One Local Summer - Week 3

Shortly after we moved into our home almost three years ago, I got word that the local family from whom we'd bought pork was getting out of the hog-raising business. This would be my last chance to order pork from them, so I promptly dashed off an email asking for my usual 1/2 hog.

There was only one small problem; I'd actually ordered twice the amount of pork we could eat in a year!

Despite being a family of 6, we've never been big meat-eaters. Recently I heard the term "flexitarian" to describe this kind of eating, and I think we totally fit the bill. We primarily eat vegetarian, only occasionally choosing to eat meat. I try only to buy locally, humanely, and antibiotic-free raised meats. The exceptions are the once-in-a-while McDonald's hamburger for my daughter, a Subway tuna sandwich for me, and eating out, which hardly if ever happens here.

Anyway, I'd already placed the order and was too embarrassed to cancel half of it. No one I knew wanted a quarter hog, so into our freezer it went. Most of the meat was gone long ago, but I had a couple packages of ribs hanging out at the very bottom of the freezer. Every now and then I'd come across them, but it always seemed like too much effort to prepare.

Well, last weekend I finally worked up my gumption, found a recipe for barbecued ribs, and out of the freezer they came.

I made a quick homemade barbecue sauce and marinated the ribs overnight. A slow-cooking on the grill (about two hours) and they were melt-in-your-mouth tender.
Delicious!

I used the last of our garden-grown broccoli to make a salad. I used my favorite homemade mayonnaise recipe, using nearly all local ingredients including our own egg and Iowa-grown soybean oil. I love the garlicky bite of this mayonnaise, but decided the salad needed something sweet to contrast with the chopped spring onions and dressing. I remembered the apple slices I'd dried last fall after a trip to a nearby orchard and rehydrated a handful in boiling water. My husband and I loved how this nearly-completely local salad turned out and I know we'll be having it again often.

My youngest daughter is our pickiest-eater, and the sound of rib-meat being ripped from the bone nearly drives her crazy. She is my child who is most likely to become a complete vegetarian sometime in the future! I made homemade garlic bread - her favorite - to appease her. It worked - she hardly complained about the crunching, tearing noises the rest of us carnivores made. I used homemade bread, but the olive oil, Parmesan, garlic salt and pepper were, of course, not local.

Supper was fantastic, but now that my pork is completely gone, I need to go in search of a 1/4 hog to refill my freezer.

But this time, I'll be sure to cook those ribs a little sooner...