oranges, pineapple, melon, pears, bananas, green pepper, red pepper, green onions in decorative pot

Fruit in Winter

Is it just me, or is fruit unusually inexpensive this winter? At least that has been the impression I’ve gotten while doing my weekly grocery shopping at the Sunflower Market this month. For example, oranges at just $0.50-$0.88/pound. Watermellon for $0.33/pound. A five-pound bag of Fuji Apples for $3. Or organic Fuji apples for just $0.99/pound! I could go on and on…

Don’t ask me how this is possible. I guess that is one of the benefits of living in a global community, where eating oranges from California, apples from Chile and bananas from Panama is possible. Of course, I’d prefer local produce which don’t require hundreds of gallons of fuel to ship and their resultant carbon emissions. But plants for the most part do not grow in Northern Colorado from October – April (a fact I am pleasantly reminded of every time I walk past the unused lawn mower in the garage!), so it’s not like I am going to be able to eat Colorado apples in December.

Anyhow, above is a photo of the fruit I bought last week. That is actually a common sight around my household, especially since I mostly disavow grains during the off-season. I may be grain-free but not carb-free, you see. I go through a ton of vegetables too but they were already in the refrigerator by the time I whipped out the camera for this photo.

I’m just hoping that California—and its oranges—doesn’t get another big freeze like last winter.

oranges, pineapple, melon, pears, bananas, green pepper, red pepper, green onions in decorative pot
A lot of fruit from the Sunflower Market.