Pickling Adventure

My dream has come true!  My garden sprang forth with enough cucumbers to make pickles!  First off...I had no idea that pickles were made from a specific type of cucumber!  I have never seen them in the produce section, nor at any of the farmers' markets or veggie stands I visit!  But I thought that I would give it a try with what we grew and see how they turned out!

I found a few recipes for refrigerator pickles that sounded fun, but I wanted to can them to keep for the rest of the year.  Using two recipes as a guideline, I winged what I thought would taste good (and used what I had in the pantry).  Here's the recipe I put together (for a VERY small batch - I didn't want to make a ton if they didn't turn out!).  This recipe yeilds (4) 12 oz jars.

 

 

 

I didn't add in the recipe all of the rules for safe canning. You can find info on how to do that here. These tasted so delicious I'd like to try pickling other veggies such as asparagus, carrots, and cauliflower! 

Before...

 

 

 

After!!!

 

 

 

1st Day of Kindergarten

Today is Fender's first day of Kindergarten and boy is he excited!  We have met his teacher, taken a tour of the school and now it is time for me to let go of his hand as he walks towards his classroom alone...

I wanted to start the tradition of 1st day of school photos to watch him grow and mature each year.  There are so many cute ways to capture this moment, but he really liked the idea of a chalkboard.  And with so much paint left over from last year's project, I decided to make my own!

 

 I started with a piece of plywood that I had dC rough up the edges on, chalkboard paint, and an art sponge.

 

 

Then I taped off a boarder with painters tape and with my trusty chalkboard paint and sponge set to painting in the chalkboard.  It was really hot outside so the paint dried quickly - within an hour it was done!  I think it turmed out pretty cute, but even cuter is his face in these photos!!!

 

 

 

What he wants to be when he grows up: "A guy who drives the fire truck"
What he is most excited about in Kindergarten: "The computers"
What he wanted in his lunch: "A peanut butter and jelly sandwich"