Growing my Own

Our fourth of July tradition is somewhat different from most Southerners in that we have roast turkey instead of BBQ.  We didn’t set out to create a holiday tradition, somehow it just evolved because we like turkey and usually have some in the freezer that need to be cooked about now.  After this year we expect to be eating turkeys produced right here at home – beginning with our Thanksgiving dinner.  Our turkeys have had no hormones or medicated feed and have enjoyed fresh grass, greens, clover, etc, whenever we could gather it.

Dinner today is turkey cooked in the rotisserie with a mixture of butter, chopped sage and rosemary, onion powder, salt and pepper stuffed under the skin.  Fixings are fresh from the garden – Yukon gold potatoes, sauteed Swiss chard, fried okra and eggplant with sliced tomatoes.  Dessert is a dreamy pie I made from Hubbard squash from the garden and eggs from our hens.  No nasty preservatives in this food!

The ingredients for our dinner and the methods of cookery are much the same as one would have found in decades or even centuries past.  I routinely consult my collection of gardening treatises and cookbooks when planting, harvesting, and cooking.

Growing my squash

Eggplant in the garden

Bourbon red turkeys

Swiss Chard grown on my patio.  The wire is to keep the geese out.  They ate my kale, roots and all.