A VERY Local Dinner

Our meal at my FILs (Father in Laws) was a great success last night. Not only did we feed 5 adults, 4 kids and a baby (with A LOT of leftovers) with local fare, but it was all done without a kitchen!! My FIL is currently renovating his and at the moment, it is completely gutted...the fridge (working), stove (not working) and the kitchen table are set up in the living room and all the other kitchen contents are in a spare bedroom. What a sight! Thankfully the light showers that came early in the afternoon continued on their merry way, and we were able to stay outside the rest of the day. FIL slow cooked a lamb roast from Dalew's and two small chickens....that had been walking around in the neighbour's yard just the day before! I brought a potato salad, and a blueberry salad and we feasted outside on a couple of picnic tables, using paper plates (it isn't easy washing dishes in the bathtub!). Both the lamb and the chickens were moist and tender and so flavour and the salads were a big hit with the grown ups. It was all we could do to get the kids to sit and eat. They were so busy running around, exploring and playing with all the animals next door that stop to eat was cutting in to their available time!


Shortly after dinner, I headed over to see what the kids were up to. My FIL's neighbours, (I'll just call them J & E) are I imagine, around the same age as Keith and I (early 30s) and have a beautiful 6 year old girl, H. They have turned their property into a small farm where they raise chickens, turkeys, ducks, goats and rabbits with a good sized veggie plot in the middle of it all. E also raises and races sled dogs. MY KIDS LOVE THIS PLACE! When I came along they were helping H catch the chickens to put them back in their coop for the night. Cameron took me over to the turkey house to have a peak inside the window, where we were then visited by the goats. J was painting the girls' faces so I watched the mischievous trio and their antics as as we chatted. The goats I imagine would be about the equivalent of having toddler aged triplet boys on the loose! J said they get in to everything, climb on anything they can and she can't leave the car door open to run groceries in to the house without them getting in! She has a bumper sticker that says "baaa" so who could blame them for thinking it was their car? LOL


At dark, after checking out the sled dogs, we went back to join the rest of the party around the campfire. Keith's Uncle and Aunt who also raise chickens on their property, had arrived while we were gone. We sat and chatted for quite some time about the veggies, the animals, the local abattoirs, our project and a host of other topics. FIL and his siblings grew up on a farm (he actually lost his right index finger as a result of a chicken/ax accident as a teenager), so no topic was deemed unsavoury for the company. It was quite an enlightening evening and it made my desire to buy a rural property where we can raise our own animals, all the more pressing. 


For now I guess, I will have to work with Shannon D. to convince her to do it, so I can help out and learn how it's done!!


Shannon A.