Local flavor
Before the world was bloated with transport trucks, trains, and airplanes, everything humans ate was locally sourced. Thousands of scientific studies, plus our own common sense, has taught us that sourcing locally is a pretty good deal for both our bodies and the planet. While I know that winter will probably switch things up, for the moment I'm enjoying the fact that we're getting the majority of our food from local sources.
The most local source is our own garden which recently gave us lettuce and radishes and is now on the cusp of producing beets and squash. We also got an unexpected harvest of juneberries. Prior to living here, I didn't even know what a juneberry was but it turns out we've got a number of them growing in our yard. They are also known as Serviceberry, Shadbush, and—my favorite—Saskatoon.
Maybe you've heard of one or more of these names and it's just me who's late to the party but in any case, I'm sure you'll agree with me that their tiny reddish/purple fruit is a delight.
Expanding beyond the limited culinary confines of our backyard, we've been getting cucumbers from Maria, our neighbor who lives across the street. She picks them while they're still small enough to fit into canning jars so we've been making pickles out of them.
Approximately 2 miles away is the village of Viștea de Sus (we are Lower Viștea, they are Upper Viștea) where we get our milk, eggs, and cheese.
The milk comes from Norica who owns water buffalo and a few times a week Mihai gives her a call and places an order. We skim off the cream (his favorite part, not so much mine) and bottle the rest for daily coffee and cereal use.
The eggs are courtesy of Nicu and Aurora who raise chickens. They also have a veritable orchard of sour cherry trees and at some point over dinner the other week, they suggested we come pick some to prevent them going to waste. We didn't have to be asked twice.
We tried to make jam but something went wrong. The problem was likely equal parts lack of skill and the fact that the jam making coincided with the wood chopping project so the jam did not have our full attention. In any case, we now have more than a dozen jars of cherry syrup. Worse things can happen.
Just outside of Viștea de Sus there's a blueberry farm. We pass by it on our walks and more than once we talked about stopping and seeing if we could try them one day. As it turns out, Mihai knows the people who own it so recently we've been getting our fill of local blueberries.
Moving further afield, we have the farmer's markets.
There's one about 4 miles away in a little city called Victoria, but we prefer the one in Făgăraș. It's about 11 miles from us but we go once a week and load up on so much produce that we can barely carry it back to the car. I'm considering buying a rolling cart like the old ladies use. Mihai has objected on the grounds that he's not ready to look like an elderly person but I have no such qualms. Both my back and the wrinkles on my face remind me that I'm nearing senior citizenship, I'm ready to embrace it.
If you have your own garden or you live near a farmer's market (or Joan Gonzales, which is even better), I hope this week you're able to take advantage of the local produce and enjoy the flavors near you.
Thank you for reading.
Be well.
