Posts

Today being National Pickle Day, we’re reminded that we’re often in a pickle ourselves, and there’s much to recommend the experience.

We’re joined in this sentiment by such luminaries as founding father Thomas Jefferson, who wrote: “On a hot day in Virginia, I know nothing more comforting than a fine spiced pickle, brought up trout-like from the sparkling depths of the aromatic jar below the stairs of Aunt Sally’s cellar.”

Aside from Tom J., no one was a bigger fan of the pickle than his buddy, El Presidente #1, George Washington, who cultivated and collected both rare and commonplace plants in the gardens at Mount Vernon. Washington amassed a collection of 476 different varieties of cucumbers meant for pickling. A few recipes from his go-to restaurant can be found here.

The moral of this story is simple. If you have a very deep and powerful enthusiasm for something — even as common as a pickle — you must follow your joy. Follow your enthusiasm to full flower. It may lead to a lot more than just a tasty pickle; you might even start a whole new country as swell as the U.S.A .