Preserving the Kitchen

The air is hot and humid and the scent

of strawberries fills the kitchen. 

Summertime and jalapenos,

green peppers, cucumbers,

and ripe cherry tomatoes fall off the vine. 

Fresh plump figs droop on the branches

waiting to be picked.

The kitchen today is hot and steamy

with the old canning pot bubbling away. 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining…yet. 

First we whip up a specialty batch

Of strawberry fig preserves

(be sure to stir that pot often, honey). 

There’s nothing better on a homemade

grilled biscuit than fresh preserves. 

Follow up with a batch of mustard pickles

 – a very secret recipe,

oh and just for shits and giggles

throw that Okra in one of those jars,

no point in letting them go to waste.

Garlic and fresh basil

with diced onions and oregano

simmered all day long

cooks up a delicious tomato sauce. 

Twenty-six jars preserved and

my chores are done for today.

Tomorrow is a brand new adventure. 

Thirty ears of corn await metamorphosis into

Old Time Corn Relish once those ears get husked. 

Tonight I’m going outside in the heat

and pretend to be a kid again. 

I’ll find a rock and wrap it

in a white handkerchief and

toss it up in the darkened sky

and wait for bats to come diving after it.

Just so I can laugh at the thought

of doing nothing,

or something close to nothing.

©Crackerberries 2012