Catholic Family Vignettes

Summer is well underway. The garden now provides a lovely variety of fresh vegetables. On the menu this week: spinach, cabbage, tomatoes, greenbeans and bell peppers. A variety of fresh herbs are available as well: basil, thyme, curly parsley, cilantro and rosemary in abundance.

We are awaiting the ripening of the many blackberries surrounding the forest. Blackberry jam, blackberry pie, blackberries and cream...

Meanwhile, though we have no fruit trees of our own, sweet cherries are on sale for $1.39 a pound. My hands are a delightful scarlet after pitting more than ten pounds. This evening I will serve homemade cherry jam with fresh baked bread. Preserving the summer harvest is such a pleasure. When snow covers the ground, the pantry shelf will hold little reminders of the bounty of our humble gardens and all the pleasures associated with these little acts of self sufficiency.