Farm to Table

Hey happy hump day to everybody! Welcome back to George’s Kitchen.

I grew up in a small town named Whaleyville. It was a community full of close family and friends a real village. Whaleyville was filled with hard working folks who did whatever needed to be done to keep food on the table. Growing up my father and uncles raised their own animals and grew their own vegetables. During Harvest Time in the fall we dug up all the root vegetables, picked all the beans, tomatoes, corn, squash and peppers. We canned veggies and stored the root vegetables (turnips, potatoes, onions and sweet potatoes) in bushel baskets under the house to keep things dry and cool. Along with all the canning my dad would make the best sweet pepper relish, grape and strawberry jellies. Sometimes we would go to a place around the corner from our house and pick pears for pear preserves. I remember my Aunt Lizzy would even can bread and butter pickles that were so much better than any store brand!!

My dad and uncles also did all of their own meat processing. When it was time to process the meat everyone would pitch in to help. I remember a back yard full of people. Everyone who was helping knew their position and what had to be done. It always went smoothly. There were big buckets of scorching hot water to dip the chickens in. It helped with removing the feathers and I remember it also stunk really badly. But one thing for sure, you could guarantee that one of those fresh birds was gonna be on the table the next day for Sunday dinner. There would be fresh dumplings rolled from scratch, greens and relish. Oh and don’t forget the potato salad, candied yams and wet cornbread. That was how we did it on Sundays! There was also, Hog Killin’ which was the day we processed our own pigs. Again, everyone knew their positions. The hugest Cast iron pots (only used during hog killing) were set up over a fire. In them, scrapple and cracklin were cooked. You had ham that would be hung up to cure in my grandfather’s smokehouse, fresh pork chops, sage sausage from the family recipe and everything else you can think of that came from the pig was made that day. Nothing was wasted!

This era was definitely the true definition of Farm to Table. Everything was raised and grown NOT MANUFACTURED and it was all antibiotic and pesticide FREE! I love that I had a chance to experience living off the land and growing up in the time I did. It was definitely a blessing and has had a great impact on my life. My cooking definitely reflects my experience farming and processing my own food. I give credit to my great-grandmother Annie Armstrong who had a Native American mother and a father who was a freed slave. She was a very wise farmer and cook who is the reason my dad and uncles knew so much about farming, raising animals and preserving food. Grandmom made sure they all knew what taking care of family was all about. She also taught them how to shoot rifles and guns for hunting. My dad was known as Dead Eye Dick when it came to handling a gun.

I’m looking forward to continuing the Farm to Table tradition for years to come and teaching my children the benefits of raising our own food. It’s a lot of work but it comes with a lot of benefits like better health, saving money, and a new perspective on what it means to be a farmer.

I hope you enjoyed this weeks blog post. Cheers!

Chef Aaron Keith