A woodstove warms you three times

One of my son's great loves is apples. He is 2-1/2 and says "aaple?" sweetly and innocently. As if he can't remember what an awful mess we find in his diaper after a day of too much aaple.

But dried apples seem to help the problem. At least they slow him down enough that he doesn't end up eating a whole apple. Or two.

And the apples from our tree are getting soft. Drying apples is yet another thing our glenwood does well. There's something really pretty about a string of apples drying over the stove.

My wife cooked us a pork dinner on the stove the other night. It's tricky getting the stove top hot enough to boil the potatoes without overheating the oven and burning the roast, but she did a great job. It was a Loin End Roast and it is one of the best roasts we have done. It was tender and flavorful with a little crispiness on the outside that we like so much.

We were also happy about how close to home the food was. The potatoes were from our garden, same with the leeks and carrots. Milk for the potatoes from our goats. Pork from a local farm where we buy whole pigs. I think the only thing that came from away was the mushrooms.

A man said a fire warms you twice, once when you cut the wood and once when you burn it. I think I would add to that a cook stove warms you three times, for the hot meal that comes off it. and if you really want to get into it, again for the leftovers a day later.

A pig in small parts

Believe it or not, that is the better part of a pig. 105 lbs of cut meat. Not a huge pig, but not a small pig either. I didn't count anything, but there is a large pile of pork chops, two slabs of bacon, at least ten packages of ground pork and eight or ten roasts including loin end roasts. Somewhere in there is even the heart, liver and tongue. I haven't tried those before, I'll have to let you know.

We have gotten into the habit of buying a whole pig at a time. We buy it from a farmer, have it butchered and eat it out of the freezer for about six months. It is not the only meat we eat, but nearly all we buy uncooked. By buying it this way, we are able to get fresh, local meat that has been raised in a way we can live with. It was raised on pasture, no hormones or antibiotics, not chemical growth enhancers in humane conditions. We don't save any money, it was $300 for the pig and $125 for the butchering for 104 lbs, you do the math. The chain supermarket has pork loins for 1.99/lb on sale (at least they used to, we go to the store a lot less now). But, like I said, we can live with it.

Personally, I am not a raging localvore type. I think that's a fad like any of a number over the years. I still eat chocolate, drink coffee, etc. There are delicacies I enjoy that come from away. I am concerned about the imprint industrial agriculture is having on the planet and us as a species, though. So, when I have a choice, I try to stick close to home.

Along with local, I think also about the tasty bits. A long time ago, I came to realize that in our culture we are taught to only want the tasty bits. It comes out in a lot of ways, wanting only that sweet cookie, white rice, the choice cuts of meat. It becomes reflected in our bodies as we have to be forced into eating bran to prevent cancer and our environment as we have to find places to put the tailings left over from our habits. Buying a whole pig helps keep things in balance. We can't just always eat chops or pork loin as we end up with a freezer full of the other bits. It's more like building a stone wall. You have a pile of stone and you have to make the best of each piece. You can't go using all the best pieces right off, you need to spread them through the whole wall and make those other ones do in the meantime.