Replenished

It's that time of year again. The time when farmers harvest their corn or at least I think they do. Where else would the corn stalks come from that show up in the supermarkets before  Halloween? I'm sure that the pumpkin harvest must be going on, as well as other fruits or vegetables or grains. I know that here in Hoonah, I once again took part in ravaging the crab apple tree in front of the Abundant Life church. Last year my daughter Jen and I picked a whole slug of crab apples and made jelly. It turned out wonderful, so I thought I'd try it again this year. I was down to the nubs in my jelly supply, and even though Jen couldn't help, her sister Autumn came down from up north and lent a hand. She really gets in to the whole growing, harvesting, processing thing. She would have made a good farm wife fifty years ago. Last year was our first attempt at harvesting the tree, so I took the lessons I learned and tried a different approach this year. We still used ladders, but this time I brought a garden rake and a leaf rake to really work that tree over, and we had a tarp on the ground to catch the little rollers. It worked out really slick. I don't know why, but when I see Autumn with that rake in hand, looking at the tree, I'm reminded of the Wicked Witch of the West- not that she resembles her in any way, but the rake makes me think of when the witch was addressing Dorothy,  with her broom in hand saying - I'll get you my little pretty! Well, I can tell you, she really got those crab apples. We ended up with four or five grocery bags full, and after we made over two dozen jars of jelly, we still had several gallon bags full of crab apples in the freezer. It was quite the abundant harvest. Of course I can't live on jelly, regardless of how good it tastes, I'm not like Pooh bear and his honey. It had been some months since our last Costco order, and the larder was getting pretty skimpy, so I decided to take a favorable ferry in to Juneau and do some shopping. I also dropped in at the Village barber shop for a haircut, and down to the Friends of the Library to get my winter's supply of reading material.  They have an overwhelming number of books there, all reasonably priced. I walked out of there with twelve hard cover books for $10.50. What fun.  I believe it was Henry Ford who mentioned that if you want to be rich, you must watch how much money you spend. My friend Buffalo Bob's father put it in a true New Englander fashion- It's not what you make, it's what you spend. I'm not sure that either of them would have approved of my recent shopping splurge, I won't mention how much I spent, but it was substantial. The fact is though, I was buying enough to carry us through the winter, so I had cases of canned corn and green beans, pineapple and applesauce, paper towels and toilet paper, laundry soap and dish soap and body wash. We needed juice and cup 'o noodles and baking supplies for the upcoming holidays. We had to have razors and bleach and peanut butter and coffee, to say nothing of two new pairs of jeans and a mattress topper. Oh, and don't forget the Trident Original gum. I bought five cartons, not packs, cartons. It all cost a pretty penny, but when the winter winds blow and we're snug in our home eating some toast and jelly and planning what to have for dinner, it won't take a trip to the local store. We just go around the corner to the pantry. What a blessing!