Reaping the rewards

Tonight for dinner, I walked out the back door and picked several of the ingredients from my garden. The lettuce is so tender it rips apart when you try to pick it. I had a very hard time breaking it off near the stalk. The swiss chard is both in the salad and cooked like spinach and topped with butter and salt. I added radishes to the salad that I grew in the garden.

I can't WAIT for the rest of the garden to start producing. I am especially anxious for tomatoes. We bought four more plants today to replace the ones that didn't make it. Our eyes also got a little bit bigger than our plot and we came home with three watermelons, two canteloupe, three pumpkins, a crookneck squash, two zucchini and sixteen (you read that right, sixteen) cucumbers. We are going to have to expand part of the garden for the squashes and pumpkins. I am also giving away four of the cucumber plants. There will be lots of pickles this year!

Attack of the Dilly Beans

So I picked up about 2.5 lbs of Green Beans on Friday and decided to make my first attempt at pickling. Or pickling of sorts anyway. A friend had suggested I make pickled green beans, aka Dilly Beans. It seems fairly simple, and in actuality it was. I found two different recipes, and they seem about the same, except they used different amount of beans, and one called for mustard seed (which I didn't have anyway). Of course, I had an amount that was between the two recipes (seriously, I can't win with this stuff) but since either way it involved doing a raw pack (putting the raw stuffs in the jar and covering with a syrup or brine) I figured I would just make a little bit more then I'd need, and then I wouldn't be short.

I trimmed and cut the beans, getting rid of any with bad spots or wilted bits (During this, I also had my jars heating on the stove). I started my brine mixture (water, vinegar and canning salt) pulled out the hot jars, but let the lids in my hot water. I packed the jars, adding a clove (or two if they were small) a few sprigs of dill and packed the green beans in on top. When the brine was ready I ladled it into the jars, popped on the hot lids (fresh from the hot water, and yes I usually burn my fingers) and screwed them down with the jar bands.


I hadn't ever used my canner as a water boiler before, so I called Gracie in a panic early in this process. She talked me down, and so I had a good idea had to do it before I started. I had the canner already heating up with an ungodly amount of water in it on the stove, and once the water hit 140 degrees (I just use a candy thermometer) I put my cans of beans in. Let it heat to a "rigorous boil" per my canner's booklet, boiled for the allotted time, and pulled the beans out of the hot water, shoving them in my usual corner to cool.

They seem to have turned out great! I haven't tried any yet (I'm letting them 'stew' for bit to really season). The only thing I'm a little perturbed about is the shrinkage of the beans themselves. I shoved the cans full, yet I always seem to get a .5-1 inch of space once they are heated and sealed.

Is it Spring yet?

I know that it's April, but since Gracie and I have both had snow in the last week (stupid weather gods!) I really haven't been able to get a decent jump on the garden or anything remotely outside-ish. This weekend I plan on getting the composter my sister showed me, hopefully plant my starters from the Farmer's Market last weekend, and doing some (more) canning.

One good thing about staying around the area you grew up (especially when it's a very small town) is you know everybody. Seriously. Today I stopped at the grocery store because I wanted to can something besides strawberries and apples. I happened to have gone to school with one of the guys who works in the fruits and veggies and he told me that they had just gotten an excellent batch of green beans. I grabbed a bunch of those (it's probably several pounds to be honest) and also some baby dill. I actually found a mix of pickle spices also, so I'll probably try some with fresh herbs and some with the seasoning.

Once again, I will try and keep you up to date on my adventures and please, keep your fingers crossed for me.