Bottled memories

Yesterday I spent making cherry compote out of some of the cherries we bought cherry picking (the photos of the beautiful trees below) and blueberry compote as they needed to be used. I also made cherry ice cream and a delicious banana bread loaf with pecans and cranberries.

As I potted around my kitchen, I thought of the women in my life who taught me such things and who inspired me. My grandmother was always baking. She made the world’s best crunchies, the best fruit cake of which every year, she always sent one to us. She taught me a lot about baking and always let me help.

My aunt Hazel was so good at making stewed fruit, jams, preserves and her pantry was always laden with rows of rows of homemade produce. I remember sometimes during school holidays, watching her bottle things and silently taking it all in.

My aunt Evie too was always so industrious. She would send my cousin and I outside with a basket to pick apricots off the tree for jam, but most often we would end up sitting in the platform built into the tree, happily snacking away on apricots till we heard  “girls!? Where are the apricots?!”

It’s amazing how simple tasks can bring back so many memories. Memories that furnished a love for the handmade, the homemade…

I’m one for such tasks, they are slow but mindful and they have meaning because they are done from love. Not to mention so much healthier without all the preservatives and additives.

Cherry ice cream recipe coming soon!

1 thought on “Bottled memories”

  1. Pingback: Stewed Peaches and Apricot compote – Bonnie's GF Bakery

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