of apples cross-country consumes about 2 ounces of fuel ((1/2000)*3000) ton-miles, /90 ton-miles-per-gallon) = 0.017 gallons). That's enough to move a Prius less than a mile. If they did the majority of the transport by rail, it would have been substantially less. If it's less than 3000 miles, then less. If the produce has to be refrigerated, that would be substantially more, though how much more I couldn't say offhand. If you buy more than just the apples in your trip to the farmers' market, then you'd divide the total fuel consumption for your car trip across all the purchases. I've started to apply the same logic to any object that requires me to drive out to pick it up. In most cases, the smaller footprint seems to come from having it delivered, USPS preferred (because the truck comes by every day whether there's a package for me or not). At least in the densely-populated urban area I live in. FWIW this is also why I don't perseverate about disposable plastic bags if I happen to be in a store and don't have a reusable bag. From an energy use standpoint, at least. At some point, I figured the energy embodied in a typical plastic bag was enough to move the average US vehicle about 200 yards (and so, maybe 450 for a Prius). Given the choice, for most people it would be better to bike to the store and get disposable bags than to drive with reusable bags. Acknowledging that biking with reusable is preferred. I'll also say one more heinous thing: Point-to-point shipping for single-event retailing strikes me as being not very energy efficient. Lot of good things to say for farmers' markets. I'm a big fan, we buy a big chunk of our calories from local producers. But I don't think that transportation efficiency is one of them. Having a bunch of vendors each get in their individual small trucks, truck their stuff to a single site in the AM, truck the remains back in the PM -- this is not an energy-efficient model. In the DC area, we have farmers driving down from mid-Pennsylvania, driving up from the Northern Neck of Virginia. Per unit of produce sold, that has to be an energy-intensive model for the transportation side of it.
I'm willing to "import" foods from within the region. It's sometimes hard to find fruits/veggies that are in season when you want them sometimes. Now, buying those which come from across the globe, other continets, etc. that's where I draw the line. Luckily for me, this region is great for apples, berries, peaches, etc. Of course, there aren't many "local" markets here, as in this part of the state it's mostly industry/commerce and not much farming. Most of what's grown in state is beans and corn afaik. I like stopping at the stands in NJ when I'm in the state, but I'm not willing to drive there just for produce - gas usage and the $5 bridge toll sucks.
it's time to grow an apple tree at least you're choosing to get other apples over eating banana's. too much potassium intake isn't good for you. maybe you should look into different pears or possibly fruits from different cultures. i grew up with a wide selection of fruits. i always had my favorites but i find there are a lot of other selections out there from different nationalities. (asain fruits are good. some are apple like too)
Apples from Washington aren't anymore in-season, than any others from this country. Look for another local supplier? That said, food variety is very important for health, see what you can do to increase the variety.
You may have tried this trick, or developed your own methods by now, but something that worked very well with my kids when introducing new foods was not to give them any - at first. After everyone else had some and raved about how good it was, they would inevitably clamour for it. Once my eldest was convinced, but spat it out and said "Me no like 'licious" So, it didn't always work, but often enough that it was generally successful. Don't try it with something like pickles, or they'll feel betrayed and never trust your taste again.
Try Espaliered Apple trees! We have 5 trees, each with different grafts. Below is a picture of an espaliered apple tree ... on a much larger plot than our trees sit on ... you YOUR teeny plot of dirt can easily be 'good to go': They use a VERY teeny amount of space and water. You can train them your self, or buy them pre trained at some nurseries. We have at least a dozen apples ready to eat at any time by the end of july through september: So - happy eating!
