Self-sufficency is something that I am very interested in, but I know we are no where near.  However, every couple days I’ve been going out to our very humble garden and picking a basket of goodies… lettuce,  carrots, tomatoes, radish…  good stuff like that.  I picked our first cucumbers tonight and enjoyed them greatly!  The bunnies love all the trimmings and we are all enjoying the treats.  Next year I plan to have a really decent garden and I plan on working on bed prep for the next couple months of this year, God willing and the creeks don’t rise.  There is still plenty to be done and I hope to be super ready next spring to get going.

We are raising our own chickens and pork now, and our garden is doing meagerly, however it is something.  We are eating more simply, and enjoying it more.  Dinners are less meat for certain, and basic, good, wholesome foods.  We like it that way.  We save our fancy foods for the occasional dinner out.  We still love Chinese food and frankly, I’ve given up ever learning how to make it at home, other than some basic stir fry dishes that always seem a little, well, less than desirable.  I think it’s a good thing to leave treats to those who really know how to make it good.  That’s fine with me.

However, I have to say, there is something super desirable about this lovely lunch I had a few days ago…  bacon from our hog, lettuce and tomato from our garden, homemade wheat bread from my own hands and oven.  The only thing I didn’t make or grow was the mayo.  I’ve tried in the past to make mayo and I’m not very good at it, for some reason.  However… this BLT was nearly all home grown and made and frankly, it was just so good, I had to snap a picture!!!  With a nice glass of ice tea, it was summer harvest perfection!!!

Maybe one day we will get closer to total self sufficiency.  But until then… these occasional total meals are so wonderful.  And even when half or a quarter of the meal is still home grown, I think that has to be closer to true food love!  It tastes great to me!