I Was Martha!

Last weekend, for one day, I was Martha. Or something close to it. I canned salsa. On a farm. With chickens. I chopped fresh vegetables straight out of a garden that was bigger than my backyard. Then, with the help of an experienced canner, I turned those chopped vegetables into a pot of boiling salsa-like liquid. While our tasty concoction simmered away, we stepped outside to enjoy a cup of tea in the sun on a deck overlooking mature trees and a pond. Ah, heaven.

After transferring the completed salsa to sterilized jars, we sealed the lids (I fished them out of the boiling water using a very handy magnetic lid-lifter-thing) and then processed the now-full jars. I felt very domestic. Part of that feeling may have come from my surroundings - laundry on the line, chickens clucking happily, plants growing everywhere, majestic trees, etc. A slight departure from my everyday reality of living in a construction zone filled with dust, dirt, and dump trucks. We don't even have grass.

So this weekend, I'm going to be Martha in my own house. Today I went to the Wellesley Apple Butter and Cheese Festival, except I didn't buy any apple butter. Because I'm going to make my own! Instead, I bought fresh apple cider which I will use to make that apple butter. There won't be any chickens, but my kitchen will nonetheless be filled with the happy sounds of canning. Chanthone, my canning mentor, will surely help to avert any potential canning disasters, thereby allowing me to revel in my Martha-like domesticity.