This is the second year that we are involved with community shared farming with a farm called Driftless Organics. Basically we give them money and every other week we go to the farmers market on the Capital Square and pick up a box of that weeks harvest. Best part is our insurance company reimburses us for enrolling so it barely costs us anything and our refrigerator is stocked with fresh, organic veggies all summer long.
This week cucumbers (among other things) we in bountiful supply. We got both the regular variety and pickling cukes. There was so many of the pickling variety I panicked a bit then took a deep breath and made refrigerator pickles. I have never canned nor pickled before and I must admit I feel a little "Martha Stewartish" for attempting the feat. I'll let you know in 9 more days how they turned out but so far they are delish (and beautiful). I sliced some for sandwiches and cut the smaller ones in half. I brinded them seperately so that I could spice up the wedges to suit Chris' taste and leave the slices mild for lil Maudie. Here is the recipe I followed:

4 3-4 inch long pickling cucumbers
3/4 c. water
1/2 c. vinegar
2 tblsp fresh dill weed
2 tblsp + 2 tsp white sugar
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 1/2 tsp coarse salt
1 tsp pickling spice
1/2 tsp dill seed
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Slice cukes as desired and mix all ingredients in a bowl and let sit at room temperature for a few hours or overnight (I doubled the recipe for each kind to cover the cukes completely). Sterilize jars (I put them in the dishwasher on the 'sanitize' setting). Add cukes to the jars and cover with brine, add tight lid and move to the refridgerator. Enjoy in 10 days. Will last a least a month in the fridge.

My petinuas are flourishing this year, thanks in large part to Maudie. She LOVES to water them and whenever she has one of her daily toddler breakdowns I know I can cheer her up by letting her water my flowers. Somedays she ends up wetter than the flowers but that's why we water them before she changes into her jammies at night.







Charlie has been a little fussy lately, I think he's having some issues with his plumbing. Perhaps it's gas from all the cucumbers I've been eating. I happed to catch him in a rare happy moment today flashing one of his heart melting smiles.