Feed the Food that Feeds You

"Feed the Food that Feeds You" - Jamie Oliver

I first read that quote a few years ago in one of my brother-in-law's cookbooks.  Jamie Oliver was trying to get across the concept that we need to be more in touch with where our food comes from.  It's something that I agree with wholeheartedly.  There's this disconnect that our culture has with our food, especially our meat, of where it comes from and what it looks like.  There are a few documentaries out there about the meat industry and I'm sure others about vegetables and fruit that are non-organic.  But it's expensive to buy organic, farm-raised, grass-fed, free-range anything.  And even then, do I really trust the government to regulate those labels?

 Becoming self-sustaining is a goal of our family.  A very long-term goal, but still a goal.  We want to grow our vegetables, raise chickens and cows for our protein, keep goats for milk, and buy as few things as possible from the store.  We're slowly moving that way.  We got more chickens last year for their eggs and ended up with four roosters, so we turned three of them into dinner.  We got some goats last May so we could dip our toes into goat-herding before we go ahead and start milking one everyday.  We usually kill a deer in the fall (but didn't manage it this year).  Our gardens continue to expand, so we can have more and more fresh vegetables.

So here's my latest attempt to live up to what I believe: 

A friend gave us some wild hog meat a couple of months ago.  I just now was able to find the time to grind it up. 

I'm not sure how it will taste.  It might have too much wild flavor to it.  I'm pretty sure it will taste good in a big pot of chilli, though.