Cool as a Cucumber

How do you like your cucumbers? In a salad? Peeled and sliced? Pickled? Or, on someone's plate besides your own?  I don't eat them (from the grocery store) from about August to May.  But, in June & July... Summer garden cucumbers every single day!

I train my cucumber vines to grow up inside tomato cages.
The deer leave them alone pretty well if I keep them tucked inside the cages.

I love how the kitchen counter looks on summer days.
There is a limit to how many fresh cucumbers you want eat in a day.  
 HERE  is my favorite pickle recipe for the extras.

So why this summer painting and post in January?

This week's art challenge word was "cool."   After thinking through a list of ideas of things that are cool, I decided, "Cool as a Cucumber" would be a fun little painting.

Original Oil Painting on 5"x 7" Wrapped Canvas
[SOLD]

Homemade Pickles You'll Relish

 

It just so happens that I make amazing pickles.
How about if I share my instructions and recipe!
... From the very beginning...

STEP 1
Buy pickling cucumber seeds (not burpless) and plant them in cute little greenhouse pods.
 Even if you want to water them lots, don't or you'll drown half of them like I did.
Put them in a sunny room with a door to keep the curious cat out of them.
Turn them around each day since they will lean toward the light.

STEP 2
Transfer them to something bigger with more soil as they grow.
If you have a bad habit of getting a Coke at Sonic, reuse those cups.
Keep the soil moist. (And keep the cat out of the room!)

STEP 3
Shovel your year's worth of chicken litter across the garden.
Sprinkle the fertilizer  you bought all across it as well.
* Notice that the onions in the barrels are growing nicely already.

STEP 4
Till the garden going around and around.
Toss out the rocks. (Where do those come from! I know I got them all last year!)
You'll know you're finished when the tiller runs out of gas.

STEP 5
Borrow your son's truck to pick up a load of mulch.
Cover the whole garden bed one shovelful at a time.

STEP 6
Be proud of a job well done.
Take a picture. 
Take a shower.
Take an ibuprofen because your back is probably killing you.

STEP 7
Plant the cucumber plants inside big homemade cages.
Every day train the plant to grow up instead of out.
Put the new runners up on the inside of the cage. 

STEP 8
Train the cucumber vines up the inside (instead of the outside edges) of the cage.
If you forget this step, the deer will help by eating whatever their noses can reach.
The cucumbers will hang down as they grow and are ready to be picked..
They can grow fast, so check every day!

STEP 9
Pick them before they get big and fat like Willy Wonka's snozzcumbers!
While you're still wearing your garden gloves, rub all the little pricklies off their skin.
Wash them, peel them, (feed the peels to the chickens), take a picture.

STEP 10
Eat them for every meal and every snack without guilt.  They have zero calories.
Unless you skipped STEP 8 and shared your vines, leaves, and blooms with the deer, 
you will eventually get tired of eating them raw 
no matter how many different ways you slice them.

STEP 11
It's time to turn the extra cucumbers into pickles.

STEP 12
Pull some onions. You'll need those too.

My Recipe

It's not exact... Use more or less of each ingredient as you please.

• Thinly sliced cucumbers (a bucket full... 6-ish cups)
• Thinly sliced onions (a bowl full... 1+ cups)
• White vinegar (to cover... 1 1/2 -2 cups)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds (yum... those little ball things... add extra!)
• 1/2 teaspoon celery seeds (can't imagine anything good could come from celery...but anyway... just put them in.)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric (the stuff that turns it yellow-ish)
• 
  
• Combine vinegar and spices in a saucepan
• Bring to a boil for a minute while stirring 
• Pour vinegar mixture over cucumber and onion slices
• Cool, cover, and marinate in refrigerator

If you need relish, just take some out and chop it up!

The inspiration for this painting came from Sara's photograph, Relish the Moment, on Inspiration Collaboration.

Original Oil Painting on 10"x 10" Wrapped Canvas.
Click Homemade Pickles if you'd like to purchase this painting.

Sweet Pickles

Bread and Butter Pickles

cucumbers...............10 pounds

sugar.......................10 pounds

canning salt............ 1 box

alum........................ 1 heaping teaspoon

apple cider vinegar.. 1 gallon

cinnamon sticks/bark

whole cloves

Phase 1

Make brine with water and enough canning salt to "float an egg" in a bucket. (Place egg on bottom of bucket of water Add salt until egg floats.)

Remove egg.

Add clean whole cucumbers.

Cover with a plate and weight them down.

Cover bucket with a towel.

Let them stand for 2 weeks. (Yes, they will look disgusting by 2 weeks!)

Phase 2

Remove the pickles from the brine.

Wash well in clear water.

Scald out your container.

Put new water in bucket.

Add 1 heaping tablespoon of alum. (This makes the pickles crisp.)

Add the sliced cucumbers.

Let stand overnight.

Phase 3

Drain alum water.

Cover with apple cider vinegar.

Let stand overnight.

Phase 4

Drain vinegar.

Add 10 pounds of sugar. (Yes, 10 lbs!)

Add cinnamon sticks/bark.

Add bags filled with tablespoon whole cloves. (Make the netting bags out of 6x6 square of netting with whole cloves in the middle. Close the bags with a bread tie. The netting keeps the whole cloves out of the pickles.)

Let stand for a week. (Stir the sugar, cinnamon sticks/cloves every so often as it makes the syrup.

Phase 5

Put it in jars.

Enjoy!

(Thanks to my sister who grows enormous number of cucumbers and makes the best pickles with a crisp crunch and an extra zingy flavor.)

"Sweet Pickles" was featured in an Etsy treasury (collection of art and vintage items) celebrating the culture of farm life.  Click "Hey, Good Lookin'!" to enjoy the treasury.  Home for the Summer is a collection that will give you a peaceful sigh. Click A Trip to the Farmers Market for a happy, colorful, and yummy treat.  Finally click Screaming Pickles for another fun treasury all about pickles. 


It also enjoys a spot on the October challenge celebrating "labor" on In the Moment Challenge.  Have a look!