We Were In A Pickle

Pickles and more pickles that is what yesterday was all about here at the farm.  Lisa and I harvested a very large bunch of both slicing cucumbers and pickling cucumbers and since we there were so many it was time to make more pickles.  We also decided to go ahead and make some dill pickles using the heat processing  way so we can hopefully have some homegrown, homemade dill pickles in the winter like we will with the bread and butter pickles.  So we got busy right after lunch and started slicing the cucumbers, getting the jars sterilized, making the pickling juices and making the pickles.  It is a process and we spent the next 5 hours making pickles.  We ended up making 7 quarts of Bread & Butter pickles, 1 pint of bread & butter pickles, 21 pints of dill pickles and 2 jars of dill pickle relish.  Needless to say, we were in a pickle.  We were exhausted but we used every pickling cucumber we had.  Now, on to the squash.  Check back tomorrow and see what we did!

We Have Babies!

I want to take this opportunity to announce that Tim and I are grandparents once again.  Welcome to the world my little grill bird babies! A couple of weeks ago I told the story of the crazy bird that built a nest in our grill.  Well Sunday Tim was going to remove the nest figuring the eggs had been fried since the grill sits in the direct sun and we had temperatures the past few days in the mid 90's we assumed,;you know what that stands for?  We assumed the eggs were fried and we really wanted our grill back.  Lo and behold the eggs hatched and we have babies birds!  The must of just hatched because they are ugly little things but in their own way they are cute too.  We try not to disturb the nest or birds but later today I will get a picture and post it and will continue you to do that on a weekly basis until the birds leave their nest.  We have babies!

Another Bountiful Harvest

We had another bountiful harvest yesterday after some much needed rain.  The garden was getting really dry so the overnight rain on Sunday night and the rain we had yesterday has really helped the garden.  We had another bumper crop of slicing cucumbers and pickling cucumbers which means pickling will be the next project around here for Lisa and I.  We picked more green beans, peas, green peppers and grape tomatoes. We had some more firsts yesterday.  We picked the first blueberries and the first, cough cough, okra.  The amazing thing is that we have finally caught up with the summer squash and have a chance to breath from harvesting it.  Also, and I can't believe I am saying this, but it looks like we are going to have some more Zucchini.  Let the pickling begin!

Garden Condiments

This past week end we grilled both Saturday and Sunday evenings and the garden harvested veggies were part of each night.  Saturday we grilled zucchini and yellow squash on the grill and had fresh cucumbers with humus and our homemade bread & butter pickles.  Sounds like a vegetarian meal but we also grilled chicken and a potato and green bean foil pouch.  On Sunday we grilled burgers, corn on the cob and a potato and green bean foil pack.  We also had fresh peas from the garden.  On our burgers we had our homemade bread & butter pickles and fresh leaf lettuce picked just before dinner. Our week end grilling was a success and what made it even better was eating so many things that grew in the garden.  By the way, the dill pickles were delicious!  It was a fun week end with good food, good friends and good times together.

We Have Dill Pickles

It is Dill pickle time.  Last year we made dill pickles two different ways, processed and cold pack.  The processed pickles came out mushy, they tasted good but they were mushy.  The cold pack dill pickles were good and crispy.  So this year, until we figure out how to keep the pickles crisp, we are only making the dill pickles the cold pack way.  The only problem with the cold pack pickles is that their shelve life is only a few weeks.  So, if anyone knows how to treat the cucumbers before the heat processing of the pickles please let me know.  Lisa and I would love to make some dill pickles that we can eat 6 months from now.  Until we figure out a way we are looking forward to trying the dill pickles we made yesterday later today.  We made 8 pints of dill pickles and we used about 20 cucumbers.  I picked more than that yesterday so we will be making some more bread and butter pickles soon.  The cucumbers are producing really well!  Check back tomorrow and see how the dill pickles turned out.

Finding Dori

I had a Girl's Day Out at the movies yesterday with Lisa and our neighbor Cheryl.  We went to see the movie "Finding Dori" which is the sequel to "Finding Nemo".  It was a cute movie and for a sequel very well done.  You don't even have to have seen "Finding Nemo" to see this movie.  It a really cute story and the kids that were in the theater really seemed to enjoy it.  Before the movie started there was a special feature shown called "Piper".  It is a very cute Disney short about a baby sandpiper.  So, if you are looking for some cute and fun entertainment and you like Disney Animated movies go see "Finding Dori"  It is a movie everyone can see and enjoy.
By the way, last night Lisa and I tried the Bread and Butter pickles we made and they were delicious!  They were so much better than last year's pickles and we did make one more observation for when we make our next batch.  We made a test jar using thinner sliced cucumbers and they were even better so going forward we will be slicing our pickling cucumbers thinner.  All I can say is YUMMY!

Bread And Butter Pickle Time

It is pickling time again and yesterday Lisa and I made 12 Quarts of Bread and Butter pickles.  We used pickling cucumbers this year. Last year we used regular cucumbers and over time they got a bit mushy.  We are hoping this year's batch will be better.  We will know how they taste around 5:00 today.  Tomorrow we start making some dill pickles.  We used the same Bread and Butter pickling packet as we did last year, which made some delicious pickles, so we are anxious to see how our new pickles will taste.  Today is harvest time again and so check back and see what we get from the garden this time.