On Being a
Farm Wife
(and other
hazards)
Joyce Bupp
Meat and potatoes have long
been a year-round, rural food
staple.
This probably came about, at
least in part, due to rural folks’
greater space availability and
tendency to raise animals
produce for their own needs,
along with what was marketed to
earn a living.
“Well, if you marry a farmer,
at least you’ll always have some
thing to eat,” was my mother’s
philosophy about my plans
(years ago!) to wed a rural lad
who, initially, raised pigs.
Many of our meals ever since
then have featured some form of
meat and potatoes except
when some sort of pasta reigns
for the day. The beef, and some
times the pork, is of our own cul
tivation. Chicken, turkey, and
fish come from the same place
ACt« s
of Agricultural Displays!
A 00
• Field Demonstrations
• Livestock Handling Demonstrations
• Dairy Profit Seminars
• Health & Safety Center
• NYS 4-H & FFA Tractor Operator’s Contest
• Family Living Programs
• Antique Tractor Display
• Pesticide Recertification Information
most everyone gets theirs a re
tail meat counter.
Early on, I followed mom’s
cooking methods, which in
cluded plenty of vegetables and
fruits, even before the popular
“five a day” servings of them be
came a nutritional recommenda
tion.
Fortunately, The Farmer is an
adventurous and never
“picky” eater, and will at least
sample anything you put on the
table. So we enjoy lots of salads
and a variety of garden and
bought fresh and frozen vege
tables. Our kids grew up not
knowing any better and with
out a bunch of so-called “junk”
food in the house so they
learned to eat yucky broccoli and
squash and lima beans. And to
enjoy them.
Still, it's always interesting to
throw in something new and see
what sort of reaction it generates.
“Ohhhh,” he says. “Flowers in
the salad?”
The phenomenon of eating
flowers is probably not new, just
a current culinary trend. Actual
ly, eating “flowers” is pretty
commonplace, or at least the pre
liminary to flowers. Broccoli and
cauliflower, for instance, are the
buds of flowers just waiting to
happen if we don’t first “nuke”
them in the microwave and
smother them with cheese.
Some cheery, poppy-orange
and raspberry-sherbet-pink blos
soms of nasturtiums thriving in a
comer of the flower bed were
grown in part for the purpose of
salad color, just for fun. A fresh
mixed salad is most appealing to
most of us when it boasts a vari
ety of colors and textures. Ours
often feature red-leafed lettuces,
crunchy bits of orange carrots,
chunks of pale lime cucumbers,
crisp white radishes with red ha
loes, crumbles of cream-colored
cauliflower, succulent pepper
slivers and, best of all, right now
they highlight man-sized hunks
of luscious, home-grown tomato.
Sprinkled occasionally with
the neon-hues of nasturtiums.
Which actually have a sort of
"Largest Farm Show
in the Northeast"
August 8,9, 10, 2000
Rodman Lott & Son Farm • Rte. 414
Seneca Falls, NY
*OO
Dairy Profit Seminars
Beginning daily at 11 a.m. in the Dairy
Seminar Center.
Tuesday, August 8
Finesse your Forages
Ev Thomas, agronomist with the William H.
Miner Institute
Wednesday, August 9
What employees need?
What cows crave?
Protocols for profit and productivity.
Dave Sumrall of Aurora Dairies
Thursday, August 10
Bolster your Biosecurity
Charlie Elrod, director of the New York State
Cattle Health Assurance Program (NYSCHAP)
peppery taste, if you can bring
yourself to chomp into the pretty
little things. Spring violets, the
little blue-purple ones, are also
tasty and colorful salad additions
or garnishes, as are pansies.
While we haven’t personally
tried them, tulips and daylilies
are also reported to be culinary
treasures.
Squash blossoms are consid
ered a delicacy when dipped into
a batter and deep fried, or used
as a wrapping or unusual serving
container for something like
chicken salad. That’d be one way
to keep the zucchini from over
producing those baseball-sized
fruits; snag the blossoms before
they have a chance to get away
from you.
While you might wow your la
dies’ club or stump your kids
with blossom additions to your
summer cuisine, betcha’ you
won’t find them on your local
salad bar. Lots of folks prefer
their roses in a vase, rather than
lathered with ranch or French
dressing.
But if they ever do, at least the
added color should be reasonably
priced. There would be a lot of
flower petals in a pound.
Now there’s a niche market
for some daring garden-market
entrepreneur.
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 29, 2000-B3
Breakfast Ideas
Breakfast is a great way to re
fuel your body and prepare it for
the day ahead of you. It helps
you to wake up and can even
help control weight-as long as
you’re careful about what you’re
eating. Instead of reaching for
donuts or pastries, try toast or
eggs, even a bowl of cereal and a
glass of orange juice.
Need some ideas for a
healthy breakfast?
• Bag some granola, cheese and
a piece of fruit to eat on the way
to school.
• Healthy cookies with a bowl
of fruit and yogurt.
• Peanut butter on graham
crackers with sliced bananas
and raisins.
• Instant cereal topped with
fresh or canned fruit and a glass
of milk.
• Cottage cheese with fruit, and
whole grain muffins or bread
with lowfat cream cheese or jam.
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