If you read my blog yesterday you know all about the amazing, money-saving ham experience! But, there's more to the story! For all of you deretermined to economize, you will love what happened to the leftover ham. This morning I remembered that on Saturday I needed to serve lunch to a high school classmate that will be coming here for the weekend with her daughter. The young lady, a talented singer/songwriter will be giving several songs of special music for our church's Easter sunrise service. My kids are joining her with instruments and will be practicing tomorrow. This gives me and her mom, one of my best friends from high school, a leisurely afternoon of lunch and visiting. It seems there is never enough time to catch up on all the news with an old friend. When this gal and I get together, it is non-stop talking and it seems like we each have to talk as fast as possible to get everything said until the next time we get together (she lives several states away).
There were only little bits of the ham left and so I decided to do something I've never done before; make ham salad. I rinsed the ham off, saving the juice of course!, and patted it dry with paper towels. I put it in the food processor with a few dollops of pickle relish, actually Tennessee Chow Chow, and the same amount of mayonaise. Turned on the food processor and moments later I had the tastiest ham salad ever! Wow, was it good! That took care of the rest of the ham. I'll serve it on rye bread that I purchased at a discount from the day old bread rack at the grocery store. I took leftover green beans and potatoes and combined them in the ham juice that I had saved and they will make a great side dish for the next meal. Pinch those pennies! Then I promptly got in the car and went to my favorite fast food joint for lunch! Ok, you can't pinch pennies all the time! But later I found several bargains at a nearby second hand store to make up for lunch!
With all this talk of economizing, I just want to give a blue ribbon to my chickens. They are six of the best unsung heroes around. Heroines, actually, since they are all hens. Maybe Hero-hens is a better word! Besides providing me with great tasting eggs for almost three years now, even through a molt, they do so much more here on the farm. For all of you who may not know what a molt is, it is a natural slow down process that all chickens go through if they live long enough. During this time they lose lots of feathers and lay fewer eggs. Another benefit of the birds is that they pay for their keep in egg sales as well. We waste very little around here, and they are part of the reason why. They help us with good stewardship. The ham was all used up very efficiently, but if we ever do have leftovers that get old, most often they go to the chickens. The "girls," as we call them, are usually happy to eat anything. Makes me feel good that I didn't waste food. If the scraps are fruit or vegetable peels, egg shells, tea bags, apple cores, etc. they go into the compost pile which is made up of about equal parts of what I periodically rake out of the chicken coop (another valuable by-product of the chickens) and the stuff I just mentioned. About once a year this mixture that has rotted into the nicest, richest, black, soil-like mulch is placed in and around my flowers or on the vegetable garden. Sometimes late in the summer when the garden is mostly done I turn the chickens loose in that area and let them scratch. This helps both me and the chickens. They eat the leftover plant and veggie bits that remain after the harvest and fertilize the garden at the same time. It's a good deal for everyone. I have less to clean up and rake away and they get a good meal.
Why did I mention all this? It leads to something spiritual, believe it or not! We hear so much these days about "going green." I have long believed that those most equipped to comment about the condition of our earth are the ones living closest to it--the famers, ranchers, and rural folks on small acreage. After all, if you take your living from the land, wouldn't you be the most concerned earth-steward of all? If you weren't you'd be shooting yourself in the foot, so to speak. The annual earth day is coming up soon. We will hear all kinds of ideas for and emphasis on saving the planet. Alot has to be sifted through in all of this. I recently heard some of the most outlandishly ridiculous accounts of how certain policies affected and limited the lives of some folks where rather restrictive environmental laws were passed. So how should a Christian react to all this? Well, no doubt the Lord wants us to be good stewards of the earth He has created. We talk alot about being good stewards of our money and for the last two days I went on and on about pinching pennies. Just like I was saying yesterday, the habits of our ancestors were for the most part pretty good examples of good stewardship living. If you can garden; do so. If you can hang your laundry out; do so. If not, don't get down on yourself. Don't let it all make you into a legalist. The rewards are great but even I admit the veggie garden is not my favorite and there are days when I'd like to plow it all under.
But get a larger picture and view of stewardship. Jesus spoke of stewardship in a parable and indicated that there will come a day of accounting. I think the day when we will meet the Lord is getting really close. Take a look at current events and compare them to the Bible. Be the best steward you can be of all that concerns you: your money, your land, your time, your life. But in doing any of this, do it for His glory, not just because "going green" is a popular trend right now or because the economic slowdown forces you to tighten up your spending. Our goal in money-saving should be that we then have more to give to the ministries that glorify the Lord. Our goal in careful, earth-friendly living should not be political, but rather an act of worship, (1 Corintians 10:31) a way to be responsible in caring for what the Lord has given us.
Tonight we will attend a community service in commemoration of Jesus' sacrifice on the day He was crucified. I hope you got a chance to reflect today on His love for you. Blessings, LORI
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