Well, the most opportune fishing times for the week have passed without me getting to the water. Today and tomorrow are covered up with garden and farm work and I abhor putting in during the weekends. It’ll be next week before I can head out that way.
The Ball Waterbath Canner came in yesterday along with the food-mill that I ordered. So I ran both through their paces to see how well they work. In short, Beautifully.
I was able to get two quarts of blackberries out of the bushes and into the freezer; one from my place and one from my neighbors. There were three places on my farm that I did not pull from, and one on his that I have yet to visit so with a little luck I can get another two quarts in today. I chatted with another nearby land owner and have his blessing to pull from his ranch as well. Both of these landowners are ‘absentee’. The one I visited yesterday has a little over 500 acres that he uses exclusively for hunting. The other neighbor (the one I’ve yet to visit) has 60 or 70 acres in pasture. He has 50 or so head of cattle here and owns a couple more farms where he raises also raises cattle. Because I don’t wanna be dead, I checked with both before wandering onto what is theirs.
I went up to the garden and picked the first cucumbers of the year; I guess it’s about 10 or 15 pounds worth. Now that I have the canner (and know use it) I’m much more motivated about getting them in and put up. There are three varieties of pickling cucumber (there is a difference between a ‘normal’ or slicing cucumber and one that’s used for pickling) that I’m growing: Boston Pickling, National Pickling, and Rhienish. My slicing cucumber is ‘Straight 8’.
The first round of canning will be a simple dill recipe: water, vinegar, canning salt, and sugar to make up the brine. Garlic and dill stuffed in each jar as they are filled. I stopped in at a supermarket and picked up some fresh dill and have plenty of garlic from the garden.