pickling what was left

2025 · 10

The market's gone properly autumn. The stone fruit that ran the summer is finished, and it's roots and squashes and the last of the beans now. Came home Saturday with more than I could reasonably use.

So I pickled. Cauliflower, some carrots cut into batons, and a jar of red onions that turned bright pink in the vinegar. Six jars in all. Did them at the kitchen table while M. got on with something in the other room. The vinegar smell was in the cupboards for two days after.

Out on the balcony I cut everything back. The basil had gone leggy and bitter weeks ago. The tomato plants, all three tomatoes' worth of yield, came out by the roots. The neighbour watched from over the railing and said the balcony always looks saddest just after you tidy it. The pots are stacked and the soil's bagged now, and the one plant I never identified is still going, so I left it. That's the balcony done till spring.