Friday night we all picked sour cherries together from a few of our trees, Papa on the ladder and the rest of us on tip-toes. It was late. Picked cherries also need to be processed.
Sean and Aiden stayed up late with me, popping out each little pit by hand, juice running down to our elbows. Pits to the compost bowl, cherries measured into the pot. Eight cups in all made into sour cherry jam.
Saturday Sean had a busy morning at church. I unloaded the deep freezer of berries and made jar after jar after jar of jam. They lined up on the counter and made happy little popping noises while I tidied the very messy kitchen.
There are still 12 quarts or so of rhubarb in the freezer and eight or so of strawberries but more room now for the cow headed its way. In a stroke of providence we have a 1600 pound grass fed cow hanging at the butchers, coming home to us in nice little packages of stew and steaks and roasts and ground to feed us all through the year. All this for the cost of the butcher.This past winter we feasted on all the venison Sean procured, our fat meat chickens from last year, and lots of potatoes from our garden and my Dad's garden. It was all basically free food and since business was slow, it saved us so much in the way of groceries as I was able to produce several free meals a week, including our eggs. By winter's end I was craving beef, steak, anything that had once moo-ed and quite tired of all the delicious venison and potatoes and chicken thought I did not complain and was indeed thankful. But God knew. I smiled to myself and whispered a prayer of thanks when Sean told me the beefy news. I suppose next year this time I'll be tired of beef, don't you think?
6 comments:
How in the wide world did you get your those pictures to look like they were taken with a polaroid from the 70's! They have a beautiful vintage tone! God certainly is very good to us and always gives us what we need and blesses us with wants as well! Love your blog...as always
i just love that- when god blesses us 'just because'. what a loving god we serve!
How amazing about the beef! We are looking into buying 1/2 a cow ourselves. Hope you have a great day and enjoy your bounty!
What a blessing. I do love to can. It's such a satisfying thing. Did you raise the cow at the butchers? We have been talking about buying a cow to have it butchered. I know prices would be different in different areas but do you mind sharing about how much it costs to butcher a cow? I am so ignorant in this area.
Oh my! It all sounds so yummy!! My mouth is watering. I have grass fed beef sitting in my freezer. I'm almost out, but loved every bite of it. Your family sounds blessed in food beyond measure.
I am certain that you will never tire of God's glorious creativity in providing for His dear children. Thanks for sharing this testimony of God's graciousness to you this year - and of your good stewardship!
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