Today we’re talking cucumbers. Last year, spring was exceedingly wet. Until suddenly it was HOT. We lost our cucumbers, our broccoli, cabbages and brussels sprouts. We did, however, make up for it in the late summer/fall with bumper crops of cucumbers (but not the kind to make pickles out of), tomatoes and peppers. So, this year, I wanted a different kind of year. A succesful one.
We planted earlier, even though the soil was still cool, we covered seedlings with frost cloth and then switched it to shade cloth. We did, again have an infestation of aphids, although we had the cloth on….but still, here it is the end of May and we were able to make our first pickles. Last year it seemed I wasn’t doing any water bathing /canning until the fall and to be honest, I didn’t do great. My candied Jalapenos are uneaten, the pickled peppers stored safely in the pantry and my pepper jelly is keeping them all company. It can be a little discouraging but also encouraging as I try new things.
Last year I also tried a couple different pickles recipes : freezer pickles, refrigerator pickles and snacking pickles. This year I’m less ambitious because I need some wins!
Yesterday, we finished our homemade pastrami (delicious) and picked some cucumbers and made a Quickle (Quick pickle.) it was simple, however I found them a little too sour. We used rice vinegar so next batch will try red wine vinegar. But, we’re eating them and that’s a win.
So I thought I’d share in case you need a win, too.
Here’s my Recipe for Quickles.
1/2 pound of cucumbers cut thin.
1 Cup of water/1 cup of vinegar/1 tbsp of salt in a out -cook until the salt dissolves.
Pour over the cucumbers which you’ve placed in a jar or container. Add a clove of garlic. Let cool to room temperature and then put in the fridge. Ideally for a day, but a couple hours will do. The longer they sit in the vinegar, of course, the more flavorful they’ll be.
That’s it for today. Try it….and yes, making pastrami is a lengthy process but it was delicious!
Here is a picture that sort of shows the mess I’m referring to in the back pastures. The tractors have stopped work for a while, because the ground is boggy. The area is spotted with puddles and little streams of water. To the left of the barn is the pig sty, in the barn is our supply of alfalfa and our livestock nursery. Currently Pork is housed in there, waiting to give birth to little piglets. To the right of the barn is the feeding area. There’s a tub for grain and an alfalfa feeder on the wall. We recently spread a ton of rocks in this area because the continual traffic of the livestock (Jacob sheep and kinder/Nubian goats) really has churned up the mud. A person (me) could (has) get stuck in that muck.
Baldwin Acres 