There’s about 15 inches of snow on the ground around here — no outdoor gardening will be done in Wisconsin. I did receive my first garden catalog, however, — from Jung’s. Thank you Diana. But, it’s too early to be browsing and dreaming yet.
We had a most unusal event here. There was a huge barn fire in my neighborhood on Christmas. (about a mile from my house) Do you know how I found out about it? An email from Southern California from a former business colleague of my husband’s whose grown daughter knew the wife of the farmer from AFS years ago.
This fire was so big that it burned from 5 AM until late in the night on Christmas, but we didn’t have a clue because we were out at church, or out at the movies, or had our window shades closed all day to keep the house warm. It was a huge, beautiful 100 year old barn — gone. We drove by this afternoon, and it is still smoldering. We don’t know these people, but we know their relatives and many of their neighbors.
Nobody was hurt, and they got all the cous out, thank God. One person was treated for smoke inhalation because he was recovering from pneumonia at the time of the fire, and he went in the lead 20 cows to safety. The fire was caused by a space heater.
Well, that’s all the “news from Lake Woebegone”!
Those space heaters can be dangerous. My ex son-in-law’s house burned due to a space heater. They forgot to turn it off when they left, and so weren’t there when it started.
rightly said: “Need to do something different to keep interest alive, same old, same old kinda gets old.”
Stick with me, rightly, since I don't know all the rules of planting/growing, I'm not hemmed in by rules, so I do weird things and some of those may temp you to do them, too. You will enjoy the Tromboncino Squash and it grows so fast you can sit outside at night and watch it grow. I want another Stevia plant and have to get a Meyer Lemon dwarf tree AND NOW:
I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CUCUMBERS.
The short version of this story is I am self locked in my house as people are dying of H1N1 in this county - four have already died and I don't know how the other four are. I can't take the vaccine and being 80, I will die if I get that. Here is my problem:
I am eating my food storage. Yesterday afternoon, I was going to make tuna salad and discovered there was no pickle relish in the fridge and it took me cleaning out the pantry to find one small bottle of relish. Rats. When that is gone I will have NONE. I do have two bottles of sweet “Stackers” which are thinly sliced Bread and Butter sweet pickles and can make relish out of that.
I have stacks and stacks of canned chicken for an emergency, but I have to buy bottles of relish. Now, I need to plan for growing cucumbers to make sweet pickles so I got my big “The Joy of Pickling” book and found a fast recipe for sweet pickles. Other types of sweet pickles in this book take three to four days but these can be prepared and put in the canning bath in one day.
I would need cucumbers that are 3-4 inches long. Is there a cucumber you grow that is resistant to insects and cans well? That may be a dumb question but I don't know if some cucumbers are better canners than others.
You slice these cucumbers 3/16 inch thick. To make 3 1/2 pints, you do this (IS THERE SUCH A THING AS MAKING ACTUAL RELISH, THEN WATER BATH CANNING IT? There probably isn't.):
QUICK SWEET CUCUMBER SLICES
1. Toss the sliced cucumbers (3/16 inch thick) with 2 tablespoons pickling salt. Empty an ice cube tray over the cucumbers and let them stand for 3-4 hours.
2. Drain the cucumbers , discarding any ice cubes that haven't melted. In a nonreactive pot, bring to boil the 2 1/2 cups of sugar, 3 1/2 cups cider vinegar, 1/2 tsp. whole fennel seeds, 1/2 tsp. whole coriander seeds, 1 1/2 tsp. whole allspice berries, 1 tbsp. whole yellow mustard seed.
3. Stir until sugar is dissolved.
4. Add cucumbers. Over medium heat, bring to a boil again. Pack them unto pint or half pint jars leaving 1/2 inch headroom. Close with two piece lids and process in boiling water for 5 minutes.
When I needed relish, I would cut them up along with a bit of the sweet juice to make relish.
I must have relish in an emergency situation. I asked greeneyes on another thread earlier today to drive here from Missouri and bring relish to my door so I don't have to leave my house, but she hasn't driven here.
What cucumber seed should I get to grow cucumbers - remember this is hot Texas so they have to endure heat and be strong to keep insects from killing them.