Locally grown produce may be the last thing on your mind during this frigid January.

But now is the time to start planning to take advantage of the amazing local products and food grow in our fair region in 2008.

How?

Today, The Herald presents a wonderful Web page collection of local food stories from a year-long series we did last year, called Get Fresh. We started the series in January 2007 with wine from Whidbey Island Winery and completed the series with grass-fed beef from West Valley Beef in December 2007.

We featured 12 local products produced by 12 local farms.

Though the series is finished, all of the farmers we featured are getting ready to produce food in 2008. As we speak, they’re building extra greenhouses, choosing seeds, ordering baby chicks and pruning their fruit trees now in anticipation of another fruitful season.

You can easily navigate our Get Fresh site (http://www.heraldnet.com/getfresh) by clicking on a food picture, which will take you to a story about a local farmer raising that crop.

You’ll also find recipes and tips for selecting, cooking and storing local food items.

Perhaps most important of all, you’ll find a “Where to buy” section with each story, telling you where and when to buy local crops in season.

Don’t miss out.

When you’re trying to eat local and with the seasons, timing is everything.

If you have questions about the new Get Fresh site or about when local food is in season, write me here.