A Year at the Market

A Year at the Market is a little library of pocket-sized, portable “Seasonal Food Field Guides,” each of them featuring a different fruit or vegetable. Each field guide shares how to recognise when each particular fruit or vegetable is in season, how to select the very best produce, what to do with them and cook with them, and some handy recipes for when you find yourself with a glut.

They’re aimed at farmers market shopping but really, they can be used at the supermarket, the farmers market, the grocery store, Nanna’s back garden… anywhere you get your fruit and veg, they’ll come in handy. The goal is to make seasonal and local shopping and eating feel easy, accessible and affordable, no matter where you shop.

How it works

When you subscribe to A Year at the Market, I’ll send you a new Seasonal Food Field Guide in the post every month, piece by piece building up a little library that will inform, inspire and empower you to shop more seasonally, more mindfully, and more locally. They’re categorised according to seasons, not months, so wherever you live in the world, as long as you have a spring-summer-autumn-winter yearly rotation, they’ll be relevant to you.

The botanical illustrations

Each field guide also features an original botanical illustration by me, painted with love and made into postcards that you can keep or give to a friend. Without fail, as I’ve researched each new fruit or veg (even the ones I don’t like as much), I’ve found it fascinating, impressive, and I’ve been inspired to cook and eat with it more. Nature truly is extraordinary and the process of writing these field guides has been a wonderful way for me to fall even deeper in love with the way our planet nourishes and feeds us. I hope this love and fascination shows in my paintings.

Extra helP

I realise that to truly “shop seasonally” requires a big shift in both mindset and habits for many of us, and this isn’t always easy. To support you as you embark on this journey, I’ll also send you a host of helpful free things. My favourite among them is a mini-book, “Welcome to Market,” which is all about why seasonal and local eating is so good for us and our planet, and shares how to do it in a way that is practical in our busy lives, and won’t break the budget.

How to join in

Simply click “Build a seasonal library” below to subscribe to A Year at the Market. There are options to pay up-front for the year, or break your subscription into 12 small monthly payments.

(Hit the “swipe” arrow on the mandarin illustration to see a video of me packing the various elements of the little library, to post to subscribers).

As your mini library grows, it is my fervent hope that you’ll feel inspired, informed and empowered to shop and eat mindfully, locally and seasonally; that grocery shopping will become a joyful experience rather than a chore; and that eating will become an adventure. Tag your trips to market, edible bounty and kitchen adventures with #SeasonalFoodFieldGuide and #NaomiLoves to share.

Warmly yours,
Naomi Bulger

January, 2021