There's a quiet kind of magic in eating something at exactly the right time of year. Asparagus in May, tasting like nothing else. The first proper Yorkshire strawberries in June. Food simply tastes better when nature decides it's ready.
With Yorkshire Day just around the corner on 1st August, it got us thinking about all the things we're proud to celebrate about our county. The rolling countryside, the hardworking people, our farming heritage… and, of course, the incredible food that's produced right here on our doorstep.
That's what seasonal eating is all about, and it's something we think about a lot here at Herd Fed - not just with our birds, but with everything we grow and source around them.
Yorkshire Day, I hear you ask?
Yes, this is a thing. The 1st of August is when the county celebrates everything that makes it Yorkshire - the landscape, the people, the dialect, the pride. And food is very much part of that.
Which felt like the perfect excuse to talk about eating seasonally, the Yorkshire way.
What does "in season" actually mean?
It simply means eating food when it's naturally ready to be harvested here in the UK, rather than relying on produce that's been flown in from the other side of the world, picked early and ripened in transit. When something's in season, it's fresher, it's local and the bit that matters most to us - it tastes better!
Right now in August
This time of year is genuinely abundant. Courgettes, sweetcorn, tomatoes, runner beans, peppers and cauliflower are all at their best, alongside soft fruit like raspberries, blackberries and plums. It's the kind of month where the garden or the farm shop is bursting at the seams.
A very local example
Just down the road from us in Sessay, our friends at Spilmans Farm grow some of the best asparagus around - we were lucky enough to get our hands on some this spring, picked at exactly the right moment. That's the whole point of seasonal eating, really. Good food doesn't need to travel far to taste incredible. Sometimes the best things are growing a few miles down the road.
The Yorkshire touch
Yorkshire has its own seasonal claim to fame too - the Rhubarb Triangle, between Wakefield, Leeds and Bradford, where forced rhubarb is grown in dark sheds, harvested by candlelight in the depths of winter. It's sweeter and more delicate than summer rhubarb and it's a proper reminder of how inventive British farming can be when it comes to working with the seasons rather than against them.
What Yorkshire's best chefs know
Yorkshire's leading chefs know quality when they taste it. Head chef Tom Haywood of Pignut & The Hare calls our birds "honestly the best chicken around" - featured in Yorkshire Life's insider's guide to eating well across Yorkshire this summer. When you're sourcing the best local produce, it's the small details that matter. That's why we've always believed eating seasonally, eating locally, and knowing your farmer makes all the difference.
Why it's worth the effort
Eating seasonally isn't about giving anything up. It's about timing - choosing food when it's at its natural best, which usually means better flavour, lower cost, and a smaller footprint getting it to your plate. It's also, in a roundabout way, exactly why we do what we do. Our birds are raised slowly, fed well, and never rushed. Good food takes the time it takes.
So this Yorkshire Day, whatever's on your plate, we'd encourage you to ask where it's come from and whether it's the right time of year for it. Chances are, the answer makes all the difference.
Read our blog: Farming with the land in mind: Herb Fed's approach to regenerative and sustainable agriculture...
