I can can!

I can grow vegetables; make bread; skirt a fleece; card, comb and spin; knit; sew; change tires;  rope and ride; milk a cow or a goat, but I had never canned until this summer.  I consulted the wonderful www.foodinjars.com and started making pickles about three weeks ago. It has cut into my fiber time, but it sure is fun.

I made seven pounds of lovely little cucumbers (or they might have been gherkins) into garlic dill pickles on Sunday. I  also made the red onion pickles and the dilly beans and the sweet cherries from FoodInJars.com recipes–all fantastic. I found some early okra at the farmers market last weekend and pickled that with a recipe from the LBJ Ranch (Ladybird’s recipe, supposedly). I waited four whole days before tasting them and they were pretty good, but lacked a little depth or complexity. I suspect I jumped the gun on opening them, but next time I will add more spices, too.

So now my pioneer-woman-skills toolbox is complete.

Pickled cherries

Pre-pickling

pickled peppers and pickled pickles

Pickled okra

Dilly beans!