SEASONAL COOKING

Cooking through the seasons can be as much an adventure as it is rewarding.  There is nothing better than going to your local farmers market and finding all the fresh regional fruits and vegetables.  The taste of these local treasures are beyond belief.  Why would you want to eat out of cans and boxes your entire life?  Thats what so many people do.

I remember my senior year of high school I decided to join the “Home Economics” class.  I figured after my grandpa Cecil told me to learn how to cook, clean and take care of a house because you never know if you’ll have someone to do it for you.  Yea, my grandpa grew up in the era of the women taking care of the house and tending to the family.  He and grandma Cortie are from the hills of Kentucky, and of course things were a lot different back then.

Well the class I took planned a field trip to a local farm.  Now the town I grew up in during high school was not the smallest around, but it was not Mayberry.  Of course I grew up in Wapakoneta, and yes at that time it was like Mayberry there.  Well when we got to the farm, I could not believe what I heard.  Nobody in my class realized that this is where the food they ate came from.  Yes, they thought that milk and eggs and chicken and beef came from the grocery store.  That was the extent of it.  I guess I stood out a little bit when I was able to show them how to milk a cow and bottle feed the calfs.

But back to the seasonal and local cooking.  There are so many fresh items you can find locally.  From vegetables and fruits, to nuts, berries and herbs.  Some of those things you can grow in your own back yard too.  Herbs fit right into flower beds or in pots on the patio.  A cucumber or zuchini vine looks great growing over a trellis or arch in your yard. A tomato plant can be grown in a container on your patio/deck, or even now in hanging baskets, upside down on your balcony.  There are so many ways and places to grow fresh home grown foods of your own.  So get out there and find locally grown at the farmers market or in your own back yard.