To help a neighbor

Today there was a gentle knock at our door.  When I opened it, there stood our neighbor looking confused and forlorn.  I greeted her with a smile and said hello.  She burst out with, "I don't know what to do with all of this fresh produce! HELP!"  So I did.

I spent a couple of hours at her place helping her to chop, grate, blanch, puree and freeze most of her produce.  We had a grand time chatting and getting to know one another.  She talked of her children and their accomplishments and how proud she was of all three of them. She loved showing me all of their pictures along with pictures of her grandchildren.  It was wonderful!  We made plans to do it again next week.

When we were finished I returned home and began my daily tasks.  Again, there was a knock on the door and upon opening it I saw the same neighbor with four grocery bags in her hands.  "Here, these are for you." She handed me the bags as she thanked me for my help, smiled and walked away.  It was so nice of her to share this produce with us and was even nicer to see her smile. :)

Tonight, so far, I have made dinner with the bottoms of the four squash. I stuffed them with a mix of rice pilaf, sauteed onions, banana peppers, jalapeno peppers, 1 bell pepper and 1 egg plant.  They smell delicious!  I also cut up the remainder of the squash and prepared and froze it!  Four quarts in all!  I am preparing the seeds (that I did not keep to dry and plant next year) to roast them as one would roast pumpkin seeds this evening.  The rest of the produce was put away because I am sure that we will use it within the next couple of weeks.

We need to start doing more of this.  Sharing our time, our knowledge, our laughter and stories and... our produce! :)  I had an amazingly incredible day and am looking forward to next week when we work on the tomatoes and the rest of the peppers! :)

I did not set out today to "earn" anything. I simply wanted to help out a stressed out neighbor.  The rewards were plentiful and I thank her for her contribution to our freezer! <3


Don't forget to smile at a stranger... it's how I met this neighbor! <3