Darn Good Pickles

Jennifer Jo over at Mama's Minutia posted a recipe for refrigerator pickles the first part of August and I just got around to trying it this past weekend.

How did they turn out? FANTASTIC! I mean really, really good. Different than any dill-type pickles I've ever made, but so tasty. I especially liked them because I could use the hot peppers I grew in my garden in them.

Let me explain. Up until this year, I've never grown anything but sweet peppers because neither Papa Pea nor I have ever really been "into" spicy or hot foods. However, a while back we decided we needed to develop a taste for same because all zingy peppers contain capsaicin which is reported to be very good for us.

Just listen to what it will do for you.

~ Encourage weight loss because it burns calories.
~ Keeps blood vessels clear.
~ Improves circulation.
~ Prevents carcinogens from binding to DNA.
~ Kills (bad) bacteria.
~ Provides relief from headaches.
~ Aids digestion.
~ Acts as an expectorant when you have a cold.
~ Ointment or cream containing capsaicin blocks pain.

And those are only a few of the benefits.

Well, my. Why haven't we been eating hot peppers by the bushelful?

But back to the pickles. Yes, they do have a nice bite to them thanks to the peppers included in the recipe. And, of course, the degree of "bite" will depend on how hot a pepper you choose to use. (We're just neophytes in this arena so we are building up our tolerance slowly. Please be patient with us.)

The pickles are crispy and crunchy which is always desirable in a dill pickle, right?

The only deviation I made from Jennifer Jo's recipe was that I added only two peppers (but they were large, about 6" long) instead of the 3-6 listed in the directions. And, blast and dang, I didn't have any fresh dill so I substituted dill seed using 2 tablespoons which seemed to work well. We're nearly through our 1/2 gallon jar of them and I gathered more cucs today to make a new batch.

So if you want a taste treat in a pickle that is easy to make and will cause taste-testers to ask for the recipe, click here and it will take you to Jennifer Jo's blog post and recipe.

I thank Jennifer Jo, and you will, too!

Tuesday Evening Mish-Mosh

You're probably really sick of hearing me go on about my cherry-tomatoes-on-steroids, but I just can't get over them.

You can see by my sewing gauge that many of them are a full two inches across.

I'm not bragging, because I had nuttin' to do with their over-large size. As I've mentioned before, they are the same variety (Washington Cherry) I've grown before and they were always . . . well, cherry sized. I don't have any other tomatoes in my garden that these could have crossed with to explain why they are so much bigger this year. It just mystifies me.

Good progress made on the plumbing in the garage today. Certainly not done yet but we're much farther along than we were this morning, that's for sure. Lots of work completed in the dreaded crawl space.

I'll close with this picture I took about 20 minutes ago at 6:30. (Image straight out of the camera.) Yep, there is a storm heading our way. Ominous looking sky, eh? It's not quite as dark right now, a gentle rain is falling and thunder-boomers can be heard in the distance. So far, not anything too scary. Hope we get a good soaking out of it minus the predicted winds and hail!

Laboring On Labor Day

But I don't mind one bit.

I really hesitated starting to hang my laundry outside today because the forecast said "heavy fog." We didn't have any heavy fog, but it was a bit overcast first thing this morning. Glad I went ahead and tempted the fates because it's turned into a glorious day and half the laundry is dried and brought in already.

Big things are going on in the garage today. The garage has never been plumbed and since we want a utility sink and my new, big washer (which we've had for over a year . . . or has it been two years?) hooked up in there, work has begun on that project. Of course, this means poor Papa Pea will be spending more time working in the uncomfortably small crawl space, but he claims having water in the garage will be worth it. I've been keeping my fingers crossed that the new washer will be operational before my old one in the bathroom konks out again, and now it looks as if it just might happen. Hallelujah!

I couldn't help but admire these white phlox blossoms by the side of the deck where I hang my clothes. They're my last flowers to bloom each summer. The flowers are such a bright white and last quite a while.

Hope you're all enjoying your last day of the holiday weekend whatever you're doing.

P.S. Ha! Kinda curious how the font for this post went to a smaller type when I mentioned the "small crawl space" hubby would be working in! Curious and strange. (The ghosts and goulies are out two months early this year!)

Labor Day Weekend - Sunday

~ Not planning on leaving the homestead today.

~ Hubby wants to do a lot of mowing including our small hay field.

~ Even though it's a gorgeous day outside, I think I'm going to make myself tackle inside chores I've been putting off for too long. It will feel good to get them done. Or at least started.

~ Papa Pea suffered a bit of shell shock yesterday. He and I made a quick trip into town to pick up some free wall cabinets for the garage (fruitless trip as they were gone when we got there) and the crowds of people in town for the holiday weekend almost sent him over the edge. He couldn't wait to turn around and "get the heck out of Dodge!" It just serves to point up what a blessed little sanctuary we have back here in the woods.

~ I tried a new pasta dish for dinner last night that was FABULOUS. If you want to look at the recipe go to the post by The Iowa Housewife here. I made it with the first cutting of my fall crop of spinach from the garden. Boy-howdy, was it good! (Couple of notes: I didn't understand the "1/4 tablespoon water" in the ingredients so just left it out. I only added half as much sausage as called for and, for us, it was fine. Didn't have vermicelli so substituted linguine. I had to cook it a lot longer than the 3 minutes but it turned out fine.)

~ Thanks to Erin's alert to the sale of the reusable canning lids on Tattler's site, I'm going to bite the bullet today and put in the order for my first Tattler lids. I've been debating trying them for a couple of years because of mixed reviews. They sure will be a wonderful money saver in the long run if they work. Thanks again for the heads-up on the sale, Erin!

~ We're letting mama bantam hen and her four little chickies out into the big world of our poultry pasture today for the first time. They'll still have access to their own little house and shelter if fowl society becomes too much for them.

~ We've always felt that September and October were the very best months in our area for getting out and enjoying all the great out-of-doors has to offer. For the years hubby was teaching, of course, it was impossible for us to take advantage of the season as these two months were super-busy ones for him getting into the new school year.

Anyway, for the past few years of his retirement, we've been pretty much hell-bent on working hard on all the things we couldn't get done when he was working full-time off the homestead. This year, we are bound and determined things will be different.

So, good-bye until the first of November.

Hahahaha! (Just trying to be funny.) No, nothing big or grand planned that will take us away from home for more than day trips or possibly short overnights. But we are going to be trying to drop our gloves, hoe, chainsaw, paint brushes and tool belts frequently to get out to canoe, hike, grouse hunt, sight-see and generally make the most of the fantastic couple of months of weather ahead of us. We might even spend some time reading all day on the front deck or in the hammock. 'Course, that would mean we'd have to actually put up the hammock for the first time this summer . . . but stranger things have happened. I can hardly wait!

Chillin' Out

Every time our granddog, Tucker, sprawls out like this, it cracks me up.

Doesn't he look like a big, hairy road-killed squirrel? Also, didn't we do a great job picking out floor tile to coordinate with his coloring?

In the past couple of weeks, he's tagged this as his favorite little nook for an inside snooze here at our house. Notice his head is almost under the wood stove. Won't be too long before he gives up this spot though because even in coldest winter time, he's way too warm inside and seeks out the coolest spot in the house.

Tucker's a very happy, easy-going dog and has made a great adjustment after losing his lifetime companion, Maisy, earlier this summer. Matter of fact, I think I'd go so far as to say he really likes all the attention he's been getting for himself!

Garden - End Of August, 2012

Despite the heat (way into the 80s) and humidity (way into ugly), I spent a bit of time in the garden today doing a little harvesting (tomatoes, cucumbers, kohlrabi) but mostly clean up.

I ripped up spent bean plants, sweet peas and some other flowers that had given their all. Did a little weeding but we haven't had much rain in the last week or so which seems to be keeping even the weeds from growing well. (Sorry, Erin.)

In no particular order, here are some pictures I took to show how things are doing at the end of the last month of summer.

I've got a nice crop of beets coming along. Forono cylindrical beets are the only kind I plant anymore. They stay nice and smooth and are perfect for slicing for pickled beets . . . or anything else.

My fall broccoli isn't as sturdy or robust looking (shape up, you wimpy little guys!) as I had hoped it would be by this time. I planted it by seed in the garden on July 29th, a month ago already.

I think the morning glories may be at the peak of their glory right now . . . so lovely.

What the heck is with the lettuce this year? Can't even count the number of times I've replanted it. This is my bed of fall lettuce and I've replanted it once. The germination on all the different varieties has been just plain poopy.

On the other hand, the cherry tomatoes . . . wow! I've never had cherry tomatoes get this big. And they are, finally, ripening like crazy.

Our experimental corn (multi-colored and supposedly good to eat fresh like regular sweet corn) has two or three ears developing on each stalk, but the ears still look skinny and not very filled-out as of yet.

Here's a bed of fall Swiss chard closest in the picture, then kohlrabi in the middle with spinach at the far end. My spinach early this summer bolted when it was about 4" high so I'm hoping we get our fill for fresh eating from this planting.

I have got some BIG pumpkins growing into what should be nice jack o' lanterns. I've never been successful at getting pumpkins of this size before.

And look at this one! Almost all orange already.

Here we have the skyscrapers of the homestead. And, lo and behold, way up there I do believe there are finally (FINALLY!) some blossom heads forming.

How tall are these giants? Well, Papa Pea is 6'3" and it looks like the sunflowers have about four feet more height above his head. We're gonna need the chainsaw to take these stalks down.

All in all, the garden is in as good shape as it's ever been at this time of year. Which I guess is saying something considering the wonky start we had, the plethora of insects present, the intense heat and bad germination of seeds. Our strawberries, raspberries and blueberries all had a shorter than usual season and gave us a less than bumper crop of fruit. But good rains came for us at just the right time and I don't think I hand watered nearly as much as most years. I know many of you have been dealing with really bad conditions so I feel very fortunate and appreciate that my garden has done as well as it has this year. Remember, NEXT YEAR we're all going to have fantastic gardens!