Fantastic Friday!

Several reasons I am having such a great Friday...

Yesterday and today highs were only 80º!  Although I didn't even go into the back yard garden at all yesterday, I did get after the neglected front yard beds, and it feels so good to have them presentable again.  The photos are of two beds, but the two beds are mirror images of each other so you get the gist of how cleaning it up made a difference.

Before, the beds were overgrown and weedy.  I have a "woodland" type shady garden out front, although I have a wall of sorts of Carolina Jessamine vine to screen out the neighbors' junk LOL, the vine tends to run away with itself sometimes.

After, I hacked back the huge spirea bushes to promote new growth, re-staked my falling down in the wind topiary evergreens and weeded.  The birds can find their little teak water bowl now :)

The bed in the center of the yard needed no care, although I did plant my 2 flats of free bedding flowers in there finally.  They were on clearance about 6 weeks ago (I guess because they needed to be deadheaded?) at a big box store for $2 a flat, and I had a $5 coupon with no minimum purchase, so that's free, and we like free. :)  I still have the sidewalk "hell strip" bed to contend with, but that is truly hellish and I don't want to think about it today - and we have to powerwash the house soon... the pollen of spring and the weeks of rain and heat have got it looking pretty icky.

Another reason for happiness - after telling the kids repeatedly to stop running in the house, when they finally did spill the big cup of lemonade on the table, I made them clean it up themselves!  Finn thought about protesting and blaming it on the dog, but my look said otherwise.  This is a new thing for me, normally I don't "like" the way they would clean something and so I do it myself, but no more.... I feel free :)

HUGE reason to have a fantastic Friday - I'm leaving in a few to take the boys to 4-H camp, woohoo!  Sad?  Not even a little bit!  Camp rocks, I wish I was going!  Check out the photo of Finn's supplies, do you notice anything?

Oh, yes... a stick of that horrible AXE deodorant!  We were at the store the other day picking up a few last minute trial size shampoos for them and Finn said he "must have the "Adventure Stick"... LOL, this was another occasion where I chose my battles carefully.  At 49 cents I let him have it, and he has been ridiculous with it since we got home.  Every 20 minutes he puts it on, then he puts it on his stomach, arm, etc...  I'm just hoping he loses it at camp!

I don't really have time to get out this afternoon and tackle the garden in earnest in this beautiful weather since we have to leave soon, but I was able to throw together some refrigerator pickles in about 20 minutes.  The jar of cukes has garlic, dill, peppercorn, mini bell peppers & Fish hot peppers (fish because they look like Koi, not because they taste like fish LOL).  The other jar has a bunch of Sigaretta diBergamo sweet peppers with a couple of the leftover hot peppers and dill, both jars with fresh picked grape leaves in the bottom - it really does work to keep things crisp, I've been doing it that way for 3 years now and I swear by them!

Unfortunately, I'll probably come home to an empty house tonight.  Hubby was deployed last year so couldn't make the trip to camp, and this year he is working crazy hours again.  I was hoping to take advantage of this weekend without the kids to go camping or go visit Thomas Jefferson's Monticello plantation, but I'm out of luck.  It's a 2 hour drive to camp and he won't get off early enough to go, and he has to work when I have to pick them up, too.  Day before yesterday was a 15 hour day for him, grrrrrr.  He's "the boss" now so he can't just make up excuses like the junior personnel anymore :)  It's times like these when I actually wish he was just deployed.  At least the kids understand "deployed", and he gets extra pay when he's deployed, and we desperately need that!  Oh, well, more wine for me tonight then, eh?

Well, we're off to camp!

What's YOUR Mess?

With daily downpours, thunderstorms and high winds taking their toll on the tomatoes, I'm wasting no time in putting up all I can while I can, I have no idea how long they will keep going out there, but I fear I won't be canning "excess" tomatoes in September like usual.  The cucumbers were staggered plantings, so I'm only getting a handful at a time, perfect for refrigerator pickles.  Refrigerator pickles last a year, so there is no need can those here.  I would if I had a huge amount to worry about, but since nutritionally they are just fluff LOL, I save the pantry space for more healthful veggies.  I figure if the power goes out and the fridge goes down, well, it was just pickles in there :)

Japanese Climbing Cucumber

Dilly Jar O'Fun - this jar has a few beans and peppers as well as Japanese Climbing Cukes and Parisian Pickling Cucumbers, fresh dill, peppercorn, garlic and fresh grape leaves on the bottom for crispness.  You never know what you might grab when you stick your hand in the jar!

I've been keeping a "largest Brandywine tracker" on my sidebar this year, and yesterday's took the prize, this one is bigger by several ounces than the "bigger than my head" photo of a few weeks ago - this one came in at 1.89 lbs!  

You know, cooking and canning all day is really boring for children.  I'm noticing that the noise and naughtiness levels rise in accordance with how long and involved my particular tasks are. I couldn't think straight at all with the constant clomping that was going on all day yesterday... Finnegan decided he would wear daddy's "Heelys" all day long, ugh!  School can start any time now...

That brings me to my tomato sauce - ever get sick of looking at nice luscious ripe tomatoes and pretty things like this in gardener's posts?  (Thomas, do you hear me?!) You are thinking, wow!  She's so "together"... come ON, we all know it's not always as it seems in photos...

I have a challenge for you -  Post what's not in the photo!  Yep, I want to see your garbage bowls, arms covered in pulp, goggles and gloves when peeling those hot peppers, juice spattered on the dog, walls, sink full of unwashed dishes, you know the drill!  (Remember the refrigerator challenge from last year?)

Here's my "rest of the story" for yesterday :)

So what are you currently putting up?  What's your mess? 

Erin's Refrigerator Pickle Recipe

This cucumber is perfect for pickling, minus the mating squash bugs!

dark green, spiny, not too big

I have had a couple of requests for my refrigerator pickle recipe, so rather than put it in the comments section, I will post it! I'm kind of a crunchy pickle snob, pickles always sounded so gross to me growing up, but I tried my first pickle in New York City, need I say more? I still can't bring myself to even try store bought jarred pickles, I don't want to taint that beautiful 1st pickle I ate over 10 years ago! I am always on a mission for crunch in my homemade pickles!

Garlicky Hot Dill Cucumber Pickles

*small recipe makes 2 pints*

Ingredients:

1.5 cups Plain White Vinegar

1.5 cups Sugar

1/2 tsp Pickling or Kosher Salt

1/2 cup approx Dill

1-2 per jar Garlic Cloves

1-2 per jar Hot Pepper (any fresh hot pepper you are growing)

Cucumbers, enough to fill 2 jars

Let's Make 'em!:

1. Slice ends off cucumbers (unless they are baby dills) and slice to fit in the jar

2. Place washed dill leaves/flower heads in each jar around the edge to show them off!

3. Place 1 or 2 whole peeled garlic cloves around the outer edge in each jar

4. Place whole pepper in jar (I use fish peppers, cayenne or similar would work!)

5. Bring vinegar, sugar & salt to a simmer (not boil)

6. Pour liquid over the vegetables and leave headspace in the jar (more for spillage protection since you aren't canning them)

7. Cap and refrigerate! In about a week they will be ready and flavorful. Will keep about 2 months this way in the fridge.

Personal Experience/Notes:

*Use cucumbers that are still small and dark green with lots of spines for the crunchiest pickles. I use a Japanese Climbing cucumber that is picked when about 4 inches long and 1 inch or less in diameter (usually!) (most mushy pickles are due to cukes being too big/overripe, if it's yellow or whitish, use it for something else!)

*Note that refrigerator pickles do not need copious amounts of salt, so they are great if you are watching your salt intake like me!

*I use both dill leaves if I have them and the whole flower heads, as much as I can cram in there!

* I use whole, peeled garlic cloves, but you could crush them slightly if you want faster garlic infusion

* I place one whole hot pepper per jar, you could try more depending on the heat of your pepper

* You could experiment with other herbs and additions like onions, but if clarity of the liquid is a feature you are going for, the above recipe will produce crystal clear jars that really show off the vegetable!

* I pickle carrots and beans the same way - a mixture of yellow and green beans is gorgeous to look at and eat!

* I don't worry about placing fresh grape leaves in the bottoms of my refrigerator pickles, they only seem to make a difference in keeping the crunch of long-term canned pickles.

Dilly Beans made with the same recipe, use leftover cut herbs to make a salad vinegar, too!

For those that don't/can't have a garden, or who receive CSA shares as their primary produce provider, these are a great small-batch easy way to preserve food. You can pickle vegetables you find at the farmer's market while they are in season to enjoy later without all the hassle of canning, this recipe only takes 25 minutes start to finish, and that included me walking the garden to harvest the ingredients!