Sausage with Cabbage and Apples

It is a chilly rainy day. I don't think the sun poked through at all. Temperatures have dropped into the 40s. This of course is because my garden is planted. And so it begins. From now until probably early September, I will anxiously watch the weather channel. I will watch overnight lows like a hawk. I will suddenly become very interested in where low pressure systems move as well as likelihoods of rain or severe weather. I will worry about heat waves and droughts and floods. I will actively pray for the harvest when they mention it in church. Yes, we pray heartily for farmers here. I had to drive down to the middle of the next county for a meeting today and I swear there was very little but farmland between here and there.

I know I'm not a farmer. I have a small plot of a garden that I tend to overplant. It's actually, I think, a geometric work of art that I fit so many varieties of vegetables in such a tiny space. I don't have acreage. I have a 22x16 foot rectangle. But I love it. And I nurture it. And I get ridiculous pleasure from weeding and harvesting. Blame it on my parents. I was born in a city. I lived in other big cities. Chicago. Kansas City. Indianapolis. These are difficult places to have a garden. And now I find myself singing, "Give me land, lots of land, and the starry skies above. Don't fence me in!" At the top of my lungs. While driving by farms. I really am a dork.

But I was a chilly dork today. And hungry. So I sliced up an apple and half a cabbage and a package of smoked sausage and made myself a delicious, and filling dinner. Now the Brain and I are going to settle in to watch the Cav's game. I think I might close the windows first though.

Sausage with Cabbage and Apples

1 1lb package of smoked sausage

1 half of a small head of cabbage shredded

1 Granny Smith apple thinly sliced

1/4 cup apple juice

2 Tbsp cider vinegar

Cut the smoked sausage into 2 inch pieces and cook them for about 4 minutes in a nonstick skillet to brown. Add cabbage, apple and juice to skillet and toss. Cook until cabbage is tender, but not mushy and sausage is heated through. Add vinegar to skillet and cook for 1 minute. Serve immediately.