Cukes

Our cucumbers were spared any harm from the July flood. They continue to grow like crazy. I've put up enough pickles to last a couple of years. That makes me happy.
I begin my day by munching on a few fresh picked ones. We've been eating a lot of fresh sliced cukes in a vinegar/water mix with salt and fresh dill added. The vinegar can be any kind that your heart desires. Sometimes I add sliced onions. I make this in the morning and put it in the frig until it's time to eat. Cool and crunchy!
Until next time.....

Wordless Wednesday

Christmas In July 2013

My Christmas In July sale began today in my Etsy shop. Prices have been reduced 15%. The sale is scheduled to end on the 21st. You can get to my shop here. Until next time.....

The Wa-a-ting Is The Hardest Part

After all was said and done, we had a total of 5 7/10" of rain fall in 5 days. The sun finally came out on Sunday and the temps returned to normal. The gardens don't look so good. I knew in the back of my mind that all this rain wasn't good for them and they were in danger of rotting. Right now our pepper bed is supersaturated and the plants are wilting. Half of the tomatoes are wilting too. So far everything else looks OK. This isn't the first time this has happened and it won't be the last, but it sure as hell doesn't get any easier. I'm going to pass on posting any garden pictures today. You really don't want to see what I see. Until next time.....

Cucumber Season

This year's 4th of July was one for the record books. Literally. We broke a record in middle TN. Out here, south of town the high for the day was 66 degrees! It was fabulous. It rained ALL day. We had the windows open and it was almost chilly. Needless to say, the sound of the rain was heavenly. Our dinner plans changed from chicken on the grill to pizza indoors, which was fine with me. The rain did stop in time for the fireworks display in Nashville. I heard it was a wonderful show.

The gardens are loving all of this rain. Cucumber season has officially begun. We've had 3 bad summers previous to this one with record breaking triple digits temps and drought. Our cukes didn't do well and we didn't have enough at one time to put up pickles. But this year is totally different. The cukes are coming in like crazy. I put my first batch of dill pickles up last week. Today, I'll be making them again.
Breakfast consisted of a cucumber placed inside a hotdog bun brushed with mayo and topped with sea salt. Happiness~

Above we have:
Our pickling cukes. I'm harvesting them in two sizes. The smaller ones to put up whole and the larger ones will be sliced and used on sandwiches.
A new slicing cuke that I'm trying this year. It's Suyo Long. They grow to 15". I picked the first one this morning, so I have no idea how they taste. Stay tuned.
Pickling cuke vines.
Slicing cuke vines.
John Mac's Super Chilly Dills. Our recipe can be found here.
Until next time.....