Pickles

This appears to be a good cucumber year in my garden.  I planted several rows, as I typically do, hoping for enough productive plants to allow me to make at least a dozen quarts of dill pickles. This year, unlike most, the majority of the cukes I planted not only sprouted, but they grew.  Not only did they grow, but they have been prolifically blooming, with apparently awesome pollination rates based on the numbers of  pickle sized cucumbers I have been harvesting pretty much every other day for over a week and a half now.

Which means I've been canning pickles nearly every other day for more than 10 days now!  It takes more than a handful of cucumbers to fill a quart sized jar, so most canning batches have been in the two or three quart range.  After not picking cukes for three days straight, I did fill not just FIVE quart jars with dill pickles, but I also sliced the overly large cucumbers into rings that tallied up to 9 pints of hamburger dills.

So far I am totaling 13 quarts of dill pickles, plus those 9 pints of hamburger slices.  And the cucumbers are still coming!!  Thankfully the pickle recipe I use is pretty simple and quick, if you don't count the overnight soak in lime water and the three hours of soaking in fresh water after that.  After a few years of experimentation with different recipes, and a few adaptations of my own, this is the recipes I have come up with to make the flavor of dill pickles that my family likes:

Dill Pickles

freshly picked pickling cucumbers 3-5 inches in length
1/4 cup pickling lime
1/2 gallon water

Wash the cucumbers and remove the blossom from the end.  Put into a large non-metal bowl--metal will react with the lime.  (I use a plastic bowl, as the lime will leave an ugly but harmless film on glass). Mix the lime in to the water (be careful not to breathe in the lime; it's not good for your lungs) and pour over the cucumbers.  Make sure all the cucumbers can be submerged in the lime water; depending on how many cukes you have, you may need to mix up a bit more lime solution.

Let the cucumbers soak in the lime water overnight (or about 8-10 hours).  Drain off the water, rinse out the bowl, and rinse the cucumbers thoroughly to remove lime residue.  Then put the cucumbers back in the bowl, and cover with fresh, cold water.  Let soak 1 hour and repeat the drain-rinse-soak cycle twice more for a total of three hours of soaking in fresh water.

fresh water soak

Near the end of the third round of soaking, fill your water bath canner about 3/4 full and put it on the stove on high heat.  Also, in a separate large pan or pot, make a solution of

1 cup vinegar
1 cup water
1 Tablespoon pickling salt
1/2 teaspoon turmeric

for each quart jar of pickles you will be making.  (In other words, if I have enough pickles to fill 2 quarts I use 2 cups each of vinegar and water, 2 Tbsp salt and 1 tsp turmeric.  6 quarts would need 6 cups each vinegar and water, 6 Tbsp salt and 3 tsp turmeric).

Heat this mixture to boiling, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, into each quart jar put

2 heads dill
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon celery seeds
as many cucumbers as you can stuff in the jar leaving 1/4 inch head space.

Let the filled jars sit in a sink of very hot water while your vinegar solution simmers.  Once the simmering time has been met, and the jars are warmed from being in the hot water, ladle the vinegar solution into the jars, removing air bubbles and leaving 1/4" head space.  Put on lids and rings, and load into your now boiling water bath canner.  Make sure jars are covered with at least one inch of water.  When canner resumes boiling, process your pickles for 15 minutes.  Remove from the canner, and let cool for at least 12 hours before testing seals.

To develop proper flavor, your pickles should age at least two weeks before eating.

Today is going to be another pickle making day; I picked 52 more little cukes yesterday afternoon.

Cartwheels of Joy

So far, this has been a difficult year to get hay up.  The fields grew really well, and quite a few were actually ready to cut before Memorial Day.  Some fields did get cut, and baled, that weekend.  Not mine, since we have not spent the large amounts of money it takes to purchase haying equipment (tractor of large enough horse power, mower/cutter, rake/tedder and a baler, plus wagons.)  We are third on the list of the family that does custom cutting and baling in the area.

Their own field was done first, in late May.  Right after that, the weather was rainy.  Next swath of dry weather, they did their next door neighbors field.  Then the weather was uncooperative--not that it rained all the time, but there was enough rain in the forecast (most of which didn't actually show up)-- that about three weeks of June went by with no one but the cattle folks making hay.  Horse hay doesn't get cut unless there are three good dry weather days forecast in a row.

Waiting. . . hay getting riper by the day

Of course those three good dry weather days for my turn came along with a heat wave.  I got a call on a Thursday morning, while I happened to be riding The California Horse.  As soon as I was done riding, and saw that I had missed a call from my hay people, I listened to the message they had left. The voicemail that went something like this:  "The weather looks good, would you like us to cut your hay this morning?"

I immediately called them back, getting their voicemail.  I left a message that, paraphrased, said "I would do cartwheels of joy" if they could cut my hay that day.

When I got home from work at lunch time, a good portion of my hay field was cut, and their tractor and mower were going round and round shearing the rest.  By the time I'd finished my lunch, the entire field had been cut.  Hooray!  Now to wait two days for the hay to dry. . .

Hay finally cut!

Get ready to sweat!

Meanwhile, that heat wave rolled in.  While the media was crying "Heat index of 105 degrees!  Don't go outside!  Stay indoors with air conditioning, and if you don't have air conditioning, go somewhere that does!  Danger!  Danger!", DH and I were planning to put hay into our barn. Because hay doesn't wait.

stacks in the loft

(picture taken at first water break)

Despite advertising my hay for almost half the going rate out of the field, I had only one taker who wanted to come out of their air conditioning to load bales right off the wagon and take them home.  So, while the media was doom-and-glooming, we were doing what farmers have done for centuries:  making hay while the sun shone. DH & I put almost 350 bales of hay into the barn during a time when most people wouldn't even open the door on their air conditioned homes to step outside.

And honestly, it wasn't that terrible.  We took breaks, we drank lots of water, we wore the lightest weight clothing we could that would still protect our skin from the rough prickliness of the bales.  Cold showers at the end of the day were heavenly treats.

I did get called out on my voicemail message though.  Mr. Hay Cutter said he wanted to see those cartwheels I'd talked about.  Hoping for the best (since I haven't tried a cartwheel in quite a few years and was incapable to completing it the last time I'd tried one,) I chose a nice level looking spot in the hay field and went for it.  I was more afraid of busting a wrist than making a fool of myself, and I can't tell you how happy I felt when my second hand hit the ground and my arm didn't buckle.  It wasn't perfect form, but I did do an actual, complete cartwheel, landing with both feet together and no bobbling, just like a gymnast!  I may have been stinky and sweaty, with hay chaff stuck to every exposed piece of skin and a face red from the heat, but I felt beautiful in that moment.  (Thanks, California Horse, for the awesome core strength I've built in the past year riding you.)

However, next time I get a call asking if I'd like my hay mowed, I think I'll refrain from mentioning cartwheels.  I'll just stay I'd be very happy to have my hay cut.  :0)

Empty field, ready to grow again.

Yarn Along July

I am joining with Ginny for this month's Yarn Along. A day late, but better late than never, right?

This past month has been about socks. I finished sock #2 of the striped Vanilla Latte socks I was making for DD2.  She thinks they are gorgeous, and still has no clue that they are for her. (*snicker*)  I plan to give them to her before she heads back to college in August for her senior year.

As soon as the Vanilla Latte socks were finished, I went rummaging in my stash and found two complimentary yarns to make my next project--The Polka Dot Party Socks from issue 27, Bloom, of Taproot magazine.  These socks will be for me, since they will be my first color work socks and I'm a little unsure of my ability to make them not too tight but with floats that don't snag on toenails.  Since they are for me, I went with rather bold colors in my yarn choices.

The heel is one that I've only done once before, and honestly didn't like at the time.  I decided to give it another try as I am making these socks exactly as the pattern is written.  I have to say, I still don't like this heel technique.  I guess I'm a gusset heel kinda gal. To me the heel looks a little funky and I may end up ripping it out later and replacing with a different one.  But, for now, I'm soldiering on with the pattern which (other than the heel) is really fun.  This is definitely going to be a bold pair of socks.