Shortly after 7 A.M., I hung out my husband’s laundry.  I spied a lone, young white rooster lingering at the door of the hen house that must have failed to come in the brooder house at dusk.  He spent the night outside.  I walked to the brooder house so I could assess the situation more closely.  I decided to leave the rooster alone.  But now that I was this far from the house I walked over to the garden.  I found my first cucumbers.  They measured 1-4 inches long, so I picked them.  I also picked a small bouquet of dill for making pickles of my first-of-the-season cucumbers.  I snipped some basil. Two nice zucchinis got my attention.  I took them.  My arms were filling up fast.  A fresh, green head of lettuce lured me and I picked that.

In the kitchen, I scrubbed the cucumbers letting them soak in water for one hour in the refrigerator.  Meanwhile, I found my “Best in the Word Dill Pickle” recipe and started to make the brine.  I washed my jars, assembled my canning equipment and by 8:30 A.M. my daughter joined me.  She shredded my zucchini and, as a duo, we prepared the batter for 2 loaves of zucchini bread.

By this time, my husband came in for breakfast.  The timer buzzed; time to pack the pickles.  I dutifully packed fresh, aromatic dill and the cucumbers in the jar.  I poured hot brine on them and sealed the jar.  We completed the the finishing touches on the bread.  I buttered the loaf pans and my daughter poured in the batter.  By 9 A.M., the loaves were baking in the oven.  Ah, what a “feel-good moment”!  We still had the morning ahead of us and two food service items were already accomplished.

While I am not always an early-bird riser, I so enjoy the satisfaction of getting extra things done before breakfast.  The aroma of cinnamon wafts through the house as the bread bakes and the morning is still young…another “feel-good moment”.

Photo Credit: Bretta Grabau
Photo Credit: Wenda Grabau