Memories of Lime Pickles.....

God has blessed us this year with a most bountiful garden!  

We've been canning corn, squash, green beans and making salsa.  We've dug the onions and have them hanging on the back porch, and have been digging taters here and there.  We won't dig all of them until the cukes and squash are done as the vines have spread so, they are covering the spuds up!

This post is about pickles though and we've made dill spears, zesty bread and butter chunks, and bread and butter chips, but best of all we've made Lime Pickles.

These are the pickle of my childhood.  They are my favorite pickle.  Potato salad isn't potato salad without chunks of lime pickle in it, and a hamburger just doesn't taste the same without them, but the best of the best is lime pickles diced up in your bowl of chili, or wait is it lime pickles on a peanut butter sandwich?  I don't know but I know lime pickles are fantastic!

I have heard these called "outhouse pickles" or even the ever so classy "sh!thouse pickles", but we always just call them lime pickles.

So you start with some of these.....about 7 lbs (although I did a double batch)

Seeing as how I work 40 hours a week, Mon-Fri, I only really pick cukes on Saturday morning, which means I've got cukes the size of zucchini!!  With all the rain we've been getting though, they aren't bitter, so we still use 'em...

Then you need pickling lime......

Slice your cucumbers up, slightly on the thick side....

And then put them in a big ole lidded container.  If you have a pickle crock, use that.  I do not, so I use a food grade plastic bucket.  We soak them in 2 cups of lime per 2 gallon of water.....

......With the lid on, for 24 hours.  

I always put the bucket in the bathtub, so when I shake it around every few hours it doesn't make a mess......

The next morning, you drain the lime water off, and rinse your cukes really well.  3 times, until your water is clear.....

Then you put them back in your clean bucket and cover them with ice water and let them set for 3 hours.....

Then you drain the ice water off, and mix up your brine as follows...

2 qts vinegar, 6 1/2 cups sugar, 1 TBSP cloves, 1 TBSP salt, 1 TBSP celery seed, 1 TBSP pickling spice.

Bring that to a boil and then pour over the cukes in your bucket.  I then weigh the cukes down with a plate before putting the lid on the bucket and leaving them again for 24 hours.

By this time it's now day 3, and time to process your pickles!  However, in my world it is now Monday afternoon and I'm at work, soooo what's a Goodwife to do?

I just waited until Tuesday morning before work to process mine.  That made them soak in the brine closer to 36 hours but that's ok.  No harm done.  I just got up at 3:30 am and did them before work.....

Now you bring the whole mess to a boil and simmer for 35 minutes.  

Then you put your hot pickles in hot jars, and fill with hot brine.  Wipe your rims and put rings and flats on as usual, and process quarts in boiling water bath canner for 15 min and you wind up with this...

I hope you are all well and good and enjoying God's rich bounty!  As the world gets crazier and scarier and more unsettled we are comforted knowing that we are God's children, and rejoicing in His wondrous gifts, blessings, and love!  I pray you are doing the same!

Till next time,

God Bless......

Remember Clover?............

Remember this post from awhile back?  Well Little Miss Clover has gotten to be a big ole grown up rabbit!  The Youngun is still in love with her and the feeling is still mutual.  The Youngun takes Clover for walks around the homestead, lays on the sill with Clover on her chest and tells her stories. 

Friday evening The Youngun and I were coming in from the barn after our last check of Star for the night.  It was a beautiful evening, the stars were out, the moon was near full and the sky was crystal clear.  We were walking up to the house talking about the stars.  As we were at the back door taking off our mud boots The Youngun said to me...

....Mama, is it wrong that I like animals better than people?  I said.........No it isn't.  Animals will never hurt you, never lie to you, never cheat, or steal.  You always know where you stand with animals.  She said.........Good cause I do like animals better than most people.

Bless that child's heart.  I love that little girl so very much.  I can't even describe the love I feel for her.  She is so kind, compassionate, sensitive, and savvy among other things.  She "gets it" more so than most adults I know.  She's an old soul and I'm very thankful that God chose The Paintiff and I to be her parents. 

Till next time.............GOD BLESS FROM GOODWIFE FARM!

God told me to post......

As I went out to milk Tulip this morning at about 4:30 and was entering the barnyard.........wait let me explain how my backyard is layed out. My entire backyard is covered in shade trees. I do mean covered. We can't even get grass to grow back there. As I go through the gate to enter the barnyard the sky opens up like a (and I just can't find the right metaphor!) So as I pass through the gate, milk pail and wash bucket in hand, I look up and see the beautiful, gorgeous night sky. The stars are just amazing, the sky is still velvety black and the stars.........I just can't even describe them. I tried to take a picture, but that just didn't even work!

I stopped right there, just through the gate of the barnyard and praised my Maker. I said to Him, "Thank you Lord God for making this beautiful world for us to live in. Thank you for giving me life and for giving me goats to milk so that I was outside at this beautiful time of day to see and appreciate this world."

See to my way of thinking, God didn't have to make our world beautiful. He didn't have to make trees and flowers and grass and a moon and stars. He could have gone so many different ways with our habitat, but He loved us so much that He created this world just for us and He not only created it, He made it heartbreakingly beautiful! And even better than that, there are all types of habitats within our world. There are cities and towns, and villages, and countryside. Wilderness, tundra, deserts, beaches. We can live in whatever part of this world makes us happiest (most of us have that choice anyway) and (and here's the kicker) God gave us the ability and the power to create happiness wherever we are. We can choose to be happy.

Now I know there may be people reading this who are saying, "Goodwife, it just isn't that simple!" to which I reply, "YES it is" God gave us free will, he gave us the ability to choose and trust in Him and He gave us the ability to reject Him and try to make it on our own. That isn't to say that choosing Him will make your life all sunshine and roses. There has to be rain and thorns, but even through the rain and thorns we have the ability to open our eyes in the morning and say......."Today I choose You Lord, and I'm going to choose to be happy and thankful for what I have, and not to dwell on the things that I don't have and the things that I can't change!" When you do that, fully and whole-heartedly, your life will change in ways that you can't even imagine!

I choose Him...........what will you choose today?

Till next time..........GOD BLESS FROM GOODWIFE FARM!