While at this stage we're still partially depending on grocery chain store produce to keep our diet reasonably balanced, we have been able to have a few meals that were either all or mostly local in content. Last night's dinner was a big spaghetti squash from an organic farm only about 133 miles away, with a spaghetti sauce made from a quart jar of our own diced tomatoes canned last year, plus bits of red onion from the above mentioned farmer. The shredded mozzarella cheese was, regrettably, neither organic nor local, and I have no idea where the herbs/spices came from. Gradually, I hope to do better. But at least the main components were relatively local, and our home-canned tomato sauce was amazing. When I opened the jar, the contents smelled as fresh as if we'd just picked the tomatoes. Tasted that way, too. It was the first time I'd had homemade tomato sauce from home-canned tomatoes in a very long while...and it reminded me again part of why we're going to be doing this in the first place. Commercially canned tomato sauce is practically tasteless in comparason...and I had both kids go back for seconds. The Huz had thirds. I dunno...was it a hit?
We finally got back in contact with our friend who raises his own grass-fed steers, and we're all signed up to buy a share of half of one, which we'll eventually slaughter this fall. So come fall the freezer will once again be full of natural lean (and safe) beef. Good thing, too. I'm seeing the amount of meat in the freezer get lower and lower; we're nearly out of roasts and hamburger, and as usual, it's mostly down to the various cuts of steak. Now I need a good source of local humanely raised chicken, pork and turkey, and I think I have a good one in mind--less than 30 miles away, too.
I found the grapevine I want, and bought it...now I just need to get its spot ready so we can transplant it soon. I know that's putting the cart a little before the horse, but I didn't want the nursery to be all out of stock before I had a chance to clear the spot where I want to put the grapevine. And whether that all goes to disaster or not, we still have our friend with the old, well-established grapevines. The deal is that we can have the grapes if we want, in exchange for a few jars of the jam or jelly we make from them. Pretty sweet deal for both of us, really.
And then there's my recent impulse buy. I was shocked to find myself actually visiting two local nurseries within the month of March. Usually, I wait until the last minute--May, sometime--and get what I can get and miss out on everything else. I guess that's why I've never seen rhubarb rootstock available before. I don't like the stuff, personally, but the Huz does, and it might be good added to something else. I've heard people swear by strawberry-rhubarb jelly. So I brought home a rhubarb root--partially as a gift for the Huz, and partially because I've been going a little crazy waiting for the first local produce to appear. The funny thing is, even after I plant this root, we can't harvest hardly any of it this year. But if we never plant one, we'll not have any next year, either, so...there's now a piece of rhubarb root awaiting transplant as well.
March has decided to go out like a lion, and after a brief hint of spring the weather has been cold and rainy with freezing nighttime temperatures for well over a week now. I dare not take the tomato seedlings outside much due to rain and gusting winds, so of course they're growing like weeds inside my 68 degree house. They're gorgeous, but they need to not get too big, or too tall. So I'm hoping our cold weather evens out soon. Great news on the water-in-the-mountains front, but here in the valley we're still waiting for the first asparagus. If that means we must eat more organic lettuce from California for another month, well...one step at a time, I guess.
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