Fresh produce is still in season for Winter Harvest's shoppers

Sure, the weather outside may be frightful and most of the farmer's markets are shuttered for the season. But for intrepid farmers, and shoppers who like to buy local, the growing season goes on.

That's the word from Bob Pierson, whose Farm to City runs 15 farmer's markets and a half dozen Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs with a wealth of pickup points in the region.

But those are summer projects. In winter (now through April), Pierson's attention turns to Winter Harvest, which he says is the largest and oldest buying club for local food in the Philadelphia area.

For the uninitiated: A CSA supports small farms by prepaying for the farmer's harvest. The CSA model carries a certain "surprise" factor - customers do not know what produce they will receive each week.

Buying clubs, on the other hand, allow shoppers to buy only what they want each week. And Winter Harvest, which is marking its 11th year, has options for vegans, vegetarians, celiacs, and omnivores.

Ordering online from a list of 500 items gives buying club shoppers the advantage of shopping without leaving home until it's time for the weekly pickup.

Much of what's grown in winter is familiar: carrots, onions, potatoes, rutabagas, turnips, leeks, parsnips, Brussels sprouts, collards, spinach, arugula, shallots, and mushrooms.

But the local farms supplying Winter Harvest offer a wider variety. Sweet potatoes alone come in purple, fingerling, Japanese, Jewel, and Hernandez varieties - all certified organic, and all from Landisdale Farm in Lebanon, Pa.

Pierson also buys from Linden Dale Farm in Ronks, Pa., which started as a dairy farm in 1850. When Andrew and Mary Mellinger took over from his ancestors in 2006, the couple replaced the dairy herd with La Mancha goats. Now they sell goat milk and cheeses as well as chops, shoulder roast, even ground goat.

Metropolitan Bakery sells its granola and breads through Winter Harvest, and serves as a pickup point.

Tom Sherman picks up his weekly Winter Harvest order at Metropolitan's Rittenhouse location on South 19th Street.

"I'd had a food co-op in my basement at one point," said Sherman, a retired English professor and former photographer, and management consultant to nonprofits. "When I first met Bob Pierson, which was in about 2000, we spoke a common language.