I will always choose local

I usually grow a big garden -- corn, potatoes, peas, beans, squash, and the like.

This year I didn’t.

So little rain fell in April and May that it seemed a good idea to skip gardening, and concentrate on fishing instead.

I did plant a row of tomatoes and peppers, and I’m growing some pole beans, but that’s it. I just didn’t want to fight the drought. Instead I gave in.

My yard dried out and yellowed a month ago. There’s no grass to mow, but I still knock down the weeds every couple of weeks.

When I let the dogs out in the morning they kick up little clouds of dust as they race around the yard.

Things are so dry that the deer have already moved into town to browse on what little greenery remains.

But I’m not going hungry, and I still know where my food comes from.

I’ll be specific.

Last night’s dinner menu included meatloaf made with local beef and pork, peppers from my garden and onions from the Loring Colony. There were also little red potatoes, and cooked carrots from the colony garden.

For dessert, Barb made turnovers with frozen filling that we’d made last summer from apples off of our own tree.

Unfortunately, that tree appears to have succumbed to the drought so we’ll have to find another source for our pie filling next year. If the tree doesn’t green up next spring I’ll cut it down and keep the wood for smoking birds on the barbecue.

The previous evening’s meal was also locally sourced, featuring ribeye steaks from a beef raised nearby, baked potatoes from the colony, and sliced tomatoes and rattlesnake pole beans from my garden.

The night before that I had made fish cakes out of some frozen bass I found in the freezer. They were left over from a spring fishing trip to my favorite bass pond and just starting to freezer burn. Seasoned with my peppers and Hutterite onions, however, you’d never know it.

I don’t insist on eating only foods of which I know the origin. I can and do feast on fast and processed foods. I like sausage and ham.

But if given a choice, I’ll always choose local. There’s something comforting about knowing who raised the meat and vegetables I’m eating.

And I don’t mind at all if it’s not me.

Parker Heinlein is at [email protected]