For a long time, I bought my lettuce from the supermarket. Until the first vegetable packet from our own garden farm. The lettuce I cut that week turned out not to be lettuce, but a few watery green leaves compared to what grew here. Fuller, firmer, with flavor that surprised me. Since then I look differently at what a vegetable package from Flevoland actually is.
A vegetable package that moves with the season
A Flevoland vegetable package is a weekly selection of fresh vegetables from a local grower, put together based on what is ripe and harvestable at the time. Not pre-planned. Not flown in. Not home-grown. What the garden gives that week, that’s what you get to take home.
The difference with a supermarket purchase is in this: in the supermarket, all the seasons are next to each other simultaneously. Strawberries in January, tomatoes in March, green beans in November. With a seasonal package, you eat along with what the Dutch landscape is producing at that time. The end of May is different from the beginning of October.
At Yūgen Forest, we put together packages every Friday on a 52-acre natural estate in Dronten. Four to six varieties of seasonal vegetables per package, sometimes supplemented by herbs or fruits from the land. The season runs from late May to late November. After that, we let the garden rest and the soil do its work, because that’s the only way a horticulture will remain fruitful twenty years from now.
Our cultivation is regenerative. This is a step beyond organic. Regenerative cultivation is agriculture that does not deplete but enriches the soil, through species diversity, no pesticides and active management of soil life. Using principles from permaculture and agroecology, the land becomes more fertile each season rather than more barren.
Some vegetables run through several seasons. Potatoes, onions and garlic, for example, which we harvest in the summer and then store for a long time. As a result, in a package you often have a base for an evening meal, in addition to changing seasonal variety.
Spring and early summer (May to July)
The season is off to a soft start. The first parcels of late May and June are light and green, with many leafy vegetables that grow quickly once the soil warms.
What to expect in a Flevoland package these months:
- Different types of lettuce, from head to oak leaf and cut lettuce
- Spinach and chard
- Spring onions and spring onion
- Radishes and turnip greens
- Purslane and winter purslane as an afterthought
- Rhubarb and first strawberries in June
- Broad beans, mangetout and sugar snap peas in June and July
- Fresh “green” garlic (garlic pipe) starting in late June
- First early potato (small varieties, June and July)
- Fresh herbs: chives, parsley, dill, basil
This is also the period when you taste the difference between field and plastic packaging most acutely. A field-fresh head of lettuce, just cut, tastes different from one that has been on a shelf for days. The texture is firmer, the juice brighter, the flavor fuller.
High summer (July to September)
In high summer, the package becomes more colorful and heavy. Fruiting vegetables are coming on and the garden is giving plenty.
What to expect in a Flevoland package these months:
- Tomatoes in many varieties and colors, from beef tomato to cherry tomato and old varieties such as Black Krim or Green Zebra
- Potato in different varieties, early and later varieties
- Fresh onions, shallots and red onions
- Garlic, fresh and then dried after harvest in July
- Zucchini and patisson
- Cucumber
- Bell bell pepper and eggplant
- Green beans and runner beans
- Beets, early carrots and parsley root
- Berries, raspberries and blackberries
- Edible flowers such as borage, east Indian cherry, marigold and violet
- Mediterranean herbs: basil, oregano, coriander
This is also when old tomato varieties stand out. A Black Krim has a deeper, almost smoky flavor not found in any supermarket tomato. The varieties are not selected for logistics, but for what they deliver on the plate.
Late summer and autumn (September to November)
The latter part of the season feels different. The package becomes denser, earthier, and carries the light of a shortening day.
What to expect in a Flevoland package these months:
- Pumpkins in varieties: Hokkaido, butternut, butternut, butternut
- Storage potato in different varieties
- Store onions, shallots and garlic from summer harvest
- Parsnips and parsley root
- Celeriac and kohlrabi
- Various cabbages: pointed cabbage, palm cabbage, savoy, red cabbage and kale
- Chicory and corn salad
- Carrots and beets from post-harvest
- Late apples and pears
- Walnuts and hazelnuts in October
Pumpkin deserves a separate mention. A Hokkaido grown in healthy soil and ripened when harvested tastes like chestnut, not the watery tuber from a shelf. You’ll notice that difference as soon as you roast it or draw soup from it.
Forgotten varieties you won’t find in the supermarket
One of the best things about a local regenerative package is meeting vegetables that have disappeared from the collective menu.
Ice herb, for example. A shimmering herbaceous leaf with naturally salty crystals. A guest recently told me, “I didn’t even know ice herb existed, but now I eat it with every salad. That crunch surprises everyone at the table.” The kind of comment we hear more often once people turn in a few weeks into the season.
Other varieties that may appear in our packages:
- Salsify, once standard on the Dutch winter table
- Jerusalem artichoke, also called Jerusalem artichoke, with a sweet nutty flavor
- Vitelotte and other old potato varieties, with deep purple flesh and nutty flavor
- Gold beet and Chioggia beet, with distinctive pinkish-white rings in the cross section
- Good Henry, a wild spinach growing on the forest edge
- Cardoon, family of the artichoke
- Heritage zucchinis, yellow and round, that you won’t find in any supermarket chain
With each package, we send a handful of recipes along by email. This is not an extra service, but what makes the package useful alongside your regular weekly groceries. Especially for vegetables you don’t immediately know what to do with, it helps to get concrete suggestions. Many package holders let us know that these recipes have changed the way they cook.
What makes a vegetable package from Flevoland different
The difference with a large, national package subscription is not just in the distance from the land to your kitchen. It’s in how the vegetables are grown.
Research shows that vegetables on healthy, regeneratively managed soil achieve higher nutritional value than vegetables on depleted farmland. American professor of soil science David Montgomery’ s work describes measurable differences in minerals and plant phytonutrients between regeneratively and conventionally grown crops. The soil does the work, not just the seed.
Practically, this means that the flavor is more intense and a smaller serving can give more than a large serving of watery vegetables. It’s not a claim we came up with ourselves. It’s something you’re going to notice once you join us for a few weeks.
On top of that, our soil is PFAS-free and we work without pesticides or fertilizers. What you taste comes straight from the land, with all the flavors and minerals the soil provides us.
How it works at Yūgen Forest
The season runs from May 29 through November 27. Every Friday you pick up your package on location between 09:30 and 18:00, in Dronten. We work with three sizes of vegetable packages: a small package, a normal package and a trial package of four Fridays in June for those who want to get acquainted first without committing to an entire season.
For each package size, we have three price levels. Not as a sales trick, but because we want everyone to be able to eat according to their means. Each week you will receive an email with updates from the garden and recipes with that week’s vegetables.
What you pay directly benefits the regenerative development of the nature reserve and our social goals. Eating with us is literally participating in making a piece of Flevoland’s landscape richer.
Want to see where your vegetables come from first? At our monthly open house in high season, our regenerative farmer will take you through the garden farm. Past the no-dig beds, the deep-mulch garden and the greenhouses, with all his stories of what goes right and what goes wrong.
Frequently Asked Questions
On average, what is in a Yūgen vegetable package?
Four to six varieties of seasonal vegetables, sometimes supplemented by herbs or fruit. What is in them depends on what is ripe that week at the garden farm. No two packages are exactly alike.
What is the difference between an organic and a regenerative vegetable package?
Organic cultivation excludes chemical control and fertilizers. Regenerative cultivation goes further and actively engages in enriching the soil and enhancing biodiversity, with principles from permaculture and agroecology. The soil becomes more fertile each year rather than more barren.
When can I order a vegetable package from Yūgen Forest?
The season runs from May 29 to Nov. 27. You can sign up for the entire season or for the trial package of four Fridays in June. Outside of this season we do not deliver packages, then the country rests.
Where do I pick up my vegetable package?
On location at Yūgen Forest in Dronten, every Friday between 09:30 and 18:00. A half-hour drive from Lelystad, Kampen and Zwolle
Do I get recipes with my vegetable packet?
Yes. Each week you will receive recipe suggestions by e-mail with the vegetables in your package, especially for the lesser-known varieties. Many package holders report that this has made them cook differently.
Eating with the rhythm of nature
A regenerative vegetable package from Flevoland changes a little more than just your weekly menu. It brings the season back to your plate and lets you taste what regeneratively grown vegetables really are. Sometimes confronting, more often surprising, and always closer to where you live than you thought.
Want to taste it for yourself? Check out the vegetable packages and sign-up options, or plan a visit to the garden at one of the open days. Then see where your vegetables come from and who you eat with.
