I get a quirky thrill at knowing I have a case of Nicola potatoes from Small Potatoes Farm in my basement, along with a sack of good Walla Walla sweet onions and 50 pounds of mixed Winter Squashes. Kobacha, Acorns, Butternuts, Sweet Dumplings and Delicatta. Oh yum! I also have a good supply of Dog Patch Farm Inchelleum Garlic down there in a box and if this year is like every other year, I know it won’t want to sprout until February as long as I keep it dark and dry. My farmers grow enough for me to have some carrots ad beets

      Hanging form my Pot rack in my kitchen I see the Chili Ristras, Paprika and Ancho respectively that my Monica made me. She farms Small Potatoes Farm with her husband Wayne. It is a big farm for two not so nimble anymore people. Their last child in the nest shows no desire to farm, leaning more heavily to forging metals, so Monica and Wayne till up a smaller piece of land each year and make themselves more useful in other areas of community. I think of all this and the nature of farming and at the same time my mind turns to gratitude for my friends, the farmers, and I start seeing those chilis popping in a pot with onions and garlic and a little apple juice simmering into a delectable puree of sweet and just the right hot, for a garnish on a Curried Parsnip and Pear Soup. You know I will be saving some of that puree in my fridge for a while until I get the chance to serve it alongside a cheesy Omelet.

     I go check my freezer and finally I throw away the three year old freezer burnt Supermarket hamburger crystallizing in the bottom of it. I bought that before I knew where “real meat” came from. Real meat comes from real ranchers who grass pasture their animals for as long as possible allowing them to fatten off the land as nature intended. The closer you live to your food source the better that food is for you. Simply said, if you are a meat eater than, Colorado meat for Colorado people.

I make sure I that I have enough mutton shoulder, legs and stew meat from Oogie and Ken McGuire of the Desert Weyr Black Welsh Mountain Sheep Ranch in Paonia. I revel in the daydream that when I make a slow-roasted Mutton Shoulder, caramelizing in it’s own juices, smelling it for the 7 hours it takes to cook, that I will think of Oogie and Ken warmly and with thanks for their integrity in animal husbandry that only a few bigger, meat ranchers in this great nation adhere too.

      I never want to start the winter out until I put in a call to Sue and Dave Whittlesey at High Wire Ranch in Hotchkiss. Their grass pastured elk and Buffalo are so wonderful. I literally Jones for that rich, red, lean tasty meat when the weather snaps into the colder zones, I make Tamale Pie out of the Ground buffalo, Chile Colorado out of the stew meat and on Valentine’s Day, m man and I eat Chili and Chocolate spiced bison Tenderloin.

        The other reason I love cooking in the winter months is that Summer Cooking is just too easy! I am a cook and furthermore I am a cook who likes to cook. Summer is a fine treat what with all of it’s colorful, fresh, ripe fruit and vegetables in huge supply, but what I ask is so exciting about eating that fresh fare? Really now, all you need is a cucumber patch and a tomato patch growing side by side, a salt shaker and a moist towelette! What fun is that for a “real Chef”?