Mary Mason Campbell writes in "The New England Butt'ry Shelf Almanac," illustrated by Tasha Tudor, that, "A day in August is the day to go blueberrying. A full lunch basket, a blue sky and soft breeze, and a favorite blueberry pail are the only requisites." She goes on to say, "A farmer's wife once told me, 'Blueberryin' is just like miklin' a cow; you pull the berries off the branch just the same way.' A bunch of twenty-five or thirty blueberries is a good handful to grasp and pull with a quick gentle motion that does not tear the berries."
Ms. Campbell gives us her recipe for Blueberry Jam. . . .
For many of us Blueberry picking season is over, so I'm also including her Summer Squash recipe. . . .
In "A Time to Keep" Tasha Tudor tells us August was the month to celebrate her daughter, Bethany's birthday. But it is also her own birth month. This year we celebrate the anniversary of her 101st birthday on the 28th. . . .
The big surprise at the end of the day was the birthday cake floating down the river. . . .
Bethany's birthday celebration was delightfully told in Tasha's book, "Becky's Birthday". . . .
In Tasha's "Around the Year" August is the signaling of the end of summer. . . .
It was also a time to do some canning of summer's bounty. . . .
This concludes my year of monthly celebrations with Tasha Tudor.
The Take Joy Society is taking a break from our monthly activities as we gather around one of our members whose husband is under treatment for a serious illness.
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Take Joy!
August was canning and freezing time in our house too. For years my Mom froze fruit [strawberries, peaches, blackberries] for her basement freezer. Made jams, pickles and chili sauce. Canned tomatoes. Froze corn, green beans, asparagus, carrots. We girls were enlisted to help with various activities, although at first we were just "runners and fetchers." And sometimes, just being out of the house playing on a beautiful sunny August day was the BEST help we could give - LOL. Being oldest I would get dispatched to the little general store in our Summer cottage community, usually for another 5 lbs of sugar or a bag of salt. I can also vividly remember being allowed to pour an entire 2-lb paper bag of salt into a HUGE kettle - 16 quarts maybe - of very thinly-sliced cucumbers when Mom was making my paternal grandmother's recipe for "bread-and-butter" pickles. As we got older we helped wash fruit, "hull" strawberries, wash & sterilize canning jars etc. Pouring the liquid paraffin - very slowly and carefully - to seal jars was the ultimate task and not allowed until we were probably 12 or so, because the wax was steaming hot. I can still the admiration, awe and envy in my little sisters' eyes the first time I was allowed to do that. A real rite of passage - LOL seal jars. PS - I absolutely adore "A Time To Keep" - it's probably my favorite Tasha book overall - and I often used it for many different purposes when I was teaching, back in the day. I STILL look at it all the time actually. But I have to admit, I do wonder about the floating birthday cake. I wonder if Tasha's family actually did that? I mean, there had to be cakes that just sailed off down the stream, never to be seen again - right? How does one corral waterborne baked goods? As a kid, I would have loved this. But the practical adult I now am - sometimes - has often wondered how they managed to prevent a cake escape. Maybe the whole deal was controlled from the riverbank with ropes or some such? Anyway, something I've pondered ever since I bought the book. Have a great month!! 🍇 🍓 🍑
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me I read that Seth told someone on one of their tours that his mother only did that once. I don't know the mechanics of it or how successful it was. Perhaps that's a question someone should ask the family on their next tour! I don't remember my grandmother canning, but we always had her home-canned green beans and some other kind of bean that I really loved and cannot find the name of. They looked sorta like small lima beans but were a tannish gray color.
DeleteMary Campbell's blueberry jam and squash casserole sure look good. That reminds me I need to pick up some yellow squash at the farmer's market. The summer is flying by and I haven't bought any squash. Reading your comment above makes me think you are referring to what we called butter beans. Although I don't think I'd call them gray in color. Sometimes our local farmer has butter beans that I adore, but they take quite a while to shell. ♥
ReplyDeleteAs soon as I read "butter beans" I suddenly remembered that IS what Mamaw called them! I just Googled it and found that they are mature lima beans: http://www.thekitchn.com/good-question-2-15403 I'm going to look for dried butter beans. Thanks, Martha Ellen!
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