Ah, I'm back in Corvallis after a lovely 10-day trip back to Pennsylvania to visit my family. What greeted me back in Oregon but a big patch of HUGE green beans! Hey! Most of them were too big to use, but I stripped the vines and was still able to put up several batches of very delicious pickled beans for those wet dark days of the Pacific Northwest winter.
This morning, on a whim (and with two free hours) I decided to run to the edge of town to buy a box of peaches. They were so ripe and perfect that they ended up in the pressure canner before they even knew what was happening. If those won't cheer me up in December, nothing will. Beautiful jars of sweet yellow peaches!
Nothing like the delight of harvest season. And the blackberries are just beginning! Back in Pennsylvania, blackberries never seemed like a very worthwhile fruit. But just try the blackberries out here -- sweet and enormous and dark and wonderful.
Well, that's about as much rejoicing as I have time for now. I've got an appointment at 5:30 sharp!
