red barn applesauce

melinda
sent me applesauce

all the way
from connecticut

such a treat it was

tasting the succulent sauce
brings to mind
her smiling face

i picture her
in an apron
surrounded by those glorious
McIntosh

humming
while she stirs

all the while
loving the smell
and
labor



*I met Melinda ths past September through a photography workshop. She offered to give me rides to our "shooting locations" and we quickly became friends. In the back of her car was a large pot which she told me was for the "applesauce making project" she would be working on in the weeks to follow. Little did i know then, that i would be the happy recipient of a jar of homemade Red Barn Applesauce.  The recipe Melinda uses for the hundred-some jars of applesauce she makes was handed down to her from her mother who learned how to make it from Melinda's grandmother.....a true family treasure.  The following quotes came to mind when writing the poem about Melinda and her applesauce:


"No one  who cooks, cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers. "  ~Laurie Colwin


"The simple act of making something for someone to eat, even a bowl of soup or a loaf of bread, has a many layered meaning. It suggests an act of protection and caring, of generosity and intimacy. It is in itself a sign of respect. "    ~Nigel Slater

"Year by year, the complexities of this spinning world grow more bewildering and so each year we need all the more to seek peace and comfort in the joyful simplicities."  ~From Woman's Home Companion Magazine, December 1935


*I am thankful for good food, the hands that prepare it, and for joyful simplicities.