Cucumbers to pickle...

you don't have to own a farm to have freshly made pickles...........

go to your farmer's market and purchase the yummiest (and organic of course ;) cucumbers - no matter what variety - but I prefer the 'good ol' standard cucumber - it has a nice straight shape.........

we ended up with a little over 10lbs. of cucumbers in one picking!  and my husband l.o.v.e.s. pickles...

after they were all cut, I first measured the "big white bowl" (my infamous bread rising bowl) so that I could calculate - after ends were cut off- how much we did gather for pickling....

since the bowl weighed 5lbs., after adding the cut up cucumbers,

we had about 5lbs. of soon to be pickles.......

the ends go to in the compost pile + chickens peck at them = nutritious eggs

cucumber facts:

~Cucumber contains erepsin, the enzyme that helps to digest protein. 

~Cucumber juice is also valuable for helping diseases of the teeth, gums

~The potassium content of cucumber makes it highly useful for conditions of high and low blood pressure. 

~Cucumber is best natural diuretic known

~Adding a crunchy cool cucumber to your salads is an especially good way to increase your fiber intake because cucumber comes naturally prepackaged with the extra fluid you need when consuming more fiber. Plus, you get the added bonus of vitamin C, silica, potassium and magnesium. 

~Besides....my grandmother (God rest her soul) used to put cucumbers on her eyes while sunbathing..........she taught me to do that down in Florida when I think I was 5 - hilarious - 

A blog I recently became a follower...A Country Farmhouse...had
the easiest looking refrigerator pickles

so I tried it!

and am very satisfied with the results!!

I added some peppercorn and mustard seeds, and fresh organic dill from the garden and a bit more garlic than they did, but overall, you adjust to your taste.......

it's cooling here...........my daughter thought it looked like a science experiement - which led to a whole bunch of things we talked about...like the correlation of cooking - how it is a science, but one you always can have fun with and experiment with = why I
love being at home with my children!!

enough pickles to last us for a few weeks.......we won't eat them for
a few weeks....if we can wait that long!!

get out there and enjoy that farmer's market!!!!!

~make sure you thank them....trust me...we like it when you do~