Pickling Woes

Nanny called yesterday afternoon and said that she'd picked a 5-gallon bucket full of cucumbers and a 3-gallon bucket of squash.  She said she was going to make another batch of relish with the biggest cucumbers, and that I should come get the rest.

I'd already made several jars of relish and several jars of pickles, and I decided that this time I would try to make those good, cinnamon-y cucumber rings that taste like apples, the ones you make with Red Hots.  I stopped by the grocery store for supplies, and found everything but the pickling lime.

That made the third time I've looked for pickling lime without finding any.  What's up with that?  All of the stores are carrying a product called "Pickle Crisp" instead of lime.  You don't soak your cucumbers in it; you sprinkle it on the cucumbers in the jars, pour the pickling brine in, and then seal up the jars.  I did this with the first batch of kosher pickles.

The Cinnamon Cucumber Rings recipe calls for soaking the cucumbers in lime overnight.  The next day, the cucumbers are rinsed and simmered in water and vinegar, then they're supposed to soak overnight in a mixture of vinegar, sugar, Red Hots, cinnamon, and water.  Since I couldn't find any lime, I skipped that step and went straight to the simmering. 

Big mistake.  I ended up with a pan of limp zeroes.  I went ahead and made the Red Hot brine to pour over them, but I will probably wind up throwing this batch away.

While the cucumbers were simmering, I opened up a jar of the pickles I'd made with the Pickle Crisp.  They are not mushy, but they are not crisp, either.  (I'm hoping that a few hours in the refrigerator will perk them up.)  I am not confident that the Pickle Crisp can revive the poor cucumber rings without divine intervention. 

I did a little research and discover that pickling lime is no longer recommended.  It seems that if you don't wash it off well enough, it can jack around with the acidity of your pickles, and botulism can grow.  That must be why the stores aren't carrying it.

Phooey on that.  Mrs. Wages is still selling pickling lime on her web site, and I have ordered four bags of it - enough to get me through the next couple of seasons, I bet!

But I'll be very careful to wash it off well. 

Intruder Alert!

I watered the garden yesterday, gave it a good soaking.  It took nearly all day.  As I was puttering around, I noticed that a couple of cornstalks were seriously leaning toward the ground.  The husks had been peeled back to expose the kernels, and a few bites were missing from the cobs.  Danged racoons!  Apparently, my high-tech sonic pest deterrent isn't working.  We need a more serious deterrent, something along the lines of a 12-gauge.

Otherwise, the garden is doing well.  The Ford Hook butterbeans have big pods on them, and they are beginning to fill out.  Tomatoes are loaded with fruit.  The butternut squash have baby butternuts on them.  The rattlesnake beans are beginning to put out runners.  The cucumbers and crookneck squash are still cranking out product.  The watering ought to send them into high gear.

It's going to be really hot (upper 90s) for the next few days, but the tropical storm in the Gulf is supposed to bring us some lower temperatures mid-week.  There are a lot of chores left to be done in the garden, but none that can't wait until Thursday evening, when it shouldn't be so hot.

* * * * * *

I had my second accupuncture appointment Saturday afternoon.  It might have been my last visit.

When I got out of the shower Saturday morning, there was black stuff oozing from my taped-up belly-button.  It was those Chinese herb beads melting.  I peeled off the tape, dug out the beads, and cleaned out the remaining goo.  Yuck.  The "beads" taped to my ear, belly, and arms were holding fast.  I did not mess with them, except to take one off my ear that was feeling sore.  Examining the tape, I found a tiny little black dot, about the size of a sesame seed, and I wondered how it could've made my ear sore.

On this second visit, the accupuncture doctor poked me in some different places - two in my cheek, one in my neck, more in my feet and on my stomach, and one on the back of each wrist.  Despite my protests, he insisted on giving me another B-12 shot.  They filled up my belly button with beads again, and said for me to come back on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of this week.  He said that if I continued to follow his instructions - no fried foods, no fat, no nuts, no meat - I should lose 3 - 5 pounds in the coming week.

Hell, I could lose 3 - 5 pounds without getting poked.

I did not make the appointments while I was standing at the counter, paying for this second visit.  The first visit had cost $175, herbs and all.  The second visit was $75, including the B-12 shot.  The thing was that I could not see many results from the first visit.  I might have had a little more flexibility in my hands, but the accupuncture treatments and the bead-pressing hadn't seemed to curb my appetite at all.  I wanted to think about it a bit before making any more appointments.

I went straight from the accupuncture office to my granddaughter's birthday party.  She noticed the little tape squares on my arms and started asking questions.  When I told her there were "beads" under the tape, she insisted on seeing one.  Thinking that I could re-stick the tape, I peeled one off to show her.  There wasn't a "bead" under the tape as there had been on the one I'd taken off my ear; there was a needle under it!  A tiny, 1/16" long needle!  Ohhhh, it gave me the creeps.  Then I thought about the tapes on my stomach.  They'd been "pricking" me all afternoon.  When I came home from the party, I peeled one of the stomach tapes off, and, sure enough, there was a needle in it, too. 

I went crazy peeling off tapes. 
I pulled off the remaining seven tape squares (every one of which contained a tiny needle). 
I pulled off the tape over my belly button and dug out the beads.  In doing so, I discovered another needle in my belly button. 
I dug the remaining "beads" out of my ears.

I think I've had enough accupuncture for this lifetime.

Human Pincushion

Today, I went to an accupuncturist.

Seriously.  Given my fear of needles, it's nothing short of a miracle.

I did this after a friend went to see this doctor for back problems.  For weeks, she'd been barely able to walk and was in constant pain.  A neurologist diagnosed a ruptured disk and a herniated disk in her lower back.  A friend of hers recommended this accupuncturist.  After two treatments, she is pain free.  She showed me the accupuncturist's brochure.  It listed treatment for all sorts of things.  I went to see him for weight loss and relief from carpal tunnel syndrome.

He came in, talked with me a bit, and gave me some herbs to swallow.  Then he had me strip down to my underwear, lie down on a table, and cover up with a paper sheet.  A few minutes later, he came back into the room and started pressing around on my body.  "Which is more tender, one, two or three?"  When I'd call out the number, he'd jab a needle there.  He worked on mostly on my legs and belly.  On the top side of each wrist he stuck one needle, and he stuck one right between my eyes.  The whole thing only took a few minutes, and it was not at all painful; I might have felt a tiny prick with the first needle in my leg, but not even a twinge after that.  Once I was all pierced, he left.  The nurse pulled a srong red light over to the table and shined it on my stomach.  She told me to rest for 15 minutes.  During this rest period, I opened my eyes and looked down my body.  "Pincushion" was the thought that came to mind.


When she came back, she took out the needles (also painless), taped my belly button full of some little black Chinese herb beads, taped more beads to my abdomen and left ear, and said we were done.  She said not to eat any meat, oil, nuts, or peanut butter for 24 hours.  I'm supposed to press these beads several times a day.

They also gave me an assortment of herbs to take at home, before and after meals.  I'm also supposed to drink a daily cup of green lotus tea. 

I'm going back tomorrow for another treatment.  We'll see what they recommend next.

I know one thing:  choosing to go to this doctor today has screwed up my Friday Night Margarita outing.  :-\

Picklin'

There are 6 quarts of kosher dill pickles, some with a hefty handful of jalapeno peppers thrown in, cooling in the canner right now.  And in the refrigerator is a big old bowl of chopped cucumbers, peppers, and onions soaking in salt water that will be cucumber relish in about 3 hours. 

I have a canning book called Putting Up More by Stephen Palmer Dowdney.  (I believe there was an original Putting Up, but I didn't run across it in the store the day I bought this book.)  It is just full of delicious-sounding recipes.  Among them is a recipe for "Summer Squash Pickle" that I'll be trying if the yellow squash is still producing when the zucchini starts to come in.  Here's the recipe in case you're interested:

Summer Squash Pickle (makes 7 pints)

7 cups cubed yellow squash (1-inch pieces)
3 cups sliced zucchini (no more than 1" thick)
1.5 cups diced red onion
2.5 cups diced red pepper
2 carrots, sliced into 1" pieces, then halved or quartered
7 cloves of garlic (1 for each jar)

Saltwater Solution:  1 quart water + 3/4 cup salt

Pickling Solution: 
2.5 cups cider vinegar (5% acidity)
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons whole celery seed
1 teaspoon dry mustard.

In a pot, glass baking dish, or other large container, spread out the squash and onion, sprinkle salt on top and leave for 2 hours minimum.  [Note:  this is evidently additional salt, not the salt for the "saltwater solution".  The recipe does not say how much salt is sprinkled on top.]

When ready to proceed, add saltwater solution, stir once, and drain well, but do not rinse.  Mix remaining vegetables together, except for the garlic.  Put 1 garlic clove in each sterile jar and fill with remaining vegetables.

Prepare the pickling solution by mixing all ingredients together in a non-reactive pot, place over heat, and bring to a boil.  ("Non-reactive" means something other than aluminum.) 

Place the jars in the canning rack, fill with pickling solution, and check the pH of the liquid.* Place the thermometer in the center jar with the special lid, loosely lid the other jars, and lower into the boiling [water] bath, ensuring the water level does not come higher than the fill line on the jars.**  As the water beings to return to a boil, lower heat slightly to prevent further boiling.

When canning temperature reaches 200 degrees F, wait 2 minutes before removing jars.  Tighten lids, replace center lid, and invert all jars for 2 minutes minimum.

* This pH check is supposed to be done with pH strips.  I don't have any of these.  The recipe says that the pH of the liquid should be below 4.3.  The author says that he has tested the all of the recipes in the book, and that they should all be at a safe pH level.

** These instructions are foreign to me.  I will be using the old-fashioned water bath method (where you put the lids on the jars, lower them into water that covers the jars by 1", and, once the water boils, start timing), and will be processing my jars for 15 minutes.  I'm typing the instructions from the book's preface in case you want to follow his method.

"The center jar, known as the cold jar because it is always filled first, will hold a thermometer inserted thru a temporary makeshift lid with a small hole in the center (a 1-minute homemade project).  The remaining jars, usually six, are loosely capped with sterile lids so air can flow out; once tightened, an excellent vacuum can be created as the jars cool.  The rack is lowered slowly and carefully into the boiling water bath.  The water level in the bath cannot go beyond the fill rings, or canning lines.  Again, this is critical when water bathing because one cannot allow water to enter the loosely sealed jars.  The water in the bath will stop boiling as the jars are lowered in.  At the first signs of boiling, lower the heat slightly to prevent the bubbling water from entering the loosely capped jars.  When the prescribed temperature is reached, wait 2 additional minutes before removing the rack.  Once out of the bath, tighten each jar's lid, replace the lid on the center jar, and finally invert all jars for a minimum of 2 minutes."

Squashed to Death

We've been on vacation all week, got home yesterday evening.  I was anxious to see how the garden was doing, but was too tired to aim myself in that direction.  The first thing after breakfast this morning, I went to have a look.

Gah!  I couldn't believe how much it has grown! 

When I left, the corn was barely shoulder-high; now, it is far above my head, and tasslin' and silkin'!  I set out some sonic pest inhibitors at the ends of the corn rows, aiming them toward the woods behind the garden, hoping to annoy the raccoons enough that they won't bother the corn.  As smart as 'coons are, they'll probably plug their ears and move on in.

The tomato plants are out of control.  When the plants were small, I put tomato cages over them to hold the main stalk upright, but I have not been stuffing the limbs up through the mesh, and the limbs are now trailing all over the ground.  There are no longer any "middles" in those rows.  We've picked a few ripe tomatoes, already.  So has the turtle. 

The squash and cucumbers are in high gear.  We can't give away one picking of squash before it needs picking again!  I'll be starting a batch of cucumber pickles tomorrow.

The little black tiller came home today.  He'd been at my son's house since early spring.  Seeing how much the garden has grown - it's now too "close" for the big tiller - I demanded Little Black's return.  The minute he came home, I took him to the garden and cranked him up.  He is such a good weeder.  I've missed him so!

I had to cut my tilling short when I noticed blight on one of the tomato plants and had to stop to spray fungicide.  Yeah, I hate the stuff, too, but what else can I do?  This property apparently hosts every strain of blight known to man, and probably a morphed strain or two that's not even in the textbooks. 

Mysteries Solved

I stopped by the dollar store on my way to work yesterday morning to buy a ball of jute string.  This store has a good greenhouse and other needful gardening stuff.  My friend D. works there as manager of the greenhouse and is an avid gardener, herself.  We got right down to the business of talking about our vegetable gardens.

She, too, has a load of volunteer tomatoes from last year's crop.  Her philosophy on these volunteers was the same as mine: if they're in the paths between the rows, they get chopped down; if they're out of the way of the hoe/tiller/feet, they can stay.  "I'm not tending to them, either," she said.  "I'm not staking them, or feeding them.  They're on their own.  They either make it, or they don't."  She said she has great clumps of them coming up under her green bean "teepees," and she is curious to see how well the beans and tomatoes will co-exist in the same space. 

She also said that she has thoroughly had it with weeding and has decided to mow the grass in the middles rather than remove it.  I'm kind of thinking that she might regret this decision next year, but we'll see.  If it works, I might try it next year, for I'm not too keen on weeding, myself.

The dollar store had only small balls of jute left in stock.  I bought three of them.  Yesterday evening, just after dinner, The Husband and I went to the garden to string the jute between the two rows of fence posts I'd set in the ground on the rattlesnake bean rows.  I'd strung baling wire between them, one strand 6" from the ground, and one strand across the tops of the posts.  The plan was to tie the jute strings vertically, top and bottom, so that the beans can run up them.  The Husband and I each took a ball of jute and set to work on our separate rows.  It took about 30 seconds for us to realize that undertaking a job that requires repetitive bending so soon after dinner was not a good idea. 

After we used up the jute (I hadn't bought enough to finish the job), I showed my husband some dime-sized animal tracks I'd seen while I was setting the fence posts.  There was a double row of them.  Each impression was only 1/2" away from the previous one, but the two rows were a full hand-breadth apart.  They looked like mini-bulldozer tracks, and I had not been able to imagine what kind of animal had made them.  "Turtle tracks," The Husband said, almost immediately.  Ah, yes.  Mystery solved.  Nothing else would've taken such small steps. 

We have entertained turtles in the garden in previous years.  They will nip the bottoms of the ripe tomatoes that they can reach - and they can reach surprisingly high - and they will help themselves to cucumbers and anything else that's low to the ground.  We told Nanny to add turtles to the list of things that The Nephew can shoot if he finds them in the garden.  I wonder if turtle soup can be made from just any old kind of turtle.  ;)

The Husband and I solved one other outdoor mystery this morning.

Near Easter, we bought four ducklings to put on the small pond beside our house.  The idea was that they would help thin out the mosquito population and perhaps rid the pond of the billions of perch that have taken over.  Our daughter-in-law raised the baby ducks in her chicken coop until we thought they had grown large enough to fend for themselves.  We brought them home about a month ago.  Two of the ducks disappeared - I mean COMPLETELY disappeared - before the week was out.  No signs of a struggle, no feathers laying about.  Just gone.  A week later, a third duck disappeared.  Same deal.  No feathers, no beaks or feet on the bank.  I did find a little bit of white fluff on the opposite side of the property, but couldn't be sure that it wasn't just fluff from the cottonwood trees.

Over the next month, the remaining duck survived to be a pretty good-sized duck.  It had learned to come when we'd go down to the pond with a cup of ground corn, calling "Ducky-duck?"  It would come waddling around the bank, whistling and quacking, ready to eat.  We wondered where we could find a full-grown duck to bring home so he/she wouldn't be so lonesome. 

Last week, Ducky-duck vanished.  

This morning, The Husband called, "Come here.  Hurry!"  I hustled to the living room.  He was standing at the window.  "Look on the swing set." 

There were two huge hawks perched on the swing set, and one hopping around in the yard, probably two parents and an offspring.  A bluejay was swooping the one on the ground. 

Last week, I'd heard screeching in the woods at that back corner of the yard, the very corner where I'd found the white fluff. 


The Husband and I said, at the same time, "That's what went with the ducks." 

I hope the bluejay is more successful at guarding her babies than we were. 

Seeds Up!

Thanks to the good rain, the rattlesnake beans, zucchini, and okra seeds shot out of the ground sometime between Sunday evening and Tuesday afternoon. 

Today, I hammered metal fence posts into the ground along the bean rows and strung wire between them, top and bottom.  As soon as I can find my roll of jute (or buy another one), I'm going to make a web between the two wires for the beans to climb. 

The garden is looking really good.  Corn is shoulder high, but isn't "tassling" yet.  Squash are producing.  Tomatoes are coming along.  Cucumbers are blooming, and here and there I'm seeing tiny little pickles.  The peppers are peppering.  The volunteer butterpeas are blooming.  Even the carrots are doing well!

No sign of any bugs today, except one squash bug.  I picked him off and crushed him with my shoe.  Tomorrow or the next day, I'll need to spray fungicide again to stay ahead of the blight.

More Rain

The chatter at work this morning was mostly about the creek-raising rain we got last night.

"Y'all can thank me for that," I said.  "I sprayed the garden yesterday morning."

From across the room, quiet-voiced Esther said, "Nope.  *I* did it."

I raised my eyebrows.  "What did you do?"

"I shot a snake," she said.  "And hung it, belly up, on the fence."

I had to concede that a snake-shooting trumps a garden-spraying.  Way to go, Esther!