With the recent snow on the ground, it is beginning to look a lot like the holiday season. And yes, we are approaching the winter solstice, which occurs this year on Thursday, December 21.

As both Christmas and New Year’s Day occur on Monday, we will not have a schedule change. We plan to do the delivery/pickup service as usual on Saturday, December 23 and Saturday, December 30.

The order form for our delivery / pickup service, this Saturday, December 16, is now available online. Remember to order early as some items are sure to sell out. And please remember the deadline for ordering is Wednesday at noon. We will send out another reminder on Tuesday.

In addition to all the usual wonderful things we provide, we are excited to introduce a new vendor this week, Plant Wisdom Within. Some of you may already know the owner, Joan Greeley, DE-licensed nutritionist and certified clinical herbalist. Joan has developed a line of amazing herbal products made with great care and great ingredients (organic, wildcrafted, sustainably sourced). We are proud to offer her tinctures, deodorants, and herbal salves, and hope you see something you like. These make great gift items too.

If you are in need of some additional ideas for gifts during this season of giving, we hope you will consider some of the wonderful items we carry. Giving the gift of food is always appreciated and we have a few other things that are fun items people will appreciate.

Backyard Jams and Jellies make great stocking stuffers with over 50 choices in 8 oz. glass jars. Favorites include their hot pepper jelly — both in red and green in a nicely decorated holiday jar. And there is nothing like their chutneys and wine jellies!

Alternatively, if you would like to give someone a Hattie’s Garden Gift Certificate, please contact Hattie directly via email. Gift Certificates do not expire and can be used at any time during the year for anything we sell during our off-season service and for Hattie’s Garden produce, plants and flowers during the growing season.

This week we wanted to again highlight some of the items we carry.

For those interested in beef, chicken or pork, a nice beef roast, pork shoulder roast or whole free-range chicken from Bohemia Lea might be just the thing for a holiday meal. Bohemia Lea also has some of the best bacon and sausage I’ve eaten — hot Italian, sweet Italian, little breakfast links, or just nice mild sausage in links or bulk.

Good fish is so hard to find and we know you will thoroughly enjoy Alaskawild flash frozen Coho and Sockeye Salmon, and also their Pacific or Alaskan Cod, and Pacific Rockfish or Rock Cod.

Chesapeake Organic keeps growing all winter in their many greenhouses and in the field, down south of us in Marion County where it is just a bit warmer. Their cabbage is sweet as can be and their smaller delicious rutabagas are nothing like what you see at the supermarket. They supply us with nearly any “green” you can think of, from turnip greens to red Russian kale, all freshly harvested and with a quality and taste you won’t find off the shelf. And for leeks just pulled from the ground, go no further.

Additional produce and vegetables comes from Colchester Farm who has gone overboard this year growing four types of sweet potatoes and three types of garlic and we have them all for you. Hattie’s Garden has delicious, sweet Hakurei turnips with beautiful greens, and a new bed of young and tender white Russian kale to harvest this week. Black Hog and Fresh Harvest Hydroponics provide us with beautiful microgreens.

Don’t forget about your free-range eggs from Twin Post or Black Hog.

Rounding off the list of sumptous items include the wonderful assortment of Portobella, Crimini, Shiitake mushrooms from Davidson Exotic Mushrooms and delicious prepared food from Patty’s Gourmet.

And a pound of honey from Baues’ Bees goes a long way in the winter toward soothing throats and sweetening drinks.

Finally, we are always glad we have a nice supply of cheese from Chapel’s Country Creamery. They make beautiful artisan cheese on their farm. They are the first Maryland farmers to have worked with their state officials to assure safe, quality production of on-farm cheese using raw milk from grass-fed cows.

Enjoy good food. It’s a great way to live well!

Yours in the garden throughout the winter,