Pioneer Woman…In a Studio!

So cooking the duck this weekend got me to thinking—I challenged myself to make as much use as possible out of the bird. I boiled the hell out of those bones for stock, and used the stock in the soup. As I type, I’m rendering duck fat in the crockpot. Even though the stock took about three hours, and the stew took another couple hours on top of that, the effort was pretty minimal. I’d put something in the stew, go do something else, come back and check it, go do something else—other than the actual deboning, I just put things in a pot.

What if I could take that level of resourcefulness and economic frugality, and apply it to everything, food wise? No wasting anything—I’d be like a pioneer woman, creatively using every bit of game her husband brought back to the wagon on their long trip to settle the west. Except I live in a studio apartment near DC. And I don’t have a husband who brings me wild game. Or a husband who doesn’t bring me wild game.

But that’s neither here nor there. I’m an alright shot when I can use a gun rest. If I want wild game, I’ll get it myself. I need to adapt to my space.

So what about an apartment garden? When the weather warms up, I can start a few vegetable plants in clay plots out on my balcony—nothing too ambitious or over the top to start. I mean, I gotta move those suckers in a year when my lease is up. I think I can handle some pepper plants, tomatoes and…whatever else grows well in pots. I don’t know, I need to do some googling.

Yay for (sort of) growing my own food!

On top of that, I’m going to compost. Or at least try. (In case you can’t tell, this is more of a musings blog, not one with a ton of research behind it.) I’ll be able to put most, if not all, of my food scraps into the compost pile where it will eventually make great food for my vegetable “garden.” It’s the circle of life! [holds up a baby lion as the animal kingdom celebrates at my feet]

I searched for actual composters online, and I think I’m going to make one on my own. First, the ones available are fricken huge. The smallest I could find was 37 gallons, and that turned out to be $300 without shipping. I have neither the space nor the cash. So yeah, that’s not happening. Secondly, all I really need is a medium sized container with some air holes.  Hello Rubbermaid and a drill!

So we’ll see how this goes. I definitely need to do some research on creative uses for all parts of food, and how to get a compost bin started, but I’m excited for the potential!!