God’s Berry Good Blessings
Summer sure is a busy time isn’t it? The following isn’t exactly an episode, but I thought I’d share a little of how our week has gone for canning and freezing.
Thursday morning Coquetta, Mommy, and myself set out for the berry field to pick raspberries. We picked and picked and picked. We talked as we worked and we had a good and profitable conversation. Finally in the afternoon we took one last look at those beautiful berries and headed home (we all have the same problem; we can’t bear to see those “perfect” berries wasted!). Well, anyway, we were all tired, hungry, hot and sticky. As soon as we had had something to eat, we started on canning raspberry sauce. Coquetta and Mommy made the sauce; I put it into jars. While they finished sealing them and putting them in a hot water bath, I packed the remainder of berries on containers for freezing. We were still working on canning and freezing when I noticed that it was almost time for prayer meeting and the house was a wreck! (Prayer meeting is at our house!) I cleaned up a little of the house so it looked presentable, and then hastened to finish my job. Just before they arrived, I took a cold shower (it was very hot outside), and then returned to help in the kitchen. What the blessing was, was that a lot of the jars sealed just as soon as they came out of the canner. The Lord is mindful of our needs even in temporal things.
The next day, Friday, brought more canning. All morning we picked cherries. We had planned to pick cherries at a farm that had them for 10 cents a pound. But when Mommy called, they did not really want us to come. We did not feel right in pushing the matter farther so we just dropped it. I had wanted to get pie cherries, so Mommy thought we would just go on to another place and pick them. In her heart she had really wanted some Bing cherries that Daddy especially liked. But she committed her desires to God.
When we arrived at the orchard, we were surprised to see that the desired cherries were still there, though high in the trees. We found ladders and climbed up to get them. After a lot of hard work of climbing trees, we got enough cherries. And then we went on to pick pie cherries. As we neared the place (the whole orchard was huge), we saw that there were two trees that were just loaded! I mean loaded! You could pick and pick on one tree and there were still more just ready and waiting for you. The tree looked like a red mass all over and I’m not exaggerating! It seemed like the Lord knew we were tired and led us to those trees where there was so much fruit and so easy to get. And the fruit was perfect—plump, juicy and red. When we where through picking, the owner said we could have them for 25 cents a pound instead of 50 cents like he had been charging. So now, they are all canned and though tired we are happy and thankful for God’s bountiful blessings toward us! God bless you all in your busy summer!