Abundance

As I sit here exhausted, ten more quarts of tomatoes are on the stove being processed by the cold pack method. There's a peach cobbler in the oven; it's a recipe I found on the Internet that is new to me. I hope it turns out.

I had intended to have B.L.T.'s for lunch, but I just realized I canned all the very ripest tomatoes. Maybe I can find a couple in the garden that I missed.

Most of the peaches on my tree aren't ready yet, but I pick up the ones off the ground, the wormy ones, that are soft and ripe. I get at least half of each peach, by the time I trim out the wormy part.

Now I realize that, to you city folks, it might sound "sick" to eat a fruit that has had worms in it. But the worms leave evidence in the parts of the fruit where they've been living, so it's easy to know what part is bad. When I was working in the apple shed grading apples, if anybody saw me taking a bite out of a wormy apple (one year they changed poisons, and had a few worms) they'd actually gag.

Well folks, I grew up watching my mom, aunts, and grandmother trim the buggy parts off fruits and vegetables. So it's natural to me, and a waste not to use perfectly good food.

I doubt if I can any green beans this year, but if I do, I'll do something the F.D.A says will result in certain death: I'd cold pack them. Now, this is not something I'd advise others to do, because you'd be going against all public opinion. But it's how my family canned green beans. I'd have to talk to my sister to see how long you keep them in the boiling water bath... seems like three or four hours. In fact, I had better be pumping my sister for any of these family traditions while I am able. She and I are not spring chickens.

Yesterday I fixed up some sliced peaches, sprinkled a little sugar over them, dished them up for me, Cliff, and his sister, and put the tiniest bit of cream over them.

With the first bite I was transported to my childhood. Mother served peaches and berries this way often, with a little sugar and some cream.

Unbelievably good.

Oh, I'm freezing okra now so I'll have it for wintertime gumbo.