Author: Dackel Princess

My garden is growing. And growing and growing. I really can’t take much credit now. It’s all in God’s hands. In fact the garden is still producing at this point despite the fact that we have “powdery mildew”. I wasn’t sure at first what this was, but after reading about it I have learned that A) It’s too late to do anything about it now, and that B) Next year we will need to use a fungicide right from the start to keep it from happening again. Good thing Hubby has his Pesticide applicators license. I knew there was a reason I kept him around!
Meanwhile, I am still able to enjoy a harvest and I am keeping my fingers crossed that it won’t affect my huge crop of Butternut Squash. I must have a dozen babies that are easily seen. There is no telling how many of those little buggers are hiding under plant leaves.
I was looking for cucumbers and squash today under all the leaves and look what I found:

This one weighs 2 1/2 pounds!

Far too big to slice and eat, but I figured I could do something. I raced up the hill to my neighbor’s house. She knows everything about vegetables and how to get the most out of your garden. She gave me two recipes to use to make pickles from over ripe cucumbers. I will start that tomorrow. Who knows I may have another couple of monsters to add to the pot!
I’m really getting into this canning thing. In fact I have already found ways to eat mustard pickles with almost every meal! I just love them!!! My neighbor also told me that she liked them very much. I’m thinking of canning some in half pint jars for Christmas presents. At least for people who like mustard and pickles!
Maybe I could become the “Mustard Pickle Queen of New Hampshire”!

Piccalilli! Yes, today was Piccalilli day. As you know, I chopped up all the cucumbers, (6 pounds of them!) onions and peppers yesterday. Everything soaked overnight in a heavy salty brine. This afternoon I drained the vegetables, and then cooked it all up with the vinegar and spices.
It took a while to simmer the pickles until they were tender/crisp.

Then Hubby came in and helped me with the canning. He is a master! I present the hot sterilized jars to him, he fills them, and then I seal them.



After we were done, I did up the dishes, and Hubby came into the kitchen, hugged me and said, “Well, look at this! Maribeth’s Piccalilli! Maribeth’s vegetables from her garden! And you’re doing all this canning!” He was smiling and I knew he was proud of me.

I am sitting here thinking back to when I was in High School.
Back then, I really wanted a home in New Hampshire, a vegetable garden, and to learn to can the stuff I was growing. It seemed so romantic and so wonderful.
Fast forward 30 years. I have all of the above, but I have learned that it isn’t quite as “romantic” as I thought. I remember the digging of the garden in the heat and getting sunburnt, I remember planting everything the day before Hubby’s surgery and hoping I’d done it all right. I remember doing the “cultivating and weeding”.
I remember watching over the garden, thinking it would never grow. Now. I go out each day and hope upon hope that I won’t have too much produce. My neighbors now pull their shades down and pretend they aren’t home when they see me coming with more summer squash!
I have to say that the joys of gardening are many, even if the work is tough. I will be doing it again next year. I’m already planning it…

I just sliced 6 pounds of cucumbers, 5 large onions, 3 large green peppers, salted them all and set them to rest overnight. What am I making now? Cucumber Picalilli. I had all these cucumbers, (I still haven’t used them all up!) and I knew if I didn’t do something now, they would simply rot. Tomorrow is the cooking and canning. I can hardly wait to see how this comes out.

The children left Saturday morning. It was sad to see them go. They had to cut their visit short this year because their father has accepted a new job and they are moving to a new town. The kids were a little nervous about the move, but we all told them how great it was going to be. Matina picked up Greta and hugged her and said, “I wish I could put you in my suitcase and bring you home with me!” and I could hear her voice crack. It’s a beautiful thing, the love between a child and a dog.

Today was a Greek Festival in a town near-by. We drove down and enjoyed a lunch full of Greek goodies. Hubby had a lamb shanks meal and I went A La Carte with Lamb Kebabs, and stuffed Grape Leaves! I also tried something new this year, Pastichio. It’s sort of the Greek equivalent to macaroni and cheese, but it also has meat in it and in many ways is creamier and finer. Yum!

I was lying in bed last night thinking of my Uncle George.

He is my cousin, Janet’s father. He was probably the single most important male in my life growing up. The one that showed me what a real man could be.
He taught me to swim, to dive and to do somersaults off his shoulders. He would play games with us in the water, watch over us if we got in over our heads, and above all he made sure we always had fun.
When I was maybe 6 or 7 years old I stepped on glass at the beach. My foot was bleeding pretty badly. He wrapped it in his T-shirt and then carried me the 5 minute walk back to our house in Falmouth. He sat with me while I got stitched up and then carried me around the beach so that I wouldn’t get sand in my stitches afterwards. I asked him about that recently and he’d forgotten, but I’ll never forget it, because he was so kind to me.

How lucky we are to have these special people in our lives. Young and old, they add so much.

Today it arrived!

I have been waiting almost two weeks for this.
As many of you know, I love to cook. I also love to experiment with new recipes, (or old) and try new techniques. So, as soon as I got home from the Post Office I tore open the box and sat down to revel in the book. My hands quivered as I turned page after page, seeing what Julia had to say to me.
I love the way she puts things. It’s simple, well thought out, and easy to follow. Most of the recipes are French Cuisine. She narrates the recipes with how to’s and advice for the new cook. And yet I never felt like she was talking down to the newer cooks either, but reassuring them that they too can cook like this.
The first recipe I want to try is her Quiche Lorraine. I have tried other recipes over the years and found them simply horrid. I somehow know, Julia will guide me through it and that it will make a sumptuous dish!
I’m getting a ton of pickles again! Almost enough to make some sort of relish. Perhaps Picalilli or Sweet Pickles with onions? Not sure. I wish my neighbor was back from New Brunswick, Canada because she makes some really wonderful pickle recipes and I would love to pick her brain.
My first baby Butternut squash appeared last week. One is a good 8 inches long already! Today I noticed probably 8 new, tiny 2 inch squash. Butternut squash are my favorite. I love to peel, boil, mash with butter, brown sugar and cinnamon for a truly awesome meal.
I hear the local corn is finally in. There are signs up that tell you to basically not expect much because of all the rain we have had. Even with that they are charging 60 cents an ear.
And lastly on the kitchen front My dishwasher is leaking. This will mean another call to our repair man, Barry, and it will also mean I will have to wash dishes by hand until he can fit us in. Shoot! I detest doing dishes all alone.
When I was a kid, I would stand on a chair and my sister and I would do the dishes together. Mel would either tell me stories or we would sing. We loved to sing, “White Coral Bells” or “We Are The Sister’s” or “Frere Chaque”. Yes, back then doing the dishes was fun! Thanks Mel. Want to come up and help me do the dishes?