My rule is to eat organic foods as much as possible, or buy from a local farmer. Buying organic products at the grocery store is almost cost prohibitive for me, so if I can't grow, hunt or gather it, I'll go without.
In the past, I've had large gardens capable of producing enough food to sustain me and one another family! The current garden is too small, but it's taught me to be creative. Instead of the neat rows and fallow plots, I cram everything in side by side, no walkways, tip toe room only. Without an orchard, I've learned to scout for blackberry patches and plum trees when I'm out running. And I'm a regular at the pick-your-own fruit farms.
Monday night the kitchen was in jam making mode. Problem was that I zonked out around ten. But, I was back at it at 3 AM and I produced the equivalent of 14 quarts of strawberry-blackberry jam.
I never thought I'd say this, but I'm getting sick of pecans. I eat them every day. There's still some venison in the freezer, but the geese and homemade sausages are gone. I haven't had much time this past year to do much hunting. The only time I'll buy meat from the store is when I'm feeding dinner guests (another reason why it's such a treat for me to have company for supper!).
The coop is short 5 broilers today. Tuesday night, I did some chicken processing. The very first one went straight into the pot. I've never grown such big hens. Usually, one bird and a bounty of vegetables fit in my Romertopf. This broiler had to be wedged in!
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| Remember these from the 70's? |
The butchering facility, a.k.a. the backyard, is out of sight of the coop, I insist on doing these things quietly and calmly. I think it's bad jou-jou to mistreat an animal whose life is being sacrificed for your own sake.
The whole clan gathered. Cole attempted to help with the plucking, he quickly learned that grabbing feathers that had been scalded is not in his best interest.
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| It takes a village... |
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| Sleeping Beauty |
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| Cranberry beans |
