FOOD FOR THE WINTER

If you have read any of my posts about my favorite things, you already know that my favorite food is vegetables from the garden. I absolutely LOVE any of them....peas, green beans, corn, squash, okra, and tomatoes.....add a slice of onion with the meal, some cucumbers in vinegar, and make some hot cornbread and I am in heaven! Being a girl who was raised on a farm, I have so many wonderful memories and thought it was exciting on the days my mother and aunts would spend time under a tree shelling peas, snapping beans, and cutting off corn. I didn't realize then how much work it was....I just saw how they laughed and talked as they worked. As I got older I found out that it was work---but work that I truly enjoyed. When I married there wasn't any question about gardening....it was something that was a part of me. So each year we have had a large garden (usually with my brother-in-law). Those days of harvesting our "crops" would be times that I would pull out the pans for shelling and my mother-in-law and I would do our canning together. It would be those times where she shared knowledge with me that I will treasure forever.

As the years have passed, I no longer have my mother, aunts, or mother-in-law to share these days of shelling, etc. It's during these days that my mind goes back, and I remember the things they taught me.....maybe not in words....but in observation. There's a song that we used to sing many years ago in church "Count Your Blessings". It's on these days that I am counting my blessings for having these people in my life. People who HAD to work hard but I NEVER heard complain. People who had few material things but were rich in the things that mattered. People who taught me that it is important to sit with family and work....to slow down and enjoy life at home.

I worked at school with my daughter, Amy, last night helping her hang curtains in her new classroom. When I got home my husband had picked a bucket of peas (our first this year). He had even shelled this big bowl himself. I was thrilled....I'm counting my blessings for him today!