In the Throes of Thursday-End of Summer

The Last Apple 2011.
The light hasn't shifted into that special autumn yellow, but there's a crispness in the air at night that tells me summer's close to being over. And that's all right. I love summer with it's sandal-toed freedom and long days, but the harvesting of fruits and vegetables and the closing down of the garden is a ritual I enjoy. It brings me back to the days when my grandmother was here and we'd put bright, freshly picked cucumbers into the brine, or she'd pull up the stool so I could stir the apples into sauce.

Applesauce and Dilly Green Beans 2011
I still can't bring myself to part with those canning jars, even when most of my friends shake their heads as my kitchen counter fills with pints of applesauce, dilled green beans, and jalepeno jam--all ready to squirrel away for the winter when the apple trees are bare and the green bean and pepper plants are only in the warm memories of July.
I get comments like, "We have grocery stores that are open in December, you know." My answer: "They don't have my grandma's pickles on their shelves. And none of my friends turn down an offer of a jar of anything I put up.
So just as I warned in an earlier post I'm heading into my Harvest Series Mode when food has to come together with my love of the written word--especially Grandma's recipes where her precise hand has set down the ingredients and the process that she learned at her grandmother's harvest time.
Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09
Published on September 01, 2011 05:00
No comments have been added yet.