Measuring the seasons in Florida by produce fresh from the fields

We are harvesting blueberries and blackberries. The fridge is elbow deep in cucumbers, and our four-year-old, Maeve, eats them like apples, three in a row. The peaches will be ready soon.

Last November my husband, who is originally from Connecticut, started as an assistant professor with the University of Florida Agronomy Department, doing agricultural research just north of Pensacola. There's a community garden on the research farm, which provides us with fresh produce; so I'll measure the seasons and this new place by what we eat, warm from the fields.

The panhandle of Florida is far from Dun Laoghaire, my hometown. The land, the climate, the people; so many things are different, yet the cry of a gull or the salty tang of a sea breeze will tug me straight back to Dun Laoghaire. I am very happy to be living here, once again near the sea, after ten years of living inland.

I spent five of those years studying and working in Auburnin Alabama, three working in Blacksburg in Virginia, and almost two years in Mexico. With new things to discover in each of those places, I hadn’t realised how much I missed the sea. But last summer, when we first discussed the possibility of moving from the highlands of Mexico to Pensacola, I was filled with a renewed yearning for the ocean.

We make the most of living close to the Gulf of Mexico and the nearby rivers, springs, and nature and sea reserves. We have a sea kayak which we can launch into Escambia Bay, just five minutes from our house. We’ve spent many a Saturday messing about on the bay, fishing and watching the birds.

When we first arrived last October, we did an overnight canoe trip on the Blackwater River with old college friends and all our children. We paddled downriver during the day, and pitched our tents on the sandy banks in the evening. There we cooked dinner on an open fire, ate wild sparkleberries and swam in the cool water.

Often we sail with those same friends on their sail boat in Mobile Bay. The white sand beaches of Pensacola are 30km south of us; and when we want to bring our dog swimming, we drive 30 minutes northeast and find a sandy river beach.

The availability of fresh seafood makes me happy too: redfish, tuna and snapper caught by my husband and friends, crawfish boils in backyards, fresh oysters, shrimp po’ boys and seafood jambalaya in the restaurants.

Farther afield, there are a lot of historic cities in the southeast to explore, including New Orleans, Apalachicola, Savannah, Charleston, Chattanooga and Nashville. Just last week my brother was in Orlando from Dublin with work. I drove there and we spent a fun day at Universal Studios before travelling to St Augustine, the oldest continuously occupied European city in the US, which is celebrating its 450th anniversary this year.

Living here has its downsides sometimes. I will always miss my family. I worry about guns. The South is still a place of inequality in a country that struggles with systemic racism and a growing wealth gap. But overall we are happy. Soon this summer we will have tomatoes, squash and beans galore. In the autumn we will have pomegranates, pumpkins and pecans.

My husband loves his job, and we finally have the financial ability for me to take a risk and start a small business. And our daughter will grow up with saltwater in her veins, picking fresh satsumas for our stockings each Christmas.

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