Dark Days Challenge: The Finale

This is the last week of the Dark Days Challenge hosted by The (not so) Urban Hennery.  I'm so glad that we've participated in the challenge.  It has made us much more conscious of sourcing local food, and we've taken great pride in how we've been able to feed ourselves this winter.  Even my sister, who reads this blog regularly (Thanks, Sis!) says she's become more conscious of choosing local products.  Yeah!!  So, we've got a couple of mostly local things this week.  First up, Farmer Man made an excellent cottage pie (his name, I would have called it shepherd's pie).  He made it in the SchlemmerTopf, an awesome little clay oven that's he has owned for over twenty years.  It cooks things beautifully - everyone should have one!  It's our own home-grown ground pork, the last of our onions and the topping is German Butterball potato we grew  - very golden, it's not trick photography!  It's an excellent little potato that we will grow more of next year - like Yukon Gold but a more buttery flavor.

The second meal this week was also cooked in the SchlemmerTopf.  We were gifted half of a beautiful blue pumpkin, probably a Queensland Blue or a Crown Prince.  Farmer Man took some of our home-grown pork chops, cubed the pumpkin and roasted it in the clay oven.  Baked potatoes, our own Blue Mac, accompanied the meal.  The pumpkin was outstanding - sweet and a great texture for having been roasted - not too mushy. 

Many Thanks! to Laura of the (not so) Urban Hennery for organizing this excellent winter challenge.  Check out her blog because there are so many great tips for sourcing local food, preserving, growing and cooking.  Many of the bloggers who participated are fabulous cooks, the recipes and ideas are astounding!  Have you been giving more thought to buying local or growing your own?  Maybe we'll see you blogging next year!