In life events, in eats, in seasons of all kinds, I relish bittersweet. But… as summer subsides, as winter readies to roll in, it's all bitter without a hint of sweetness.
Summer has a reputation for long warm days, casual clothing, informal socializing, and – best of all – garden glory with bright flowers (of course), but even more, peaches, blackberries, strawberries, corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, along with a literal plethora of sunkissed leafy greens—O, my heart!
Summer's waning days bring a knot to my gut.
How can I preserve summer not only in memories, not just in pictures or words on a page, but keep and preserve estival delights in physical, earthbound form?
It's almost mid-September. Winter awaits us (or we wait for winter) in the global north. Summer soon will depart, but there's something we can do to preserve summer's sunny bliss.
You can preserve some glorious fruit as actual "preserves!" Do it yourself, buy some at the farmer's market or the grocery store. Gift jars to everyone you know.
When days get shorter [nights longer], summer will be there with you. See smell taste the berries, the preserves. See smell taste saved preserved summer!
The sweet is back!
And in those preserves, trust the promise of another summer when winter's gone.
• Chocolate Cream Cake with Berry Preserves by Couleur
Yes, this is a way to preserve summer! We particularly preserved apricots growing up as we had a number of trees around our farm house. Later as a newly married couple we had a mulberry tree though I can't remember ever making jam. I think we made a lot of pies and mulberry soda. Last year we went back to that city and discovered that beautiful tree had been chopped down along with our old house to make way for a taco bell. :( I'm thankful our new landlord has a mulberry tree that we are welcome to go and pick from.
ReplyDeleteI love the summer garden and the farmer's market. And yes, the jam and jelly that I make brings back a bit of summer! We are blessed by the huge variety of fruit, vegetable and flowers that God has designed. (I do bring some of my herbs inside, next to a south window.)
ReplyDelete"Winter awaits us (or we wait for winter)" is somehow beautiful. Right there with you, as the rains start trickling in and winter bides its time. Thank goodness for summer mementos in jars.
ReplyDelete