Reality check
As mentioned previously, I have been on a kick of reading about food and eating. This weekend, I finished reading Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which chronicles her family's year-long effort to eat food entirely produced locally, most of which was grown in her own garden, chicken and turkey yard. I had already been inspired by The Omnivore's Dilemma to search out sustainable farm operations here in my neck of the woods, but Kingsolver really got me thinking. I even tentatively tested Grant.
"What if, instead of a cottage on the water, we retired to a farm and grew our own food?"
The answer was an incredulous "Ummm, no?"
Which is wise, because one of my failings (and I have a few), is a general lack of the work ethic and patience necessary to a real gardener. Every year, I plant pretty plants in my home garden, usually of the floral or shrub variety, and every year, the weeds enjoy relatively free reign in my plot of earth. I just don't have the passion to spend endless hours digging and tilling and weeding, even when it means beauty and/or food. The likelhood of successfully growing my own food is marginal, at best. This summer will mean a pot or two of herbs, nothing more. I really do accept this.
So, mostly, eating locally means it's me and the farmers' markets. But Kingsolver has made me realize that there just might be some things I could do all by myself. One is to take all the produce I can buy in summer and can it for the winter. Tomatoes, pickles, chutney...all of these are within the realm of possibility. All I need is a weekend or two...and maybe a friend to do it with.
But the thing that really fired my imagination is making my own cheese. Apparently, homemade cheese is significantly less lactose-heavy. I might actually be able to consume ricotta again! And make my own cream cheese and mozzarella. Cheese! I could make cheese!!!
Honestly, if I can make candles, I should be able to do this.
"What if, instead of a cottage on the water, we retired to a farm and grew our own food?"
The answer was an incredulous "Ummm, no?"
Which is wise, because one of my failings (and I have a few), is a general lack of the work ethic and patience necessary to a real gardener. Every year, I plant pretty plants in my home garden, usually of the floral or shrub variety, and every year, the weeds enjoy relatively free reign in my plot of earth. I just don't have the passion to spend endless hours digging and tilling and weeding, even when it means beauty and/or food. The likelhood of successfully growing my own food is marginal, at best. This summer will mean a pot or two of herbs, nothing more. I really do accept this.
So, mostly, eating locally means it's me and the farmers' markets. But Kingsolver has made me realize that there just might be some things I could do all by myself. One is to take all the produce I can buy in summer and can it for the winter. Tomatoes, pickles, chutney...all of these are within the realm of possibility. All I need is a weekend or two...and maybe a friend to do it with.
But the thing that really fired my imagination is making my own cheese. Apparently, homemade cheese is significantly less lactose-heavy. I might actually be able to consume ricotta again! And make my own cream cheese and mozzarella. Cheese! I could make cheese!!!
Honestly, if I can make candles, I should be able to do this.
Labels: Creative pursuits, Now we're cooking
posted by allison | 10:36 AM
2 Comments:
Ha! Animal, Vegetable, Mineral really made me want to learn cheesemaking too.
Canning is really not as hard as one would think, although it does go much easier if you have a helper. I usually do at least four or five kinds of jam, hot-packed pickles, and salsa each year. The only thing I haven't had much luck with so far is fermented pickles, but I'm determined to keep at it. I've been thinking about documenting this year's canning on my blog, since I seem to end up with someone new learning in my kitchen every summer anyway.
OK, so I am trying this posting thing for the 1st time...
Today I'm making pickled veggies in my Harsch crock! In the fall I made yummy sauerkraut, lasted through winter. After the veggies I may do kraut again or pickled cukes, which was my first venture in the crock. Those were yummy. We still have pickled garlic cloves leftover from that.
Fermented veggies are probably even easier than canning, and they give you lots of beneficial bacteria while increasing the vitamin and enzyme content of the food. You can get a crock, like I did or just make batches in glass jars. Sally Fallon's or Sandor Katz's books have recipes.
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