Want better butter and other treats? Try making it yourself

Last week, we sat down to a meal that was as close to locally-sourced as you can get. A light, fluffy, frittata, made with fresh eggs cheerfully donated by all the single ladies in the backyard hen house, tender just-picked salad greens from the lettuce and spinach growing in wine barrels on the patio and sweet, creamy, butter we’d just churned spread on saltine crackers. It was, in a word, delicious. It wasn’t just about the food. A big part of the pleasure I got from the meal was the idea that it is possible, on a tiny lot in the middle of a neighborhood just minutes from downtown, to produce food that can feed my family. Not everything we eat, naturally, but enough to make a difference. And, to make an impression on each of us. That morning I took my old glass Dazey butter churn with the red egg-shaped top down out of the cabinet. Then I poured the heavy cream in a bowl and set it out on the counter to cure. The cream needs to be just above room temperature to churn well. Late in the afternoon I poured the cream in the churn and started turning the handle. My daughter sat at the big farm table on the patio and took turns cranking. In less than an hour later I had a big pat of fresh butter in the bottom of the glass jar. We pressed it with flat, grooved wooden paddles to squeeze out the remaining milk and set it aside. After sampling, of course. To make the frittata, we had only to reach into the basket of eggs on the kitchen work table. To make the salad we had only to open the back door and take a couple of steps over to the big pots at the edge of the patio. Then we sat down together and enjoyed it all. That was it. I would be lying if I said we manage to have that kind of experience every time we eat. Not even close. I wish we could. I wish every meal could be that satisfying.