Putting Up

Last weekend my sister-in-law and her two sisters and I canned garlic dill pickles.  We purchased the cucumbers from a local farm right down the road from my house.  I was surprised at how expensive the cucumbers were. $16 for 100.  In the end though our cost per jar turned out to be roughly $3.15 which after researching how much they are in the store...we did ok.  We have grand plans of getting our own cucumber plants in the ground earlier and planting MORE plants next year as to cut our cost down much more.  Plus bringing in your own harvest is so much more fun!  It was a great time none-the-less with the purchased cucumbers!  We used my sister-in-law's dill that she grew in her garden, so part of it was our own harvest.  We ended up getting 31 jars of pickles.  Pretty good I think!  I gave a jar to my boss and his family.  They were so excited to get it.  I think I will put together gift baskets of canned goods for Christmas.  It is so funny how city folk get so excited about that kind of stuff!  Well I guess I get excited about it too! :)

A few weeks before we planned to start canning, I checked out a canning and preserving book from the library. I love the library it is so full of great resources.  Both of us had grown up canning with our grandmothers and mothers but had never done it on our own without their wealth of knowledge to guide us.  The book I found and LOVED was, Canning & Preserving Your Own Harvest By Emery, Carla/ Forkner, Lorene Edwards, I loved it so much I just bought a copy for myself and my sister-in-law.  The instruction is easy to understand and it has all sorts of ideas for putting up your harvest.  It also has some really great recipes in the second half of the book. I am excited to try some of them.

Lids getting hot.

Salt, Vinegar, Water and Garlic

Fresh Dill

Fresh from the Farm

Slices

All set

Finished

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