It's also a fine time to start crops inside, of course, but usually I've been cooped up so much that I love getting outside and working in the garden. Often I have veggies wintering over, so this year I'm actually also harvesting some lettuce and arugula in January and February.

And let's not forget an annual gardening highlight of the season, the Northwest Flower & Garden Show in Seattle, which is Feb. 23-27 this year. I'll be speaking on Sunday the 27th about "The New Cornucopia: Secrets of Urban Food Gardening" and a lot of what we'll be talking about – I say we because my talks usually turn into a big, fun exchange of ideas, with nearly everyone in the audience contributing – will relate to the local angle.

So now let's just go over a few of the local connections to growing your own food:

The flesh-and-blood resources. These are the fantastic people we have available locally to help us with urban food gardening. From the aptly-named (and speaking twice at the Flower & Garden Show!) Jessica Bloom,, to veggie gardening services pioneer Amy Pennington, to the folks at Seattle Tilth, this has got to be one of the best regions in the nation to find engaged experts passionate about growing food. And that's just scratching the surface, of course. I'm sure you have your own local muses and experts, maybe as close as next door.

Our verdant farmers market scene. This is my own idea more than a common belief, but I'm convinced that the popularity of farmers markets – there are more than 100 of them now in western Washington – has translated into a boost for the grow-your-food- yourself movement. You see that fresh, tasty, beautiful food at your neighborhood farmers market, sometimes in trippy-looking and unusual varieties, and you talk to people about it, and you realize how easy it is to grow it yourself.

The perfect weather.Okay, maybe our weather does not always seem that perfect when it's raining relentlessly November through January, but it's just the right weather overall for growing a prolific assortment of fruits and vegetables. As I already mentioned, you can grow some greens and herbs all through the winter. If you know the tricks you can grow stuff that most people wouldn't even think of growing here, like figs and kiwis. Yes, you have to learn how to work with and use our weather – all the rain, and the couple months of dry weather in the summer. But the bounty of food you can grow is so worth it.

The rest of the climate. It's not just the weather, it's the political climate, and the social climate, that make this a food-growing mecca. A few months ago, the City of Seattle revamped its community gardening regulations, allowing residents to sell food grown on their property and increasing the number of chickens allowed per lot from three to eight, among other things. Other local governments in the area are coming on board as well. And in general, the average folks in the neighborhoods strongly support this whole concept – they're good with veggie gardens in the parking strips, and neighbors who keep bees. People love the idea of all of us growing more and more food in the heart of the city.

The environmental movement wouldn't be where it is today without the food angle. We all eat, so we all appreciate fresh and local food. That doesn't mean we all want to grow our own food, but it opens us up to that possibility, especially when growing your own is getting easier all the time. My 90-year-old Mom is still growing food on her patio, and if you want to, you can too.

Tom Watson manages the EcoConsumer public outreach program for King County. For past EcoConsumer articles for the KPLU Around the House website, go to the EcoConsumer Archives.