“Harvest will fill the barn; for that
The hand must ache, the face must sweat.
And yet no leaf or grain is filled
By work of ours; the field is tilled
And left to grace.”

— Wendell Berry

In the spring, I’m always reminded of Mary Oliver’s poem I Worried:

“I worried a lot. Will the garden grow, will the rivers flow in the right direction, will the earth turn as it was taught, and if not how shall I correct it?”

She goes on with her other worries and by the end of the poem, decides to give them up and go out into the morning and sing. Whether the earth really turns is a discussion for another day *laughs* but the premise of the poem is that we all carry a lot of worries that are not ours to bear.

When April comes and the seeds go in the ground and the landscape is brown and barren, I catch myself worrying. Will the garden grow? Will everything fill in as it’s supposed to? It’s hard for me to plant seeds, because I know something is “there” but it can’t be seen yet. Ha, come to think of it, isn’t that much of our spiritual life as well?

But sure enough, the garden grows. The flowers bloom. The cicadas sing.

As Wendell Berry reminds us in one of his Sabbath poems, the garden grows by no work of our own. We plant our seeds, we weed, we water, but ultimately our fields are left to grace. And isn’t the Lord so gracious? The photos at the beginning of this post are taken in the same spot of our garden, just 3 months apart. Our beans are growing, despite first-year soil. Our tomatoes are ripening, despite only a few hours of full sun. The pumpkins have grown, despite the chipmunk thieves. All is grace.

This past Saturday was what is lovingly known as “Greg Weather” in our house. Gloomy, rainy, moody…a beeswax candle lit and something busy happening in the kitchen. When that happens, Gregory Alan Isakov is our soundtrack of choice. We usually get a day or two of Greg Weather in July, and then it increases more and more throughout August.

After starting the dough for a loaf of rustic sourdough bread, I refreshed the flowers around the house. I feel about Black-Eyed Susans the way I feel about my morning coffee or a trip to a cabin in the woods— they feel like home. When the very first one opens its tender petals at the end of July, it is a sure sign that August is near. And that is my favorite time of year.

Our first round of cucumbers were ready to be preserved. With fresh dill in the garden and our homegrown garlic hung and cured… it was time to put up a batch of dill pickles. So I brewed a cup of coffee, pulled out the canner, and got to work.

This is our third year using Ball’s “Dill Pickle” recipe from their Blue Book Guide to Preserving (I think we are an edition behind). More often than not, canning turns out to be a “loaves and fishes” experience…ending up with more jars than we should according to the recipe. The Lord provides in mysterious ways like that.

Our Favorite Pickling Spice Blend:

2 tablespoons of mustard seed, whole
1 tablespoon of allspice, whole
2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon of ginger, ground
2 bay leaves, crumbled
2 cinnamon sticks, broken up
6 whole cloves

This year I doubled the above and added it to a jar so I can just measure out what is needed throughout the pickling season. The spice blend gets used as “spice pack” either in a reusable tea bag or makeshift one from cheesecloth, and simmers in the brine for about 15 minutes and is then removed. We also add fresh dill, garlic, and a few more mustard seeds in the jars while packing the pickles. This year I added bay leaves to the jars as well..rumor is they keep the pickles crisp. I will be trying oak leaves in my next batch, as they apparently do the same. We won’t know until we open these pickles in winter, but I’ll report back then!

While Greg sang to me in the background, I followed the soothing canning process and prayed that the jars would not break in the bath and that the lids would seal. This is our third year of serious canning, and it definitely feels less intimidating now. I was able to putter around the house and tend to other tasks while waiting for the next steps during the process.

We ended up with 3 pints and 1 quart. Our next harvest of cucumbers is already coming in and I think I may use them to make a batch of my Refrigerator Sweet Pickles. An Ode to Cucumbers. To the summer kitchen. To harvest and the golden days of August that are near!