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.