The last two days at suwarrow are filled with packing, planning, harvesting and processing. Matt, Michael and Taylor gifted me with a bodacious pressure cooker that can process up to 19 pint jars at a time!
Beets are cleaned and ready to be jarred, and Maryann and I just returned from collecting two buckets heavy with elderberries. Time to pull our the big screen and spend hours combing those little berries out of their bunches and into the pot! Next comes dinners of fried green tomatoes (picture to be inserted here next week) and jars of green tomato salsa. Then apples will be last: pie filling and applesauce from our green delicious and honeycrisp trees. Then finish what I spent 3 hours on yesterday: pulling dying plants out of the garden and then chopping and putting in composter, or tossing down the side of the eroding creek bank to provide an excellent environment for volunteer and deliberate plantings. Every season has its labors of love around here. The results:
And it’s not all work and no play. Occasionally I will jump on the dirt bike and starting tentatively, enjoy the roads in a very different way. Ready to rumble:
That being said, YES! I’ve already packed for the trip to Italy. As soon as I’m on the plane for Boulder, I will start revving up for that one. For now though, I want to live in the present and enjoy the sweet, fall days in paradise, until I return in November to my island retreat.