Metabolic Healing

I just started participating in community supported agriculture.  My farm products have really challenged me to approach food differently.  I could tell you I love all of them but the truth is, it’s a mixed bag.  For my first time, I started small and “safe.”  I got yogurt and eggs. 

The eggs are great.  They are more expensive than the cage-free organic ones at the grocery, but their shells are thick and I know what they are fed: they actually came with a little note.

The yogurt is good, too.  It’s made from raw milk, but it isn’t as thick and creamy as my favorite organic yogurt is.  I started out draining it to make Greek style yogurt, but quickly learned that I need the whey fraction included to digest it comfortably.  Lesson learned!

Next, I got cream.  Now this is kind of funny, but I don’t know quite what to make of the cream.  It is super thick, tan in color and more than a little bitter.  It has a funkiness that is more like an aftertaste.  It’s like inhaling deeply in the elephant house at the zoo.  Grassy and beast-ey.  I had plans for an alfredo sauce, but so far I am mixing a spoonful into the yogurt with some frozen blueberries and a pinch of stevia.  I may just be used to processed food, but I miss the grocery store cream that I could sip straight upwith my berries for dessert. 

Last time the order was due, I told my neighbor that I would like to try the butter and she advised against it, saying it is very “cow-ey.”  I think I know what she’s talking about, based on my cream experience.  I have passed on the butter so far because you have to commit to a whole pound for $11.  If it’s bitter, it’ll just sit next to the cream in the fridge making me feel guilty.  (Don’t even try googling to find out what makes butter bitter.  You’ll get nothing but tongue twisters!)

Last order, I got a farm chicken!  It came frozen but I had to conjure up some chicken plans fast because it had partially thawed by the time I took it in.  I was a little sad because it didn’t have the liver included.  About a month ago, I got an organic chicken at the grocery and saw the little bag o’ giblets.  For the first time, because of the little Nourishing Traditions angel sitting on my shoulder, I thought I would try cooking them.   I surprised myself with the liver: I actually liked it!  Maybe my blood sugar was low, but I would eat it again.  Sadly, I find, my farm chicken doesn’t come with one.  I looked at the order form and saw that you can buy a pound and a half of chicken livers for $7.00.  Now, I remember liking the liver, but I am not sure I am ready to commit to a whole meal of them!  Hmmm….  Anyhow, back to the farm chicken.  I overcooked it in my flavorwave oven.  It was simply smaller than the usual ckicken and I didn’t adjust the time appropriately.  Also, it didn’t have as much fat.  When trying to eat it, G noticed a flavor he didn’t like, and he’s Asian and eats some funky things!  Indeed, it was a little more turkey-like, and bitter than the typical battery chicken, especially the dark meat.  I had about given up on buying another one when I checked it out the next night.  The broth, once refrigerated, had completely gelled.  That was a first in my three times making bone broth.  Pretty cool.  Right now, I am adding canned fire-roasted tomatoes and green chiles, ground cumin, and fresh cilantro for a New Mexico style soup.  As I’m doing this, I’m wondering why Sally Fallon doesn’t recommend roasting the chicken before making soup.  I think this deepens the flavor.  Other chicken triumphs include (tortilla-free) enchiladas with green sauce from the Nourishing Traditions cookbook.  So the jury is still out on the farm chicken.  I have become pretty comfortable with chicken in general so what I really need now is to broaden my horizons. 

To that end, I got beef short ribs at the farmers market last weekend, but I didn’t manage to make the best use of them.  I roasted them for 15 minutes then put them in the crock pot with some organic chicken broth, thyme, and a clove-studded onion.  After that, I ran out of ideas.  I ate them with vegetables and some broth and they made two servings.  That was one meal.  (I haven’t yet mentioned that a certain Asian guy, whose initial is G, has been staying at my house while his is remodeled.  I have basically been doing the same amount of cooking but getting half the mileage out of it!!!!! ) As for the short ribs, the only leftover is a lonely half a quart of broth sitting in the fridge waiting for inspiration.  All told, it wasn’t worth the work.  I am not sure I’d try short ribs again unless I could come up with a low-carb barbecue sauce, but that sounds wrong somehow.  I would like to experiment with beef more, but I am a little timid.  I really need to make sure I stretch the money and have leftovers too. 

The other things I’ve ordered so far are ground beef and aged raw-milk cheddar cheese.  Both are pretty good and made excellent components for taco salad.  I am wondering if the fact that the meat all comes frozen detracts in any way from it’s nutritional value?

As I prepare to fill out my next order form, I can’t help wonder if it is worth the extra money to get the items from the farm.  I have access to pretty good grocery items like organic, free-range, no hormones added, etc..  I can even get some varieties of raw milk cheese.  Though the conventional dairy I find is pasteurized, I haven’t enjoyed the taste of the farm cream.  (I don’t drink milk anyhow, because of it’s higher glycemic index. )  It’s probably time for me to crack the Nourishing Traditions cookbook again for a pep talk.  Either way, the farm experiment continues.  Stay tuned, because its Spring and the fruit and veggies are on their way:  I split a share with my neighbor and I am going to have salad coming out of my ears!

About the Author...

Audrey's first love is massage. She is currently a student of energy work but is always up for a new challenge on "earth school." Audrey works part-time in the food and wine industry and is in the process of re-evaluating her relationship to food. She strives, above all, to be authentic as she finds her own way to health.