Pickling

One of the best things about living with some property is growing our own food. When we lived in the city in Seattle we had a small 4,000 square foot lot. We tried to find a balance between lawn for the kids and growing our own food, not really succeeding at either. To maximize our lot we planted tomato plants in the front yard, apple trees in the sidewalk strip (which every passerby helped themselves to), and blueberry bushes around the yard. It was something and we were proud of our efforts, but living with more land and possibilities has opened up an entire world of satisfaction.

This year we planted potatoes, apple and pear trees, blueberries, tomatoes on the vine, cherry tomatoes, pumpkins, cucumbers, cauliflower, broccoli, garlic, lettuce, spinach, kale, artichokes, asparagus, and herbs. I am certain we planted a few zucchini plants but the kids seemed to have dug them up~never to be seen again.

Yesterday we canned pickles and here are some pictures from our bounty!

The Bread and Butter Pickles
6 large cucumbers, sliced (we used small pickling cucumbers instead)
4 onions, sliced
1/4 cup kosher salt
1 pint white vinegar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon mustard seed

Use fresh cucumbers; wash and slice. Slice onions. Mix vegetables with salt and let stand 1 hour.

Drain and rinse with 2 cups of cold water. Combine vinegar, sugar, celery and mustard seeds and heat to boiling for three minutes.

Pack vegetables into jars, add hot vinegar mixture, leaving 1/4" headspace. Seal at once and process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Ready to eat in 3-4 weeks. Keeps up to 1 year. Makes about 6 pints.