I recently saw someone talking about their food, saying, “Why do farmers need to spend so much time and effort when most people just get their food from the grocery store anyway?”
Grocery stores must have a great big manufacturing facility somewhere that takes air and turns it into all the food that you eat.
I imagine that a grocery store would be kind of like that movie,“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” where there’s just a big machine that pumps out a whole variety of foods. I don’t think that machine turned out to be that great for the humans. It resulted in weird monster food that started to attack anyone who came near it.
It would be funny to imagine this idea being presented to the young Laura Ingalls who had pretty much everything that made up her life within a few miles of where she lived. I vividly remember my mom reading the part to me about the ever impressive Pa turning a pig’s bladder into a ball for Laura and Mary to play with. I imagined what it would be like to have my toys be made out of the gut pile of my food.
It’s kind of fun to imagine what life would be like if we were only able to eat that which we, or our neighbors, were able to produce. What kind of diet would we realistically have if we imagined ourselves and those within horse riding distance making up my breakfast, lunch and dinner?
Well, thankfully for this scenario, I would still be married to my wife who can pretty much turn grass clippings into something yummy and I would have quite a bit too much milk to drink. I guess I would need to make a lot of cheese… and butter. Sounds like bottomless cheeseburgers to me!
I recently had someone visit the farm who, I’m pretty sure, had never been out of a city before. The whole visit, she never stopped exclaiming about the crushed rock road that leads to the farm. “Did you see those roads!?” We would be talking, then she would stop and say, “But that dirt road!” I wanted to tell her that it’s only two miles and that’s not bad at all, but she was pretty adamant that it was a big deal so I let her think that she was an adventurer!
Another visitor was loving that we couldn’t see our neighbors and was dreaming of living such a life but was caught up on one problem. In the midst of his excitement he paused and asked, “Do you get mail out here?”
“Yes,” I replied.
Then he asked again, “No, really, do you get mail out here?” It would seem that the reputation of the U.S. Mail has fallen since it began with the slogan “Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” I remember being impressed when watching the old “Christy from Cutter Gap” show when the mail carrier was walking through the wilderness yelling, “United States Mail!” I’m still impressed with our great mail lady who comes rain or shine, sleet or snow to deliver this article into my mailbox!
Did you know that water comes from a store too? I had someone visiting from California and he was shocked when he asked how we get water out here. I told him we have a well and he said, “Do you mean to tell me that you get your water out of the ground? I can’t believe it!”
It would seem that “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” has educated the masses! Processed nut juice and lab grown meat, here we come?! Not on my farm!
It’s great to be from small-town America! Come visit us on the farm and meet your neighbors and new friends!
Have you made ice cream yet this summer? We separated our fresh milk with our cream separator last night and this recipe was recommended to us – so she’s making it today! Sweet cream ice cream is about as simple as it gets! Without any added flavors, the natural sweetness of fresh cream comes through and speaks for itself.
Meet your farmer – Jonathan Gerdes. He and his wife run a farm-to-table raw milk dairy in Caledonia, Minn. If he isn’t in the barn, you can find him dating his wife, playing with his kids, leading youth group, or flying in the sky. Visit gerdesfreshfarm.com for more info.
Classic Sweet Cream
Ice Cream
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
1/2 to 3/4 cup granulated sugar (adjust to taste) (My wife is
trying real maple syrup! It’s going to be great!)
Pinch of salt
1.(optional step) Add all the ingredients into a saucepan, stirring to mix. Heat over low to medium low heat, gently bringing the mixture up to a low simmer. Simmer for about 30 seconds, stirring continuously until all ingredients are dissolved. Remove from heat.
2.(if you do step 1) Place the mixture in the refrigerator (covered) and allow it too cool completely before proceeding. (Roughly 1-2 hours.)
3.Transfer the chilled sweet cream ice cream mix to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
4.Transfer to an airtight container and freeze until completely firm (or serve directly from the ice cream maker).
Traditional sweet cream ice cream has just a few ingredients, and tends to freeze to a very firm set. Using high quality cream is important here, with as high a butterfat content as possible. Adding more sugar will soften the set, but also result in a sweeter ice cream.
Recipe from adamantkitchen.com
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