Children Get It! We Are All Beautiful.

Here's my daughter's story: Marlena went to Preschool in the Lincoln Park area of Duluth. She is an only child, and we live outside of town, quite secluded. We are also older parents, so unfortunately she'd had little to no interaction with other kids prior to going to preschool. She was pretty traumatized for the first two weeks. She would hide from the other kids under a blanket, and my Mom (who lived close by) would come and get her for the second half of the day. One day, about three weeks into preschool her teacher told me she had to tell me about what happened that day, and she was hoping I wouldn't be upset,(I thought, oh boy, what now?) She said they had gone for a walk to a nearby playground,and Marlena was sitting on a bench all alone. Before the teacher was aware, one of the neighborhood boys had approached her and was talking with her. The teacher was surprised after a moment to notice Marlena and this boy on the basketball court, trying to throw his ball into the net. Her teacher whispered to me as she told the story, "He was a little black boy" and watched for my reaction. I simply asked, "Did they have fun?" She kind of flinched, and said, "Yes I think so!" I went to Marlena and asked how her day was. I noticed she was not hiding anymore! She said to me, in a very excited little voice, "Mom, it was great! I made a new friend, his name is Tyrique and he has brown eyes too, and the most beautiful brown skin!" I just about cried, it was just so sweet, and so wonderful, and so pure. We have revisited that moment many times as she has grown, and reinforced the beauty in everyone. That boy took the time to approach her carefully, and share in his game. She is still playing basketball, it is her passion. And she still has a soft spot for brown skin.

Rendering Lard

This weekend we received the half pig we ordered last summer. Along with the meat we were asked if we wanted suet for rendering, and the liver. Heck yeah! Rick also asked if I wanted the feet and head, that I declined because I had no idea how I would use it. He also offered suet for the birds..oh yeah...love to feed those birds in winter!

For the first time, Mike and I rendered our own fresh lard. First task was to cut the suet into chunks and grind it. It matched my pink "breast cancer awareness" kitchenaid! Then I put a small amount of water in the bottom of a roasting pan. This was then set into the oven at 290 degrees. Directions advised 300-325 but I think my oven runs a bit hot. In about an hour it was nicely simmering at 290 degrees. I stirred it often for several hours. When the temp reached 255 degrees the "cracklins" were sinking and there was a nice layer of clear lard on top. We took it out and let it cool a bit, then strained it through several layers of cheesecloth. At this point it was golden colored. I poured it into jars (a big one for my mother the pie queen) and into muffin tins and a loaf pan. This was then put into the freezer. When it was solid I wrapped the pucks and put them into a freezer bag for use throughout the year. I've never really used lard much, but my mother makes the best pie crust with lard so I will be trying that. Also, I will use it in any recipe that calls for shortening, and for our annual one time deep fried fresh veggie night. We don't really fry much at all, but once a year we treat ourselves to fried zucchini and green tomatoes. This was a fun "back country" style activity. The birds will benefit from the rough suet that I will hang in an onion bag in the big pine tree.