Nature's Bounty; Memories and Thoughts

I am making fig chutney this afternoon. As a way of preserving the fresh figs from one of the trees in my garden. As the aromas of figs, onions, vinegar and spices pervade my house, I remember the generations of women down the ages who have one what I am doing, preserving the best of Summer against the winter to come. I think also, of my Grandmother whose prowess at making chutneys and preserves of all kinds was legendary. I remember My Grandmother teaching my mother to make blackcurrant jelly, straining the blackcurrants through a piece of muslin tied to the legs of an upturned kitchen chair. How it took so long for the juice to strain through the muslin and the wonderful smell that filled the air in the tiny bungalow in the country where we lived at that time.

Later when I place the finished jars of chutney in my store cupboard I shall breathe a sigh of satisfaction that will echo that of all those women who must have breathed that same sigh of satisfaction and pleasure at seeing the neatly labelled jars in the cupboard.
When the jars are opened on some cold, bleak winter's day and the smell of Summer issues from the jar and my husband eats the chutney with some cheese or with a curry and says " hey, well done!" I shall smile the same smile that women have always done and feel connection with all those women who like me have made that effort and not wasted nature's bounty.