Listen, I tell you a mystery:
We will not all sleep,
but we will all be changed —
in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye,
at the last trumpet.
For the trumpet will sound,
the dead will be raised imperishable,
and we will be changed.
— 1 Corinthians 15:51-52
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photo credit: Wikipedia
Thus heavenly hope is all serene,
But earthly hope, how bright soe’er,
Still fluctuates o’er this changing scene,
As false and fleeting as ‘tis fair.
–Reginald Heber
On Heavenly Hope and Earthly Hope
I do not spend much time on the street, but while I covered news for our local newspaper, I did cover a proposition that involved the street, itself, as a fleeting moment.
First , you see the sign for a “fleeting moment” street, for those who can read.
As you can also see, it engenders wrath.
Next is the multi-cultural sign, which includes the non-reading culture, of course. And you also see folks around here have no trouble respecting that one.
Isn’t that how we always are? We resent what we do not understand and accept the easier stuff?
Yep.
And do we want to understand? Not always, if it means we might have been wrong. Admit it. We all do this.
However, quite often, those who put up warning signs are among those who know what’s coming and only hope, for a fleeting moment, to awaken us to dreadful possibilities, to protect us from our own mistakes, should we continue.
How kind!
How needed!
How I want to be like that!
Once you have cucumbers plants zipping along, all you need is patience and a good recipe. To me, a good pickle recipe takes only one day of actual handling of the cucumbers. However, to go strictly by taste, some of the best recipes take a few days. Both types of recipe are given here.
After you have all the “baby Gherkins” you need (at the rate of eating one pint a month, twelve pints should be enough, but they are nice gifts, too) you can begin letting the cucumbers mature to the size for dills, “bread and butters”, and for use in salads.
After that you can start trying to find friends who need cucumbers.
After that you can start trying to find enemies who need cucumbers.
After that you can start a cucumber stand.
Well, twenty-five plants will be too many once you get your Gherkins, so be prepared to do the unthinkable and till that row under after a time. Tell yourself, “A weed is any plant that is growing in the wrong place.” They make good fertilizer, anyway.
One other thought about pickles. Some people pressure-can everything they put into jars. Others do not. I never recommend that practice to anyone else. I do recommend that you follow the directions on pressure or hot-water canning to the letter, always. Also, whenever a pickle recipe calls for vinegar, it means “5% acidity apple cider vinegar” unless noted otherwise. It does NOT mean “4 ½% amber-colored, distilled, apple-cider-flavored vinegar”. In other words, get the real thing. The same for salt. Do not use regular table salt, but special salt for canning or at least get un-iodized salt.
Also, think about the quality of the water you use. High quality water is better, by far. I use a pitcher type filter with good results.
Baby Gherkins
2 gallons cold water
2 cups pickling lime
7 pounds cucumbers (about 1 gallon, but weigh them!)
2 quarts vinegar (see above, about vinegar)
1 Tbs. whole cloves
1-2 tsp. whole pickling spices
1 Tbs. canning salt
4 pounds sugar
Mix lime with 2 gallons of water. Add cucumbers. Soak 24 hours. Drain and rinse well. Cover cucumbers with clear water and soak 3 hours. Drain. Mix vinegar, spices, salt, and sugar. Bring to a boil. Pour over cucumbers and soak 12 hours. Dump all into a pan and boil hard for 35 minutes. Place into boiling hot jars. Cap with hot lids. Process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.
Kosher Dill Pickles
Brine:
1 cup pickling salt
3 quarts water
1 quart vinegar (see above about vinegar)
Pack cucumbers as tightly as possible into clean quart jars. Into each jar, also place:
1 clove garlic
2 heads dill (fresh) or 2 tsp. dried seed
1 cayenne pepper
Bring brine to a rolling boil. Pour brine into each jar to cover all contents. Cap with hot lids. Process in boiling water bath for 20 minutes. Allow to cure for six weeks before eating. The quantities for the brine above will make 7 to 8 quarts of pickles (or about two gallon jars, but then you cannot hot-water bath them. Many people never do and they make fine pickles.) Cucumbers may be whole, spears, chunks, or slices, but whole ones stay crisper.
8 cups sliced cucumbers*
2 cups sliced onion*
1 Tbs. canning salt
1 ¾ cups sugar
1 cup vinegar (see above about vinegar)
1 tsp. mustard seed
½ cup chopped bell pepper
1 tsp. celery seed
Stir salt into cucumbers and onions. Let soak for one hour. Heat remaining ingredients to a boil. Add cucumber mixture with all its juice. Bring to a boil again. Pack into boiling hot jars. Cap with hot lids. Process for 20 minutes in a boiling water bath. Yield: 5-6 pints. *Chop or grind to make relish instead.
Cucumber Salad
1 cup chopped cucumber
1 cup chopped tomato
1 cup chopped bell pepper
¼ cup chopped onion
1 cup Italian dressing (vinegar/oil type)
Mix and enjoy!
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photo credit: wikipedia
It was February, 15 years ago, when I began to write this, a cold misty day – my favorite weather, but I was ignoring it. My heart had attached itself to a small, glossy package of seeds entitled “Little Marvel Pea.”
Oh, how we love these, the best food every created! Each year my children searched store aisles with eager-eagle eyes and then the begging would begin and it would not end until I bought at least two packages.
That had happened in January and the seeds had sat on the table by my back door for over a month, proclaiming marvelousness each time I passed.
They are marvels because they have taught my children to love digging, planting, weeding, and sweating. Sowing and Reaping, the Parable of the Sower, and endless other lessons have been planted in young hearts because they will do anything for “Little Marvels”, briefly simmered and buttered, the earlier in the year, the better.
I’m so glad for what God can do through the simplicity of humbly acquiring real food for our tables.
I’ve been discussing pickles, though, with my friends, lately. Someone asked, “How do you make little, sweet, whole “Gherkin” pickles? My kids love them . . . ” There is such potential for blessing here.
Mom, teach those little ones also to love the simple act of acquiring them!
The answer is that first you buy cucumber seed. You will never find the right cucumbers at a farmer’s market. For the very small pickles you will need many more plants than usual because each plant sets only a few flowers a day. To get enough tiny cucumbers to bother with would take many days and the first-picked ones would wilt . . . so you need enough to be able to pick around 2 quarts at a time.
To accomplish this, plant about 25 seeds.
Now your neighbors will tell you that is too many, but they will really react when they see your whole cucumber patch in one neat row with no weeds.
Yes, plant those seeds in a row, about five inches between plants. Yes, ten to twelve feet of row would be just right. (Forget the neighbors!)
After they sprout, it is time to “subdue” them. Train each vine to follow the line of the row in which it is growing. At the far end, there will be vines trailing where none were planted, so plan a space for that. The concentration of leaves will shade out nearly all weeds and keep the soil moister and cooler. Also, the row scheme lets you walk, weed, hoe, till and harvest with ease.
Once the plants are in full production, pick them every morning. They’ll not be as uniform in size as “store bought” but will cost less. You may save them in an airtight container, refrigerated for a day, but not much longer. This will help you work around your busy summer schedule and provide for a bigger batch to work with each time you heat up your kitchen.
Recipes tomorrow.
Psalm 51: 10-12
As a writer watching my son survive college writing classes,
knowing his personality and his wrong language tendencies,
I’ve concluded that, at least sometimes,
we cushion our message in “thesaurus words” because we fear a harsh reaction.
Only a long time writer knows:
no matter how you cushion it,
harsh reactions will spring up.
When creating matters more to me than my ego,
then it improves.
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photo credit: wikipedia
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