Preserving Preserving

Wasn't it pleasant, O brother mine, In those old days of the lost sunshine Of youth—when the Saturday's chores were through, And the "Sunday's wood" in the kitchen, too, And we went visiting, "me and you," Out to Old Aunt Mary's?

It all comes back so clear today! Though I am as bald as you are gray—Out by the barn-lot, and down the lane, We patter along in the dust again. As light as the tips of the drops of the rain, Out to Old Aunt Mary's!

. . . .

The jelly—the jam and the marmalade, And the cherry and quince "preserves" she made! And the sweet-sour pickles of peach and pear, With cinnamon in 'em, and all things rare!— And the more we ate was the more to spare, Out to Old Aunt Mary's!

James Whitcomb Riley, American writer and poet (1853-1916) in his poem "Out to Old Aunt Mary's"

The multicoloured jars of jams, jellies and relishes laid out at the annual church fundraiser had my mouth watering. The combinations were amazing: chocolate and raspberry jam, peach infused with lavender jelly, hot pineapple salsa, to name just a few. How creative! How delicious! How nourishing! Thank goodness people are back to preserving the earth's bounty.