Chilly Morn...49º

Looks like our warm nights are over, lows in the 40 are predicted for this week...Nice for the Cash Creek forest fire raging off to the East but not good for my cucumber patch!

I try growing cukes every year...Never much luck because they like hot days and warm nights, a rarity in Wallowa County...We not only love the fresh crunchy little morsel's from the garden (wipe the dirt off on my pant leg, sprinkle liberally with salt and munch away) but also from the jars that reside in the cellar where they have been labeled "Hot Garlic Dills".

I have to confess I love making these jars full of pickles as much as we love eating them...As my Mother taught me, jars are scrubbed clean and scalded...Scrub the freshest cukes you can get, gather fresh dill, grape leaves, a few cloves of garlic and hot red peppers...Make a salt, cider vinegar and water brine...The head of dill goes in the bottom of the jar, next whole cukes line the jar, garlic cloves and red peppers are pushed down along side cukes into empty spaces, add a grape leaf to the top and fill with brine...Now stand back and admire your artwork...I've been getting enough cucumbers to made a few jars and Herb labels them "Our Garden".

Hot Garlic Dills

Early morning yesterday we started with the sliced beets...Jars, lids, vinegar, sugar, heating, jarring, sealing, stand back and admire...Then we went to the garden, picked the cucumbers and whoa the cabbages...Rusty selected the 3 largest and that's how our day went...24 jars of pickled beets, 4 jars hot garlic dills and 13 jars of sauerkraut...Hugs to All...OWAV:)