Big Farmer

My odyssey of oversized deliveries continues. Today I got some cheese. A nice goat cheese log to be precise. I had never before realized that goat’s cheese came in the size and shape of an actual log, or possibly a tree trunk. 1Kg of cheese. That’s nearly an armful. It was accompanied by 1Kg of apples, and 48Kg of flour. On the plus side, we’ll never go hungry again. On the other hand, we can’t get to the fridge.

One thing that has been annoying me during lockdown is the constant feeling of having to be cautious with our supplies. This means that every time I use anything hard to replace – flour, eggs, toilet roll – I find myself wondering if I should be saving it instead. Saving it for what, I’m not sure. I find myself in a cycle of trying to keep hold of things, so I won’t want for them later, and as a resulting find myself wanting for them now. You’ll be pleased to know this doesn’t extend to the toilet roll.

The flip side of this is that I feel devastated if anything goes to waste. We had some bananas the other day. To be fair, I think they’d not been at their best even when they were delivered. By the time I came to open the first one, it could be bent in both directions. I was surprised it could still be peeled rather than poured.

Of course, when fruit is that far gone, you only really have one option. Make banana bread. I think we’re starting to relive some of our ancestors make do and mend attitude where nothing goes to waste and everything can be used. Banana bread is natures recipe for making palatable that which an affluent nation would throw in the bin. I suspect many of our recipes owe much to the need to make do with what’s available. Nobody eats a snail for the first time unless the chicken nuggets have run out. Cheese and wine probably stem from the same attitude. The milk’s gone hard and the grapes have gone runny? Stick them on the table anyway and tell everybody its ‘nouvelle cuisine’.

Still, I’m rather enjoying this back to basics approach. We’re trying new things out, and I get to feel all self-sufficient and rustic, which is the spin I put on feeling stuck inside and not able to go down the pub.

And if, at the end of it all, we all become better cooks and gardeners and DIY experts – well good on us. It’s nice to feel competent for a change.

And now you must excuse me. I need to go into the kitchen. The family is waiting for me to make a really big apple pie.