Finding Myself in a Pickle
It’s that time again; the beginning of another canning season. The ripening process hasn’t hit full ripeness yet. We are finding ourselves on the cusp of another garden harvest season. Tomatoes are hanging in thick green clusters. Peppers are filling out in a fine array of colors. Acorn squash vines are trying to take over several rows of the garden hiding their bottle-shaped fruits beneath a thick-leaved canopy. The corn is more than the “knee high by the Fourth of July.” Its reach to the heavens is thigh high. The dark beets are filling out quite well. There has been one picking of string beans already and are quite tasty. Lacy carrot tops have been waving in the wind. A watermelon vine has been stretching its vines trying to take over the space of the onions. The two zucchini plants are trying to invade the acorn squash territory. We made a second picking of cucumbers that have thickly carpeted two partial rows and must be feeling powerful to challenge the acorn squash plants.
Early we went to a friend’s blackberry patch on the advice that it was full of blackberries…and it was. Most of the berries were red and not ripe yet. They will need a few more days. Dew drenched and thorn scratched we headed back to the garden. Cucumbers and pickling was on the agenda for the day. From this garden and one other, we gathered a five gallon bucket and half a box of the green torpedoes. The vines were so thick that it was an adventure hunting for the cucumbers in the jungle of leaves. Back at my friend’s house we began the process of washing, sorting, and trimming the cucumbers into the necessary shapes for the type of pickles to be made. Some had to be sliced, some had to be quartered and some were left whole. The brine was heating while we packed the jars. Once the jars were filled with the cucumbers, the brine was ladled in, and the lids secured on each jar. From there the jars were carried and placed into large kettle of boiling water to finish the canning process. It was necessary to do several batches. As we readied the next batch of jars for their bath, we could hear the soft pop of the lids as they cooled and sealed. There were 20 pints and 2 quarts of sweet pickles. There were 22 pints, 8 quart, and two, half gallon jars of dill pickles. Day two of canning, we made 27 jelly jars of peach preserves and we’ve only just begun.