I am happily in North Carolina today visitng my dear friend Margaret Norfleet Neff, who, with her daughter Salem, hosts Beta Verde, an energetic & unique enterprise in growing , cooking & sharing slow food.

Although I have been canning plenty this summer, as usual Margaret & Salem’s energy puts me in the amateur category.  Tomorrow they are taking the pickles & jams they have put up this summer to Winston-Salem’s Krankie’s Farmer’s Market to sell — and what a sight their labor is to behold!  They have a room filled with boxes of gallon, quart, pint, half pint, and itty bitty jams of the most fascinating pickles and jams I have beheld.  I will have to hit the stove again when I get home!  Not to mention the loom — I adore making tapestries of bottled preserves.