Sunday Lunch: Country Style

My father-in-law is a market farmer in a big way.  He grows taters, maters, corn, peas, watermelons, cantaloupes, sorghum, and a few other vegetables. 

A couple of months have passed since tater planting time this year and taters have been dug. They have been safely stored in the barn where we go and get them as we need them.  Ms. Janet and my grandson, J.T., picked a double mess of green beans that were growing in a 4’ x 8’ raised bed that we have in our back yard.  Ms. Janet snapped them and grabbed us some new taters out of the bucket, scraped them, and put them on to cook.  Later in the day the feast began, with a grand meal consisting of fresh green beans and new taters, fresh cucumbers from the back yard, also boiled fresh cabbage donated by my next door neighbor from his garden, hominy, fried bacon, and a pone of skillet cornbread bathed in real butter.  This cornbread was made from fresh cornmeal that my father-in-law makes every year.  Ms. Janet cut a fresh ambrosia cantaloupe (from somewhere in south Mississippi).  Are you hungry yet?  Well, if you’re not, you’re not from around here.  We also have plenty of home brewed Mississippi wine to drink (better known as sweet tea).  After a few minutes of laughter while Papaw Joe gave a rendition of some of his boyhood adventures, Ms. Dorothy made us some homemade skillet fried apple and peach pies.  These magnificent made from scratch delicacies were washed down with a pot of fresh ground and brewed coffee (from Dan Skinner’s High Point Coffee Roaster).

This meal was exceptional and made for a great lesson for my grandson.  He now has an idea where the food on the table comes from and how much better it tastes when you watch a seed grow into something that you can eat.  I recommend that you take your children and grandchildren and plant a little patch somewhere in your yard this year. You don’t need a big garden to teach them a big lesson.  Don’t forget to take them with you to the Farmer’s Market also and let them meet the farmers.  Why, I bet those farmers would love for you to bring them out to the farm for a tour.  It’ll be fun for them, not to mention they will get a bird’s eye view of what food looks like before the food companies get ahold of it.  The quality time and memories will last forever and I’ll bet they teach their kids some day and make their own memories too.

Folks, I believe I hear my recliner calling me, because after a meal like this, my eyes just can’t seem to stay open.

This article is written by Tim Burress, Union County Master Gardener and Farmer’s Market manager.  I live on top of Center Hill, just outside of New Albany with my adorable wife Ms. Janet along with all the flowers and some vegetables too.