The Center of Home

It's hot. Well, it's July, so I can't complain that much; it's to be expected, but still, I sometimes wish for a 60-degree day thrown into this mix. I'm not a huge fan of humidity, tanning, beaches, and searing heat, which is probably why we went to Banff for our honeymoon instead of Mexico. When it's this hot, I do my time and then go inside.

This is pickle-making weather. What do you do when it is so hot outside that your kids run through the sprinkler every day and the air conditioner runs at a near-constant pace? You heat your kitchen even more by making pickles with fresh cucumbers from the garden. I don't make dill pickles. I don't really like them but when we need them for sandwiches or something, Vlasik from a jar works just fine. The pickles of our family are sweet pickles, much to the chagrin of some I know who have inadvertently bitten into one without realizing that it was not a dill pickle. I love to make these. They are tangy and they have bite; they make your eyes water a little from the vinegar and I could even drink the juice when the jar is empty. Okay, I don't do that part. 

I like canning things and we have a lot of pickles, but we also eat a lot of them. My kids have them almost every day with their lunches at home. I've seen Asher eat half a jar of bread-and-butter pickles in one sitting. We like them. It comes with the bounty of the garden, which is a blessing. We also pickle beets, which may sound even more gross to some than even sweet pickles. I have a strange set of children who live here. They like these kinds of things. When setting out a dish of pickled beets for dinner, I frequently hear, "Yes! Pickled beets again!" and that is not even being sarcastic! So, I really love making them. I think they look so good when they are all sealed and lined up on the shelves. 

This year, our garden is in sad shape. The ground that we tilled a few months ago to create a garden space has not been used for planting anything in over 10 years, so it is not well conditioned and doesn't have a lot of nutrients. It does have a lot of clay in the soil and is great at growing weeds. It is not so great at growing other things, such as peas or broccoli. Things are coming in, but it is slow. Most of my produce comes from my mom's wonderful garden and next year, I'm hoping to have more bounty from my own after a year of composting and using the soil to grow things again. 

Until then, we'll enjoy what we get. It's still fun and I love seeing these finished products of canned pickles, beets, salsa, spaghetti sauce, and tomato juice sitting on the shelves. I'm sure other people have different ideas of fun than I do. Maybe they'd rather be outside in the sun soaking up the heat! Give me my kitchen any day...I love being there cooking and canning in the center of home.