One of the lovely things about this past week (and the week to come) is that we’ve been able to share the work we’ve been doing on the farm with some of our friends. A few people requested chickens from us and others are buying pork from our lovely Large Black heritage pigs. Some are sensibly buying both! Last night we had two sets of friends over, one family we’ve known for a long time and the other we’ve just met but are looking forward to more times together.
I was excited to be cooking a home grown roast dinner for all of our friends and two of our most delicious chickens went into the oven, along with potatoes, carrots, beans and squash. All of the produce went straight from the garden to the oven, a fact that was eminently obvious in the abundance of flavour that oozed from each bite. I wish I could take credit but it was the sheer vibrancy of the produce that did all the work for me.
I can’t take credit for the beautiful loaf of bread above, which was snaffled in short order with a good coating of jam as a late supper after the stars were fully in evidence. Nor can I take credit for the fun that was had by all, chatting, cooking, agreeing, learning, laughing, playing, running…it was all going on, lots of it at the same time. Of course some people were a little more excited than others….
The table was full of goodness, the house was full of happy voices, it was all that I could hope for and all the better for sharing it with good friends. As we move further along on this journey I can’t help reflecting on how far we’ve come and how much abundance this place has offered us. Not just the delicious food on our plates, but the people who come and here and delight in this place as much as we do, the ones who really ‘get it’. To share not just produce and meat, but a vision of a better way with others who believe in what we are doing, that seems like a pretty wonderful prize in itself.
Emmalina and Her Unfeasibly Large Bonnet 