Cucumber Overabundance

We have been blessed to overflowing with cucumbers this year.  I don’t know if the wet/mild summer is the reason, or if the Good Lord just saw fit to teach me how to make pickles.  😀

I’ve made pickles 4 times so far – two batches of bread & butter, 2 batches of dill.  I can’t say which is my favorite yet.  I’ve eaten a jar of both almost by myself!

The dill pickles I’ve been making are fabulous.  I found the recipe on RecipeZaar:  Blue Ribbon Dill Pickles .

Changes I made to the recipe:  I put a healthy dash of pickling spice in each wide mouth jar along with minced garlic (from a jar), dried dill weed and dried dill seed.

I also kept the brine boiling and filled jars, then put them in the canner as I went.  I followed directions listed on the website the first time and the jars didn’t seal as well (I suspect because the brine had cooled off too much).  Keeping the brine boiling worked much better for me.

Now…where’s my jar of pickles?  🙂

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Arkansas blueberries

We found a u-pick blueberry farm not far from us, and decided to get up early this morning to start pickin’!

We have 12 pounds of blueberries ready to go in the freezer.  For $1.00 a pound, you can’t beat it (and they are SO much better than the store bought or frozen ones!).

BTW, I think I may have sweat more than 12 pounds in the picking process, but it was so worth it!  YUM!

Blueberries, anyone?  😀

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Wednesday ramble about gardening

I don’t know about your neck of the woods, but we have had so much rain lately, I can’t even get my garden going.  We had a couple of really cold nights in the early part of the week, but I’m hoping now spring will finally be sprung!  I’m ready for warmer weather (just not the profuse sweating that goes along with summer  😛 ).

What’s going in my garden this year…. I have two different types of tomatoes (brandywine and beefsteak).  Also several types of beans, sweet peppers, jalapenos, corn, carrots, cucumbers, watermelons, potatoes (and sweet potatoes), okra, and some flowers.  A row of zinnias and a few marigolds sprinkled here and there to help keep bugs out.

Are you gardening this year?  If so, what are you planting?  I’d love to hear what’s in YOUR garden.  😀

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