Q: I've been looking for something for a long time, and I thought if it existed, surely you guys would know about it. I really want a monthly wall calendar, where the pictures for each month are seasonal fruits and vegetables.
Two reasons: I love food photography, especially produce, and it can help me get excited about eating seasonally and enjoying the bounty of the month!!
It's silly, but I've been looking forever and would love to find one before the new year hits!
Sent by Christine
Editor: Christine, this doesn't sound silly to us at all. We would love something like this too, especially if it really showed seasonal produce from our part of the world. We've looked around quite a bit now too for something like this and can't find anything quite like what you're looking for.
We love the Seasonal Fruits of California print, which is a very minimalist calendar, but it's quite different than what you're looking for. Here are a few food-related calendars from last year too.
Readers, have you seen anything like this? If not, this might be a great project for the more photographically talented among us.
Related: New Kitchen and Food-Themed Calendars for 2009
(Image: Seasonal Fruits of California by Claire Nereim)
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
I just bought a wonderful illustrated calendar from a local woman here in Seattle that fits the bill! It does focus on North West "wild" foods, but it's absolutely wonderful. She has them for sale on her Etsy, here: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=33308712
view Renai Marie's profile
Hmm never thought about it but now I want one too!
view syrupandhoney's profile
What about the Vegetannual Print? I love this one... I want to cross-stitch it for the wall in our living room... enjoy!
http://ny-image0.etsy.com/ialcr_fullxfull.34888.jpg
view Erinbowbrite's profile
I know this isn't what you're looking for specifically, but I love my local fruit/veggie harvest calendar. It's more utilitarian than pretty, but really helped me when I started out focussing on local foods. It is specific to foods produced in the Ottawa, Ontario, Canada region.
http://www.spcottawa.on.ca/ofsc/en/buylocal/harvest.html
view ChzPlz's profile
What about an electronic calendar? I know it's not as pretty, but I think it would be pretty handy to be in the market and pull up a "what's in season" calendar on my iPhone/Blackberry.
Something like an iCal or Google Calendar showing all the various produce times that are in season for each month would be wonderful.
view weedenbc's profile
funny, a while ago I was looking for something similar and decided to make my own. Unfortunately it never really got beyond the initial sketches part. Maybe one of these days I'll finish it.
view elissa's profile
I know this isn't really what the questioner was asking about, but this website is an amazing resource to know what crops are in season when.
http://www.pickyourown.org/US_crop_harvest_calendars.php
view Melissa23's profile
Ooooh! This sounds like such a good idea, I think that I could turn this into a great project - just by photographing our vegi box every week next year, by 2011 our local calendar will be good to go!!!
view se7en's profile
I found these on etsy...it's illustrations rather than photography, but really pretty!
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=33477905
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=32971030
view cupcakemuffin's profile
A couple of different ideas. You can either look up what's in season for your region online and then cull pictures from the internet then build your own calendar. I know there are businesses that can print you a calendar based on pictures you provide.
Another option is to start going to your farmers market and taking pictures of what they've got. Maybe you could buy an assortment of fruits and veggies and make your own still-life. You could include a lot of a particular fruit when it is in full season and less when it's season is just beginning or about to end. Take these pictures and have them converted into a calendar. Maybe do the first option for next year and the second option for 2011.
And if you live in Northern California, you can start here:
http://www.cuesa.org/seasonality/charts/fruit.php
I'm sure it'll look great!
view heartmignardise's profile
I own the print you have pictured! I love it so much--it makes me happy every time I see it. I get lots of compliments, too! You can get it on etsy
view Amymj's profile
Last year my local paper included a chart very similar to the one chzplz posted above, but specific to western Washington state. I've had it clipped out ever since, I like to refer to it as each season ends and the next one begins to plan out my menus for coming months.
http://www.themarketsllc.com/Portals/0/growing-seasons-chart.gif
view TheGuth's profile
Beautiful photos, supports a great organization!
http://www.seedsavers.org/Details.aspx?itemNo=M3372
view kibitzknitz's profile
This organization supports sustainable farming and prints a beautiful seasonal calendar. Not only are the monthly photos in time with the season, but there are tips and farming/gardening comments printed within the monthly pages.
http://www.thelandconnection.org/get_involved/calendar.cfm
view Spoolback's profile
Hi! It's the original Christine who wrote in the question. Thank you all so much - so many great ideas I can't even choose!! I am so excited. Thank you thank you thank you!
Christine
view firecracker86's profile
I like heartmignardise's idea.
I think the issue is that whats "in season" varies so much by region that unless you're lucky enough to find someone on etsy that's doing something that aligns with your area, you're going to be better off doing your own.
There's nothing more frustrating than flipping through a gardening magazine or book and seeing "hardy to USDA zone 7" when you're in Canadian zone 4. :)
view ChzPlz's profile