The Moments we Memorize

It's that time of year again. Harvesting and Canning!
And this year, I'm even more grateful for it, because there was a point, this past spring, that I thought there might never be another season of harvest and canning -- at least not one enjoyed with the same people around me.
It's not that I care THAT much about canning... no, it was more about the time spent with my Great Uncle Carl. He's in his 80s and almost passed away from complications with pneumonia a few months ago. I remember sitting by his bed in the hospital, when he was completely out of his head, and praying, telling God that he had the "wrong little old man" and that it wasn't time for Carl to go yet. Imagine telling God who to take and not to take. I realize now, the audacity of such a prayer. However, audacity is the last thing on your mind when you're presenting your arguments to God. It's simply a plea.
Well, God, in his so very merciful and wonderful, mysterious ways, answered my prayer. Against all the odds, Carl recovered. And this spring, I'm enjoying the small moments I can steal here and there, spending time on the farm with him when I can. Things that used to be mundane, have now become special: something as simple as walking through the vineyard with him while we taste-test the sugar content of each grape -- watching his face light up when he realizes the Einset and the Mars seedless grapes are already sugary sweet in mid August ... Or just reaching through a peach tree to grab the fruit that he has nabbed from the top branches and passes down to my waiting hands, where I stand in the summer sunshine below the ladder.
I tuck away each moment, to take out and examine and appreciate later. We never know when these moments will be the end of a million similar moments. And that is the heart-breaking truth I learned for myself last spring. And time will not catch me unawares again.
Blessings, rich indeed.


Uncle Carl picks some peaches. The harvest was sparse this year, but one tree didn't give up. We scoured the branches for every peach we could find!


Several bushels wait to be filled.


Carl hands peaches to me through the trees. I'm so glad he's here with us this year and doing so well!



Asher munches on a peach ... one of his favorite farm treats!


Rhy reaches for a peach.


Rhy also loves the peaches!


Me, up on the ladder.


Gabe picks a peach.


Here I am, looking tired after the harvest, but ready for a full afternoon of canning! I put up 10 quarts of peaches, and six or seven large jars of peach jam. Then I froze another several pounds.


Here is "THE BOOK" --- my canning, go-to journal. I keep directions for everything I do, along with the exact date that I canned specific fruits each year and what I tried differently. I'd be lost without it!


After all of this, Uncle Erv generously let us help ourselves to his corn crop. We came away with over 100 ears of corn, which we blanched, sliced off the cob, and froze in the freezer. It was sooooo sweet, the kids kept stealing corn as I was working. I ended up having to just stop and fill up little bowls for them to keep them away!