Eating local

I kind of wish that our backyard was larger for the simple fact that I would like to have a huge garden.

This week I have found extreme satisfaction in eating local and fresh foods, and I would love to have even more.

I think a lot of it stems back to my frugal nature, but it's also a lot of fun to pick your own foods.

We have a mulberry tree in our yard, and Nate didn't know that people actually ate those berries. My mom used to pop some of the sour ones from a tree that used to be in our backyard growing up, so I know that they were edible, although I never ate them when I was little. I tried one from the yard, and it wasn't bad, although it wasn't a raspberry either.

However, I decided that I would try to pick some of them for the sole reason that they are free in our yard. I thought I could make a mulberry crisp or mulberry jam - if we liked it we liked it, if not, oh well. It turned out pretty well.

Then we found some wild raspberries, picked them and had them with some French vanilla ice cream. It was absolutely delicious, and I hope we can get more this season.

Last night we had some friends over for dinner, and we had quite the spread. We had a salad with lettuce from the garden, fried catfish that Nate caught, asparagus I picked wild earlier this week, rice (that I bought) and the mulberry cobbler.

Looking at the dinner, it made me smile thinking about how fresh all the food was. I felt a satisfaction yesterday, eating all this local food, that I haven't felt before. It has been a new experience for me. I love it!