Bacon

Around here we don’t buy bacon unless we can afford it. Bacon is a pleasure and a treat when we can afford to buy things we don’t raise or grow ourselves. It’s up there with orange juice. It’s not essential. Coffee, Rice, beans, flour, yeast, pasta come first, then wine, what I consider to be the basics, the guts of a meal. We’ve gone through most of the meat in our freezer. Beef that came from my neighbor, the steaks are long gone and only hamburger remains. We still have some lamb shanks left and bones for stock, and some dinner guests just brought us a pork roast last night that they produced! We’ve got a green house full of greens and fresh baked bread now nearly every day. So were not lacking or feeling turned out. Were wealthy in good eats, just not bacon.

I’m sitting here thinking about what I will make for breakfast this morning and I am craving bacon like the goats crave alfalfa. But there is no bacon in the larder this morning. Nor, will there be tomorrow or the next, probably not until mid April when the farmers' market starts up and we have a little extra money for a treat. But my stomach is growlin’ and a mak’n noise saying “I want some bacon!” What to do?

This craving I have makes me want to raise pigs. However I think I’ll leave that to the experts; Pork and greens, the Downing Family and Blakely family farm. That’s the last thing I need around here. I’d have every little piglet in the house spoiled rotten. There are just some animals I cannot raise but I still like to eat. I’m sure any vegetarians out there are appalled by that statement. But in regards to bacon I’ll have to wait until April.

How does a spinach Benedict sound on biscuits?