Summer’s Bounty

I don’t know about you, but when I go shopping and I see the fresh summer vegetables and fruits that are available this time of year, I can’t resist. When I get the selected purchases to my kitchen, that is when the work begins! I wash, cut, and prepare the various fruits and vegetables for my freezer. The freezer is my best friend!

In the old days when my mother had a garden, that was just the beginning. She had to pick, clean, cut, and prepare the vegetables for canning— there was no freezer to preserve the summer’s bounty. Also, there was no air conditioning to cool the kitchen. She and my grandmother would stand in that hot kitchen for days at a time, canning with that big pressure cooker. Then the many jars of food would be stored in the cellar where they would stay cool and protected from our Texas heat. Then, we had home-grown vegetables and fruits all year.

I know that we all shop out of town once in a while, but have you considered what we actually have in our little north Texas town? In my opinion, we have the greatest small town grocery in all of Texas! I am thankful every day for the Stewart family who strive to make our local grocery ‘one of a kind’ in our relatively rural area.

“Thank you, Stewart family,” for being there and providing our “small town USA” with the best!

I think about how blessed we are as Americans. We have an abundance of everything that we may desire. That may be the foods we have, or the availability of products of every kind. The Europeans who traveled to the US for the “World Cup” fell in love with America—the food, and were amazed at the abundance of everything!

We are a blessed country. We have the choice to get in our car and travel across the states, or take a plane trip across the world.

Note: Don’t put me on the list for a plane trip to Australia! Europe or Hawaii is one thing, but any farther than that is too far!

Enjoy the last days of summer, and of course… summer’s bounty!