On September 8th I asked my readers to host picnics and to send me the results. The following is one of 27 amazing submissions, the best of which will win an entire cow, courtesy of US Wellness.
I was SO excited when I heard about your contest! I love grassfed beef and US Wellness. I’ve actually tasted their pemmican and have a nearly empty tub of tallow in the fridge.
My schedule is really full at this time of year, so the only time I had open was the afternoon and evening of Sunday, September 19. With just a week to plan the event, I had to work fast. I didn’t have too many friends familiar with the term “Grokfeast,” but many were interested in a “Primal Picnic.”
First, we found the perfect spot to hold the event. Our friend Guy has a couple of acres with woods, a pond, free-range chickens, a lovely two-seat outhouse, and most importantly, a fire pit.
We began the festivities with a walk in the woods. The funniest part was when Paul found a rubber chicken toy along the trail, probably an old dog toy for Scooby, Guy’s dog. We foraged for wild edibles and found excellent sticks for our games. After the walk, Dan demonstrated several different primitive fire starting techniques, and we had a ceremony to light the fire. It was really awesome when he held the tinder up to his mouth and blew on it until it smoked and glowed. We then played some primal games with sticks, including an oversized version of pick-up sticks (with real sticks from the woods!) and a log toss.
Not everyone was brave enough to experience face painting, but some of us had fantastic fun decorating each other! Some made a moon out of mud and others drew charcoal stripes.
Guy: “There’s some dirt on your face.”
Amy: “I know. Where’s yours?”
I wanted the feast to focus on foods that are local (or at least could be grown locally) and in season. I decided that the menu would include a wild edibles salad, kabobs, and omelets so that people could have fun playing with their food and putting ingredients together.
The ingredients included marinated venison, fish, peppers, mushrooms, onions, carrots, squash, garlic cloves, fresh herbs, and pineapple. Ok, so pineapple isn’t local, but it was a special occasion, right? If we’d have had the feast 2 weeks earlier, we could’ve had some wild forest pawpaw fruit. Cooking over the open fire was an adventure because most of us had very little experience with that.
Pat, Sandra, and I (Amy) also volunteered to make other delicious dishes such as squash and beet appetizers, baked apples, and raw milk custard. We tried to vote on a favorite dish, but they were all delicious.
We had a splendid time, with a fest fit for a king or tribal celebration. It definitely was fun, and we also had a lot of fun chasing the chickens away from the food!
Preheat the oven to 325? F.
Start with 1 apple per person. Show off your knife skills and remove the core. Place the apples in a large pan, standing upright. Drop about 20 raisins into each one. Sprinkle with a little ginger and a little cinnamon, heavier on the cinnamon. No need to measure; just give a shake or two over each apple.
Place a thin slice of butter or coconut oil on top of the raisin core for each apple. This keeps them from drying out. Also pour water into the bottom of the pan until the apples are standing in about 2 inches. Put that ruler away – no measuring! Just eyeball it.
Bake for 1 hour, no lid. This is the only measurement you should really stick to. If you leave them in longer, they’ll become very mushy, but at 325? F for 1 hour they were still solid enough to pick up and eat by hand. Perfect for a primal picnic!
Amy Conaway, Brenda Conaway, Dan DeVries, Guy Neal, John Sullivan, Pat Toolan, Paul Conaway, Sandra Nicht
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