Eating Seasonally in May for Wellness

Local Foods Available in May in Maryland

Ahh May. The month of brighter moods, longer daylight hours, blooming flowers, and rising energies. Mother Nature is fulfilling her spring promise of new fresh food. Let your taste buds explore foods new to you. Enjoy what each week has to offer. Nature provides the food creativity for the next few months!

Starting an Anti-Inflammatory Diet

In the world of health and wellness, an anti-inflammatory diet is all the rage and for very good reasons. Acute inflammation acts fast to protect you in times of injury or danger. Chronic inflammation causes pain, fatigue, immune system dysfunction, gastrointestinal issues, depression, weight gain, and many more undesired consequences for your body and mind. An anti-inflammatory diet elevates food to a healing status to improve your wellness.

Fresh, nutrient-rich vegetables and fruits are a cornerstone to a healing anti-inflammatory diet. When you choose local, organically grown produce, the benefits increase further since these foods also reduce your exposure to toxins and chemicals that create more inflammation in your body and brain.

When using food as a healing or wellness tool, a good rule of thumb is to stop eating/drinking things that are creating problems for your body and mind. It can be tricky to figure out what to replace them with and still feel satisfied. This is the perfect time to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into your daily routine because of the abundance of delicious local foods available! Take action for your own wellness. Eat local!

Gabrielle’s Favorite Cookbooks- Next Step Produce

Next Step Produce is an 86-acre certified-organic farm located in Southern Maryland. We are a four-season farm cultivating diverse grains, dried beans, vegetables, and fruit. Since our inception in 2000, our specialties have evolved, and continue to do so. One thing remains the same – in our practices, we strive to make a viable, regenerative, and often adventurous contribution towards a local food system. When we were asked “Why grow rice?”, the answer was: “Because we eat rice.”

Simply in Season: A World Community Cookbook by Mary Beth Lind and Cathleen Hockman-Wert
Green + Grains: Recipes for Deliciously Healthful Meals by Molly Watson
At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen: Transform the Way You Eat with 250 Vegetarian Recipes Free of Gluten, Dairy, and Refined Sugar by Amy Chaplin
Whole Food Cooking Every Day: Celebrating the Art of Eating Well by Amy Chaplin
Mother Grains: Recipes for the Grain Revolution by Roxana Jullpart

Remember to use the public library and purchase from Better World Books to support good in the world!

Salami and Salad by Longview Farm

At Longview Farm, we raise our cows, chickens and pigs humanely and do not feed them hormones, antibiotics, growth stimulants nor animal-by-products. We follow natural practices – no pesticides, no herbicides, no chemicals – growing heirloom tomatoes, salad greens and flowers. We take seriously our mission to protect open space and to raise delicious and healthy food the natural sustainable way.

Longview Farm salami is perfect picnic fare – delicious and locally raised and cured. The broiler chicks are 3 weeks old. Two more weeks and then they go out onto pasture. We are flash grazing the cows through the pastures to keep up with the fast growing spring grasses.  The heirloom tomatoes are being planted in the garden.

Boxed salad greens, bought at the grocery store, go bad so quickly, even if you carefully chose the latest “sell by” date which may be days in the future. Those California leafy greens have traveled so long, so far and been touched by so many handlers and chemicals. Local salad greens last longer, have been handled by one or two or three farmers, taste fresher, and, if you check, have met no chemicals in their brief life.

Organic Food Pickup in La Plata, Maryland

May Recipes with Seasonal Ingredients