Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Harvest

 At the end of autumn
these lined my mother’s shelves:
bottled apple slices
golden queen peaches
blood-red blackboys
pear halves in syrup
rich red plums
strawberry jam
plum jam
for a treat – 
apricot jam
tomato juice
tomato sauce
green tomato chutney
pickled walnuts
pickled onions
pickled eggs
pickled gherkins
beetroot pickle

She had me help pick
peel and chop
and led me to take
as given
that this was what
one did.

In my pantry
garlic and shallots
hang from nails
there’s piles of pumpkins
home-harvested honey
quince jelly
feijoa jelly
bread and butter pickle
and in the freezer
blueberries
Cape gooseberries
and sweet chestnuts
for winter nights
beside the fire.

1 comment:

  1. the wonders of a good harvest... i wish i had the time to preserve and bottle now like i did in home schooling days!
    woderful poem - i could see, smell and even taste those delicious preserves!- eileen

    ReplyDelete