
My daughter with the salad that she helped to create by picking dandelion greens, viola flowers, chives and kale.
Every now and then my kids come to the dinner table really excited about dinner. These moments always make me happy, and it is usually my daughter that exudes the most positive response to an awesome local meal. She really is a special 14 year old; she will not eat processed meats, looks for organic everything and loves all the farmers market folks where she volunteers in the summer. Her brother on the other hand loves junk food and rebels against my husband and I by spending his allowances on the junkiest foods he can find. He takes great pleasure in surprising us by emptying out the veggie drawers in the fridge and refilling them with juice bags, or putting Kraft Dinner in our cupboards so that people will think we are “normal”. Hotdogs are one of his favorite foods, and he loves white bread!
Tonight was one of the rare occasions that I was able to excite both of these opposing taste forces that are my offspring. Menu below -
Barbecued Hamburgers – meat from Lambscapes farm, eggs from North Wind Farm, onion from Hanks and other non-local stuff like bbq sauce and pepper. Buns were homemade with Spearville Mills flour and a few other non-local ingredients.
Roasted Potatoes – Potatoes and garlic from North River Organics, onion from hanks, and non-local olive oil and spices.
Salad – Dandelion greens, chives, kale and viola flowers (johnny jump-ups) from my yard, cucumber from Eyking and a little non-local lettuce.
Salad dressing - Frozen local blackberries heated in balsamic vinegar with local garlic.
Hamburger topping – Blue cheese from the Wandering Shepherd and fresh basil from Hanks chopped up to a paste in the food processor. This was divine!!!!
Having cheese makes such a huge difference to my diet. If I had this last September it would have made my month so much easier! The cheese guy is really great read about him here, he is creating a whole industry around sheep cheese. This industry is something that I would like to see really take off in Cape Breton because it is in many ways an ideal place to raise sheep. Also, sheep are a very multi-use animal with milk products, meat and also wool!










