More and more, we are becoming reliant on the wild rather than the grocery store. We've been doing an excellent job with catching fish lately, and the garden is pumping out produce too. Moreover, the wild is just full of marvelous edibles that seem to be too plentiful to deplete. This meal is a combination of those this, and it was amazing!
The first step was fish. I actually went out bowfishing with the intentions of shooting some carp. Unfortunately, there were no carp to be seen anywhere. We want to make a video about canning carp, but I guess that'll have to wait. Thankfully, I like to set myself up for success, so I also brought a couple of metal stringers, a fishing pole, some extra hooks, and a ziploc baggie full of worms. That backup plan paid off, and I brought home a good pile of panfish which I filleted. The bluegills were impressive in size, and the red-eared sunfishes put up a good fight.
I wanted a tasty and nutritious side to serve with the fish, so I collected some kale, walking onions, cilantro, and red mustard greens from the garden. Since the greenbriar shoots are plentiful in the woods right now, I collected a handful of them too. After finely chopping them all, I cooked them in butter with some seasonings. It's amazing to see how rich these greens were!
Pinkie-Pepper (our oldest daughter - now ten) wanted to help with the fish, so I let her bread and deep fry them. When you fillet the fish, it's basically all meat, so it makes them easier to eat than when they are on the bone. Even though we had a good quantity of fish and greens, they were all tasty enough that we did not stop eating them until they were gone, and by then, we were all stuffed.
It's a blessing to eat such fresh, local food. All of the food was collected just hours before eating. Also, it was all from within a few miles of home, and most of it was on our property. Also, Mama-Pepper was very pleased not to have to cook dinner tonight, LOL! Hope you enjoyed the post!
