january at the market
foods in season, eating notes + a playlist for cooking
Welcome to mama eats, a weekly newsletter inspired by a simple + seasonal home life. This week’s post, January at the market, is free to all readers. I try to provide as much free content as possible, however, this newsletter is a labor of love and I am a busy mother of three. If you have the means and find value in what I share, please consider becoming a paid subscriber.
January is here, a month of cold, crisp days and long dark evenings, with a weak promise of spring as we begin to see the first slender shoots of bulbs emerge in green blades from bare earth. It is slow, clean, stripped back, elemental and fresh. There are many pleasures to be found in nature this month, if tuned into the muted beauty. Peeling a clementine in its oily, scented glory, the peel neatly spiraling off in one satisfying piece. Getting out to see the stark beauty of the bare tree branches silhoutted against the setting sun. A long walk- all bundled up, the air sharply crisp, the weather gloomy, perhaps taking a thermos of something hot to drink, anticipating arriving back home refreshed and with a warm fire or home to greet you. Gently pushing seeds into little cells of earth to start the first spring salad crops while dreaming of balmy days outside.
As for food, this month we move deeper into winter and start to rely on produce that is stored from warmer times, or that can store in the garden in the cold. The star of such things is the humble cabbage. Cabbage is so versatile, generally quite cheap, tastes