Busy Monday

I woke up early this morning with the intent of getting done will all my work by 10:30 AM, so I could take the children to the county fair. It was raining. I don't think it had stopped raining since yesterday. Hard rain poured down on us yesterday from around 9 AM until well after dark. I don't know how much rain we received, but I am about to go check the rain gauge. I'll report back later. By 10:30 AM it was still in the mid 50's and raining, so we decided to postpone our outing until tomorrow. Wouldn't you know that by 11 AM it was sunny, and it has stayed that way ever since? I needed to get to the fairgrounds before 11 AM to get the discount on our admission tickets. County fairs aren't cheap anymore.

Monday is laundry day. It has been that way for almost 2 years now, since I developed my weekly routines. I wash all the family clothing except for my oldest two children who wash their own on their assigned day. Typically I do 3-5 loads depending on what is dirty. I gave myself a little head start last night by throwing in two loads of towels. I have a river (well, small stream) running through my basement near my drier because of all this rain. There was a basket of towels that had gotten wet because some of them were hanging over the edge.

Since we weren't going to the fair, I decided to can more pickles. I did dill pickles today. I got 7 quarts canned, but I am a little disappointed that one of the jars didn't seal. I have never not had a pickle jar seal in 3 years of making pickles. Anyway, I guess I will have to put this one in the fridge and wait for it to pickle. I am not sure as this has not happened before. If anyone has any advice on this, please feel free to let me know.

I also boiled up eggs for egg salad for tomorrow. I even got it mixed up. I make a fluff salad to go with dinner. I love having this menu. There is some strange sense of freedom in being well planned. I think it is freedom from stress. I got all my meat and one frozen dinner out of the freezer for this week's dinners. Without a weekly meal plan I could not do this. Then I would be stuck 60 minutes until dinner with no idea what we are eating and all the meat is frozen. Not anymore.

Well, I am off to check that rain gauge. I will report my findings when I return.

Jennie

Pickle Day

Saturday morning is farmer's market day for me. There is a great city market about 10 minutes from my house. The prices are great. I have been shopping there for so many years that I have made friendly acquaintances with a few of the farmers.

I thought I was getting an early start by leaving my house at 9 AM, but alas I should have remembered that in August everyone remembers that there is a farmer's market. It was very crowded, but not as crowded as it will be in a month. I need to start going before breakfast to beat the crowds and to get the produce I want. This morning I was looking for pickling cucumbers. I was finding them to be hard picking. Many farmers had the really small 2 inch cucumbers, but I wanted bigger pickles. I went to my favorite farmer, Becken Farms, from Sanborn, NY. I was disappointed to find that they had already sold out of all they had. I little further searching yielded me two pecks of pickles. Isn't that a nursery rhyme? I digress. I think I bought the last two this fine lady had because after I walked away I didn't see her replace what I bought. In addition I bought sweet corn, 2 quarts of peaches, a quart of green beans and a quart of red potatoes.

I love making pickles. They are easy. There is not much prep work. No blanching or peeling. Just remove those blossom and stem ends and slice. Sometimes you have to soak them in a solution or hot water for a while. I gathered all of my canning supplies after I returned from the market. I also had to make a macaroni salad for dinner. After lunch I began in earnest. It took me all of four hours, but I canned 14 jars of pickles. I have 7 quarts of sweet pickle spears and 7 pints of hamburger dills. I still have pickling cucumbers left. I took a poll, and my family wants me to make more dill spears with them. So, the cucumbers are relaxing in the basement. I will make dill pickles on Tuesday. That will give me 21 jars of pickles plus the ones I have left over from last year. Oh, I also make watermelon pickles, but that will happen next month after the watermelon are ripe.

Blessings,
Jennie