Thursday, July 5, 2007

Of CowPies and caviar...

you would expect the average person to know the difference between the two. Regardless of your sensibility of taste towards the caviar, I know of no insensibility of taste that would choose the former as an appetizer.

But hey, for the sake of this post, let's just pretend that there are persons who have trouble distinguishing between the two. The two main characters could be a farmer's daughter and a businessman's daughter. The farmer's daughter has been raised around cows and enjoyed the benefits incumbent to dairy production's fruitful results of milk, cream, butter and cheese. She's also made the mistake of having walked through a cow pasture seeking to enjoy the cows but not discerning where she stepped and therefore come into first contact with their waste products.

The businessman's daughter is well educated in the ways of the world, being well read and much experienced in navigating wide city streets. She also enjoys the benefits of dairy, thinks the country pastoral and so jumps at the opportunity to visit a farmer's daughter.

As the two set out for a walk across the farm and pastures, the farmer's daughter tells the businessman's daughter to be prepared for CowPies. The businessman's daughter hears this admonition as anticipation. Feeling herself quite self assured and ready for anything encountered, the businessman's daughter begins to meditate on what a CowPie could possibly be. Being a bit hungry, because walking across the farm raises an appetite, and having quite an insatiable appetite for new and appealing dishes, her thoughts go immediately to food. Moreover, accounting herself a good cook, knowing her way around both kitchens, restaurants and believing herself to have an above average knowledge of the cookBook, she begins to muse as to what type of thing is this CowPie.

Hmmm, cowpie? I don't know that I've ever had one of those. Perhaps it's a local colloquial term for shepherd's pie, but having more of a beef base rather than lamb. I wonder if it has vegetables in it like a shepherd's pie or it could just even be a cream based beef pie and crust. Speaking of cream, it could very likely be the name of a local type of dessert, because cream comes from cows. In either regard, cows are good and pies are good, so CowPies must be good. I can't wait to have one.


Unbeknownst to the farmer's daughter, all of this contemplation regarding the possible delights of eating a CowPie has been occurring in the head of the businessman's daughter. So when the businessman's daughter takes a step towards the inevitable CowPie that litters the cow pasture, landing her foot squarely in the middle of its warm, brown and gushy piles, the farmer's daughter gasps,

Oh my goodness, look what you've done! You've stepped right into the middle of a CowPie! What a horrible mess! I told you to be prepared for those.


To wit the businessman's daughter gradually recovering from her shock of putrid gush around her foot and desperately trying to extricate herself from both its stench and clinging quality, replies,

"A CowPie? That's a CowPie? I thought it was some new and quaint description of a type of shepherd's pie. I thought it might even be something sweet, like a dessert. I was so hoping that it was something good to eat!"


Sadly, the farmer's daughter knowing the faithful work it will take to cleanse and wash off the CowPie dregs says,
"Did you ever read a recipe for a CowPie in the cookBook?"

5 comments:

  1. Well done, Elle. You've illuminated the issue with wonderful clarity. May I print this and use it, with credit of course?

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  2. I don't write this to be antagonistic. Just expounding upon the metaphor a little...

    Although I have never seen a recipe for a CowPie in the cookbook my meals are better all because of CowPies.

    I scoop the CowPies out of the field and till them into the soil of my garden every spring. Because of this the plants thrive and I reap a better harvest of fruits and vegetables every year. Those fruits and vegetables are transformed into delicious meals.

    I wouldn't be able to make those delicious meals without the cookbook to guide my hands. I NEED the cookbook, but if you know what a CowPie is and how to use it properly the results of your efforts with the cookbook can be even better.

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  3. Manure is used by many organic farmers as a fertilizer due to it's nitrogen content; nitrogen being essential for plant growth.

    However, most farmers prefer pure nitrogen taken directly from the air. Why? Manure, while containing nitrogen, also contains deadly bacterias. You may recall the E. coli outbreak tied to organic spinach in 2006 which claimed three lives and sickened over 100 people.

    So, the question would be, why use contaminated fertilizer when you can use pure nitrogen?

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  4. To clarify this plot line, the businessman's daughter does not desire to garden because that would involve the work of making her calling and election sure through having the faith of believing God to give the sun and rain to make a fruitful garden grow. She only desires to feed her appetite of new experiences and actually eat the cowpie, without discernment. To wit, there is a huge difference.

    In allusion to a metaphorical expansion that pictures the redemptive nature of God to use the manure of our lives for our good and His glory--Amen! God always redeems where sin is present, man never has.

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  5. T, thanks for taking the time to visit and read and think through the allegory. May the blessing increase to discerning women, and may God receive all the glory for the exercise of wisdom.

    ReplyDelete