Satisfying

First, a barn full of hay is always satisfying.

That's over one hundred bales stacked in there. (The few browner looking ones are what was left from my last load at the end of last spring.) 

But as satisfying as this is, there is something almost more satisfying. When I first started having hay delivered and needed to help stack it in the barn, I could barely do it. I would move about ten bales and would feel as though I was truly going to die. It was incredibly hard work for my poor out of shape body. Now? I realized this morning that I could help unload and stack hay without having to collapse. I still can't throw a heavy bale (though I can a lighter one), but I can carry the things for a very long time. That feels good. 

Here is another satisfying thing. 

That would be eight pints of dilly beans and two and a half pints of black cherry jelly. I can jelly in 1/4 pint jars as much as possible (because it's good for deglazing pans and making sauces) if you're wondering why the view from above looks like a lot more. And they all sealed!

Tomorrow bread and butter pickles are on the schedule, plus some dill pickles if I have enough cucumbers to make some. And if I'm feeling really ambitious, I'll also make some dandelion jelly. This is not because we have dandelions in bloom, but because a long while back H. carefully picked huge piles of dandelion flowers and then did the tedious work of removing the petals. I did get the tea made, then stuck it in the freezer where it has been languishing ever since. It would also be satisfying to get the frozen tea out of the e freezer and do something with it.