A True "Family" Dinner

My first idea for this blog entry was something like "cuke sandwiches, cuke salad, cuke ... puke ...".

Cucumbers grow like weeds in a garden, don't they?

That was a day or so ago, before attending to my own urban garden, which had been neglected pretty much all summer since planting but very much so this past week while we were on vacation at the family estate, or more specifically, the family farm.

Of course, I refer to Kevin's family estate/farm. They are farmers, by profession and by lifestyle.

Long ago, far way in Norway, and more recently a generation ago in North Dakota, my maternal ancestors were, too. Farmers.

But the only thing my immediate family knew how to grow, and kudos to lil' bro Paul for being so ahead of his time as an urban gardener, was, ahem, a special kind of tobacco used mostly/legally for medicinal purposes. He cultivated his crop in my childhood sandbox out back by the garage. (Sorry, Paul, for narcing you out back in '87, but I really was shocked to come home from college to see that, ahem, crop in my own, socially and economically conservative, Republican, parents' backyard.)

So my in-laws are retired farmers who remain on their farm, which means 'retirement' is merely an adjective they use to describe themselves. They still have animals, although they no longer milk cows. So retirement apparently means, to them: Yeah! We no longer milk cows twice a day.

Cows still reside on property, which is awesome. I'm so glad my boys are growing up calling baby cows "calves" and not "baby cows," which I still do. Now my in-laws breed cows for their calves, which they then sell to farmers who still want to be dairy farmers.

There is still a lot of land, some of which is rented out to other farmers. On some other land, close to the house, is a most bountiful garden. Sweet corn, cucumbers (they call them pickles), tomatoes, potatoes, onions, rutabagas, green beans .. and on and on.

As a gift to their children (and their families, thank you!), my in-laws still raise a steer or two each year that become the most delicious hamburger and fine beef cuts you will ever taste. (I'm sorry, vegetarian friends; I always say, like a lapsed Catholic, I am a lapsed vegetarian ... I believe in the vegetarian diet/way of life/philosophy ... I just can't stop eating this meat!)

Last year, expressing our concern about modern farming/food sourcing, we mentioned how great it would be to get pork from a trusted source, i.e., Rodney & Linda. We ended up buying a couple of piglets (naively named by Luke & TJ -- Bacon & Pork Chop) who they fed and cared for and who, ever so slowly, became ready for market.

Which brings me to our dinner: pork chops (from the farm), beans and corn and whipped potatoes (from the farm) plus salad (red leaf lettuce, cucumbers, tomato, all from our urban garden).

The whole milk for the baby and skim milk for the rest of us, plus goat cheese to complement our salad, were all from our Trader Joe's, which, I'd like to point out, we were able to walk to, completed our meal.

Now that's what I call a family dinner!