“Sorry, Mom!”

My mother used to say, “the garden looks beautiful, Honey. But you could spend some more time in the kitchen…”

Sorry, Mom. The garden is my priority. It’s literally the first thing I think about in the morning and the last thing I think about before I sleep. But the kitchen is an essential component. The counters, shelves, and floor overflow with the supplies needed to harvest and process my bounty. Bushel baskets some empty, some full of the day’s haul, are stacked on the floor. Huge bags of salt and sugar for drying herbs and brining vegetables, and making fruit cordials, jams, and jellies, vie for space with the gallon jugs of vinegar for herb vinegars and bread and butter pickles. I often get sidewise glances for the handles of vodka I have on hand for herbal tinctures and elixirs. The rafters are chock full of baskets of all shapes and sizes that I use for gathering and drying. Two compost buckets overflow with vegetable trimmings that the chickens will enjoy. And the shelves groan with mason jars, jar lids and rims, freezer bags, parchment paper, bottle caps, dehydrator, canning pots and racks, labels…..you get the picture. A working kitchen. There will be time to nest in the fall.