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| A black krim, a roma and a buncha yellow pears! |
Don't get me wrong, I am NOT complaining, (I'm actually bragging) I'm just making note that I gotsta do SOMETHING SOON with all these tomatoes! I have those HUGE black krims, plus 4 INSANE roma plants, 4 of those yellow pear tomatoes, PLUS a brandywine or two, (it's hard to tell at this point how many individual plants there are! Heaven help me!). I have been handing off a bunch to my neighbors, and eating them with every possible meal, but I guess I could start trying my hand at canning by next week!
A TINY wrench in my plans, I went and got myself a lil ol' part-time job, which immediately scheduled me to work every day for 11 straight days, so I have my hands completely full right now! It will ease up soon, but for the next week or so, it might be a little touch and go. I bet a few of you have been wondering if all this "local sustainable" eatin' is possible with a JOB too, and so have I, so I am interested to see what effects this has...
So my bread making is sailing right along now that I let the machine mix and knead the dough, then I take it out and let it rise and bake it myself. It has really been fantastic, the bread is coming out great, the mess is nothing, and the effort is absolutely minimal. Of course I still have to make 2 loaves a day, because of the ravenous hoardes here at my house. Don't even ASK about the amounts of peanut butter and jelly we are mowing through....
Oh and my mozzarella making!!! (pause for a moment as I clasp my hands together, smile angelically, and look up at the sky, then slowly close my eyes as I imagine my creamy, melty, stretchy, luscious cheese....)
HUH? What just happened?? Where am I??? Oh yeah, the mozzzzzz................
Ok, I am better now... all I can say is mozzarella making has been the BEST BEST BEST discovery of this whole experiment!!! Yes I love, nay: ADORE my tomatoes! I LOVE the banana peppers and zucchini. I really REALLY enjoy fresh homemade bread made with local sustainable stone ground whole wheat flour. I love grass-fed beef and pastured pork. But oh, the mozzarella!!!!
It starts out as milk, plain boring old milk (which btw I do not really see as that boring anymore, you can do SO MUCH with it!) and then stir stir, mix mix, put the lid on, wait 10 minutes WHAMMO! Cheese! Creamy scrumptious AMAZING! SOOOOOO easy!! From cold milk to literally eating the cheese it takes half an hour!!!! LOL can you even believe it??? I would never have believed it, but there it is! If you love mozzarella, it is seriously worth it to give making it a try!
The main thing you need is milk that is not 'ultra-pasteurized'. Other than that, you can buy the items you need online, I bought a kit from New England Cheesemaking Supply Co. http://www.cheesemaking.com/ for beginners ( I have been making it twice a week for several weeks now, and if I can do it, YOU can do it!) that came with everything you need except milk, to make 30 batches. Yes THIRTY batches. The kit cost 25$ plus shipping, so about 30$ total, and I end up with about a pound each time. You can buy the things you need separately elsewhere, you just need rennet (I have NO CLUE what it is, look it up) and ummmm cheese salt (which I suspect is just coarse salt) a thermometer, oh and citric acid. Each of these items are a couple bucks or less; but the kit is nice because of the instructions, and everything including the thermometer is in there. You really cannot do it wrong! Actually, me and my kid messed up one batch, I'm still not exactly sure what we did, I think maybe my milk was too old (remember I am using raw milk, which doesn't keep beyond a few days), other than that ONE time, every batch has worked perfectly!
Ok, I will relax on the mozz tip... I will just mention that I make the MOST AMAZING grilled cheese sammitches out of it!!! Soooooo goooddddd..................
Ok, for real this time, I am done...
Here is some bruschetta I made with garden tomatoes and my fresh mozz yesterday:
So I titled this post "A few steps forward, one step back", and i am now unfortunately going to relate our step backwards....
Sigh, this is hard to write, it really is. As you know, the lunch meat issue has been the most difficult part of this whole journey for my family. Yeah, snacks were/are tough, the creamer thing, I really miss avocados. But definitely lunch meat was the biggie for us.
Dave has to pack his lunches for work, and with nowhere to heat anything up, and not wanting to eat fast food, or even being near a place to get fast food, or any other food for that matter, when he needs to eat because of his job, sandwiches are a big deal to him. We tried several things, and he has been a real trooper. The last couple weeks we had been using leftovers from dinner to make his sandwiches, but there aren't always enough leftovers, or the type of leftovers that make a decent sandwich.
We discussed the options and issues AT LENGTH, I can assure you lol! But the bottom line is he made the decision to buy grocery store lunch meat for his sandwiches this week. He is a grown-ass man, and what he puts in his mouth/body is ultimately up to him. Honestly, the thought of lunch meat turkey pretty much turns my stomach at this point, but if it doesn't bother him, then he is free to do as he pleases. He did try other options, and is still on board with everything else we are doing. So there it is.
Do I think it could have been worked out some other way? Yes; but there definitely has to be a certain level of commitment to go exclusively local, and it is not something I can ask anyone else to do. And the truth is, I am NOT exclusively local either. I buy boxes of cheap cereal here and there for convenient snacking and breakfasting for the kids, and olive oil, and my cheesemaking kit, and salt and pepper, etc. So who am I to pick and choose which things HE should be ok or not ok with? And I am not upset with him about it; we each have our own journey. I am doing the best I can at what I think is best for me (and my poor defenseless children lol) and that is all I am responsible for.
So, many steps forward, and one backwards, and that is just like all the rest of life, and it is part of the pattern that is all of creation, and I am fine with that.
"Not the fruit of experience, but experience itself, is the end."
--Walter Pater
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