This picture is of the first meal I made after moving back to the farm- or rather while in process of moving back to the farm. Following a contentious and drawn-out divorce, my mother was left with 40 acres, a house essentially split into 2 apartments, and no active farming enterprises. Joe and I had been expanding our farming hobby into a small business- selling to a few repeat customers and one wholesale account, but lived in town. We cast ourselves into the chaos, and moved out of the sleepy town of Roberts and back to the farm I grew up on to become full-time farmers.
This is not exactly the 5-star meal to celebrate the beginning of our new adventure, but it was simple and comforting, and the first meal of our new life.
I tossed together some leftover stewing chicken with a little bit of mayo and some dried herbs. This chicken salad went on top of fresh-picked overwintered spinach, and in turn was topped with the first radishes of the season, thinly sliced, and a dash of sriracha. In the absence of bread, flour tortillas made a perfectly acceptable substitution.
We ate this late lunch standing out in the yard, about halfway through the move. We had planted a few early season crops in the old garden weeks before, but the bulk of the planting and mulching was still ahead of us. That and the uncertainty of our markets and future was weighing heavy on us that day. Despite everything, lunch did what wholesome food always does, and made the moment a little better. Taking in nourishment can settle nerves, elevate moods, and feed more than just the body.
Standing there in the bright sun with sauce dripping into the green grass, we were once again recipients of the grace of good food.
Roosterhaven 