Olives

 I've been swamped with schoolwork -- up to my neck in it as I've worked to get our first trimester report cards completed.  I whittled away at them this past weekend, continued on with them yesterday evening and finally got the last boxes checked a few hours ago.  It's a relief to get that done.

Despite being up to my neck in report cards, we also managed to get the olives we picked at the Ericksons cured, freshened, and packed in jars with a brine solution.

Buttery and mild, they taste like no store-bought olive I've ever eaten.  This is quite a miracle for a fruit that starts out so hard and terribly bitter.











                                                                           

We now have 19 quarts of them tucked away in the fridge in the garage.  They'll keep for a couple of months, so we'll be in olives through Christmas.  We also have a bowl of them in the kitchen fridge that I've been visiting regularly while working on report cards.  The pile of pits in the compost bucket gives testimony to how often I stopped to reward myself as I worked.  The power of olives is a wondrous thing!