Save This Farm

They sell these in stores, right?

You are looking at the ingredients for home made pickles (southern sweet pickles, at that). Obviously today is a slow day on the farm and I have been wanting to learn how to do this for a while. We even planted pickling cucumbers this year for just such entertainment. I hunted down my Nanny Bethune's recipe, purchased all the ingredients, harvested the cucumbers and began the process.

I should have read the recipe first. It takes two days of lime soaking, pickle juice soaking, cooking and canning before you have sweet pickles. But, nothing as simple as time is going to slow me down. (The recipe also said overnight or six hours; I chose six hours). I soaked, rinsed, iced and cooked cucumbers all day. The smell of the pickles processing filled the house. The sound of lids "popping" to seal the deal and the pride in having learned a new skill brought back memories of childhood. At a young age you are proud of a finished product and having mastered even simple skills .

Thing learned:

1) you are never too old to learn

2) even Jake is learning new things

3) you are never too young to learn