There is an amazing feeling that comes along with those words. The knowledge that you can have complete control over your food. I have been thinking a lot about it lately. It has been hard not being able to have a proper garden this year. We moved at the exact wrong time. Thanks to the hard work and dedication of my wonderful husband we did manage to get it together in time to squeak out some greens. Oh the joy of watching those little sproutlettes grow! I am already dreaming of next years plantings! Thanks to good neighbors and friends we were able to raid their gardens and have a little bit of homegrown goodness to enjoy too. That has helped tremendously.
Being in a new place we are learning new things about our surrounding every day. A couple of weeks Katie was out helping Matt in his attempt to keep the critters out of the garage this winter. She came running into the house, "mama, mama I found some new Buckeyes! Come and see!" What she found it turns out are chestnuts! There are two large chestnut trees by the back of the garage. She started collecting them in her little basket which is one of her great joys in life. Gathering. We roasted a few so she could try them. She kinda likes them she says. I too was excited because there is free food growing right over out heads! Oh and they are so good!
Though our stash is slim this year I am feeling very grateful. Grateful to be part of the process. Grateful to have my dreams coming into reality. Lucky that we are not squirrels. We can run to Kroger if we run out of food. Our survival does not depend on gathering and storing. But there is much to learn from them. Hopefully next year we find ourselves much more squirrel like.
