Tasting like farm

"Grass Fed, Whole Milk!"

My father has caught the local vision – well at least it seems like that.

On our journey to visit my sister and her husband in Hesston, Kansas, we started listening to the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver (as mentioned in the previous blog, but believe me, it's a great book so I am sure I will bring it up a lot). During the duration of the CD, my father would randomly yell out, "Grass fed, Whole milk!" His own version of the "Hallelujah corner" (that and I am sure also a solid attempt of staying awake while driving). The dairy farmer boy in him was coming out again.

I had my own agenda here. Every summer, it always seems like a battle to get cash from my father so I can go to the farmer's markets and buy local, fresh produce that our garden isn't producing. I don't know why although it might have something to do with the thinking that it's going to be an extra expense. I don't always mind using my own money for this, but it seems to be (more often than not lately) that I am always unemployed or making next to nothing. I was hoping that Sanford for would feel inspired enough by this book on CD to put up less of a fight when it comes to our grocery choices and options.

While we were in Kansas, I had the realization that all of that had changed. One morning, Dad came back from his visit to Jako Farms in Hutchinson, Kansas with a bag full of local, grass-fed products including a dozen eggs, butter, milk (Grass Fed, Whole Milk!), and medium sharp cheddar cheese. My 61 year old father beamed at his grocery bag full of goodies like a small child.

The only thing I tried at lunch that day was the cheese. It tasted like farm.

Gross.

Ideas are nice things. I really want to be a part of this moment towards holistic living and eating. And maybe it was just the type of the cheese, but I don't know why I expected it to taste like heaven because it was raised better then cheese from the grocery stores made and processed Lord knows where. I felt like I was licking the inside of a barn.

Okay, this is in no way a slam to Jako Farms but rather a big wakeup call that this lifestyle change might take some getting used to. I am used to eating unnatural things and so I might need to change my taste buds. Or develop them as my father says whenever we'd eat something we hated.

During that lunch of farm tasting cheese, Dad mentioned how it was heartbreaking to watch the farms in the area where he grew up barely make it because they were small. I've never had this conversation with my father before. I guess it was extremely ignorant in thinking that it was going to take a lot of effort to convince my farm raised parents to lean towards local choices. It's been there all along. It just time that we change our taste buds.

Or rediscover them.