The week before leaving for our East coast trip, I did a major push and canned spaghetti sauce, tomato soup and dill pickles. After working all day, I came home and worked for four hours each night getting it done. One night it was 85 degrees and humid. We don't have air conditioning in our home so I set up a fan in the kitchen and went at it. It gave me some sort of kinship and connection to my grandmothers and great grandmothers who did the same while wearing layers of petticoats and skirts. They also did this without A/C or a fan while cooking with a wood stove. In comparison, my task was quite easy.
It gave me great satisfaction to handle the vegetables and watch the piles go down as I got the cutting, cooking and canning completed. This winter it will be even more satisfying to eat the fruit of my labors.
Thought for the day: The greatest delight the fields and woods minister is the suggestion of an occult relation between man and the vegetable. I am not alone and unacknowledged. They nod to me and I to them. Ralph Waldo Emerson
