We like to eat salsa.
We like to eat healthy things.
We like to make healthy things to eat.
Mid August is tomato time here in Southern Ontario. Real Tomatoes. The kind that are allowed to ripen on the vine because they are not traveling thousands of miles on a truck before being eaten.
A few days ago I checked my calendar and realized the window for salsa making was becoming increasingly narrower. So, I took myself to the farm market and picked up a bushel and a half of tomatoes and the rest of the fixins for making salsa.
It’s a lot of work but the rewards are great, not to mention delicious. Gather a few loved ones and/or friends and get set up. More people working together make the work being done a whole lot of fun. A couple of years ago I invited 6 friends to come to my house after church on Sunday afternoon and bring with them, 6 jars each. I provided the tomatoes and “innards” of the salsa and we had a salsa making party.
When I was a young lass, my mama, Nano, canned and froze and “put up” all kinds and sorts of preserves. Back in the 60’s and 70’s we could only get fruit when it was actually in season. That season was relatively short. Because of Nano’s hard work and love of cooking and preserving, we had fruit the year round. Peaches, plums, cherries, apricots, strawberry jam, strawberry rhubarb jam, raspberry jam, saskatoon jam, relish, apple pies…well I could go on and on.
I remember the smells of vinegar and onions and the sounds of snapping sealing lids. It wasn’t exactly special for me at the time. It just was. These were the sights and sounds of home. The smell and sound of love. Of care. Of family. Of community. I cannot remember my mother ever, (I know that is quite a commitment to say EVER or NEVER. But I say it without an ounce of hyperbole) sighing or moaning or whining or wishing out loud that it wasn’t canning season. No! She loved to do it as much as we loved having a choice, selection, variety in the middle of a cold February. I wish, I really do wish I could share with you the love of preparing food for family. It seems we, here in our society, are losing the love of providing, other than a house to live in and a meal on the table.
The blessing of sharing the fruit of our labour around the table is becoming a thing of the past. We are all so busy. For many, busy is necessity and not desire.
Is there any way we can change that? Can we go back to some of the goodness of the past?
Hard work and sharing together is such a good thing. I know there are different ways to care. Your way may well be different from mine.
By now you know my love language is hospitality.
Come On Over.
One day when my children were very little, my mother came to visit us.
Widowhood had struck early and heartache was to be her constant companion from that time onward. It seemed that Fall was the best season for her to leave the west and travel east. Fall in Ontario is a spectacular time of year. My firstborn proclaims each time it rolls around that it is his favorite.
My mother, wearing sorrow as joyfully as was possible given her grief at the loss of her beloved, came each September for many years and it was perfect timing as far as I was concerned. She enjoyed the season and helped me to cook and preserve the bounty we found at the many markets nearby.
The memories of childhood became reality once again as we canned and cooked. Her love of turning fresh into future deliciousness, was contagious. This is one of the reasons I love to spend hours in the kitchen.
I watched her love it.
Beware the things you love. you will pass that love of those things to those who watch.
And So, I cook and share, here with you and here in this house with those who come to visit.
Tomorrow I will finish my batch of Nano Relish. Once you taste Nano relish, the green stuff you get in the jars at the grocery store just will not work anymore. I often make a batch every other year. Sure it takes a few hours but I figure those hours are worth spending.