Root Cellars and Well Houses

This selection is from Life Is a Garden Party, Vol II

(available through WestBow Press).

ROOT CELLARS and WELL HOUSES

A root cellar with a dirt floor

to store fruits and vegetables and more

where temperatures are cooler

lasting through the long winter.

Summer's bounty is squirreled away

in pints and quarts – a vast array.

A root cellar full of groceries

without going to the grocery.

Every color of the rainbow

lined up on shelves in a neat row.

A harvest of fruits and vegetables

ready to fill this winter's table.

Peaches, applesauce and pears

earlier peeled or pared

then these jars are processed in the canner;

much prettier than tin cans at the store.

Jars with elderberries filled

for a pie shell to one day fill.

Homemade ketchup boiled until thick

made BBQ sauce on fingers to lick.

Corn, tomatoes, green beans

on other shelves are seen -

yellow, red and green

in jars that gleam.

Tomato juice

or vegetable juice.

Maybe piccalilli -

a tasty relish, yummy.

Pints and quarts of pickles

though not all were cucumbers -

tangy mustard-pickled vegetables

and clove-flavored watermelon rind pickles.

Perhaps pickled green beans

when cucumbers are lean.

Or pickled beets might fill up a shelf.

Yes, the root cellar is filled with wealth.

Of course, there's always garlicky dill

and sweet pickles to chose at will.

“Bread and butter” with onions and red peppers

satisfy anytime, not just dinner or supper.

Take a minute to reminisce

of pickles in the pickle dish

as you recall the flavors of turmeric,

pickling spice, dry mustard, and garlic.

There's pickle relish made from cucumbers or zucchini

on another shelf ready for picnics or summer parties

next to apple butter

for pancakes this winter.

Sweetened jams and jellies, too,

make up another rainbow's hue

of pretty purples, reds and blues

Most berries on briar bushes grew.

Strawberry, raspberry,

blackberry, blueberry,

rhubarb, currant, peach -

all within arms reach.

Pints and quarts filled with just-harvested fruits and vegetables

with vitamins and minerals which make our bodies able.

The root cellar filled with wealth

also supplies us with health.

Some years there are quarts of carrots and beets,

though often stored in the well house deep,

along with burlap bags of potatoes and apples

ensuring this winter your stomach will be full.

Quarts of venison canned

filled many a can.

Served with egg noodles on cold, blustery nights

filled our stomachs and tasted good to the last bite.

A well house dug below the ground

(at my parents', cement walls surround)

before ice boxes were invented

and sinks with faucets were installed.

Potatoes and apples filled many burlap bags

stored in the well house by gardeners who never lagged

for procrastination meant loss

if not squirreled away before frost.

Generations of able-bodied kids were formed

from these vegetables stored in various forms.

A long-lost art from yesteryear

now makes a memory dear.

* * * * *

This “story” was my mother's activity

in her 20's, 30's and 40's.

To me it seemed these jars of pints and quarts

magically appeared upon the shelves.

Perhaps many jars were filled in September,

come early autumn on the calendar,

though I do remember

helping fill up the canner.

Not only did she preserve fruits and vegetables

venison was canned each year when available.

Venison served with noodles was a treat.

There was always something filling to eat.

I used to play grocery store

with these pretty pints and quarts stored.

In my mind's eye I can still see

these shelves filled with summer's bounty.

I also remember Grandpa Janowski's well house.

When I was a toddler, stung by bees, at grandpa's house

he pumped water onto the ground

then covered me with mud brown.

My parents' well house in the ground housed burlap bags

of root vegetables in recycled cow feed bags,

along with apples that would last

long after winter was past.

Those “good old days” fill our memories,

though at the time endless work awaited daily,

but how satisfying to see

those jars filled with fruitful bounty.

The Lord your God will bless you

in all your harvest

and in all the work of your hands,

and your joy will be complete.

Deuteronomy 16:15

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