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I don’t have first hand experience with anything except tomatoes, but the best (and I am very picky) tomatoes I ever ate in a cold Northern March were hydroponic. The entire store was full of their wonderful scent and they tasted like something right off the vine in August.

I bought one of these:
http://www.aerogrow.com/
Just started my cherry tomatoes in March and I now have flowers opening on healthy plants. If the crop is good and tasty, I am planning on buying another one in the Fall so I can have tomatoes and salad greens. They also have strawberry starts.

There are just two of us and I usually grow 14+ tomato plants in the garden, but even with wrapping the green ones and doing everything possible, in my Zone 4a garden I still only have fresh tomatoes from August to October.

I work full time and we have reached the age where we just don’t have the strength for full-time farming, but I do buy locally from farmers and Amish farmers. I have also finally learned to cook venison cuts other than ground. The secret to a great roast is a hunter who will butcher out the 2 round roasts and the sirloin. They are well-larded with the fat from side pork, get a 2-hr balsamic vinegar/olive oil/roasted garlic marinade and then are roasted at 425 degrees for 10-12 minutes/pound (internal temp of 135-145 for rare-medium rare, which is best, IMO) and then let stand for 10 minutes. For the cuts that I grind, I grind coarse with the addition of 10% beef fat, usually cut from top sirloin. I will have sea bass in the larder this summer and have been promised as much Alaskan moose as I want this Fall. As long as I invite the hunters to dinner, they keep me provided.

I am delighted to see people caring about their food and becoming producers. I suggest folks invest in a meat grinder and a meat slicer. I make jerky in a dehydrator. Add a pressure cooker and an extra chest freezer and you are good to go.