Cucumber Takeover

When I planted cucumbers, I didn't think they'd do as well as they have. They've even strangled one poor tomato plant.

We've picked twice and have so many cucumbers that we can't possibly eat them all. So this weekend I decided to put up some pickles (I'll let you know how they turned out when we open the first jar).

I found a recipe in the Holyoak Family Cookbook from Aunt Veda that didn't look like too much work (wrong). The first task was to find dill, so General and I headed down to the farmer's market to score some fresh dill. We went straight to the herb stand and he was OUT. How does the herb man run out of dill? He promised me some next week. Too bad I'll be on a boat next week and making pickles will be the farthest thing from my mind. So General and I search (and searched) asking every stand if they had dill. They were all sold out. I finally found a flower woman that gave me her leftovers (how sweet is that) and then at another flower stand I stood and watched as the boquet lady gave an old woman three big bunches and patiently waited my turn to get some. After about 15 minutes of waiting, she got to me and denied me the dill. She needed it for flower bouquets (really???). I even offered to pay two dollars a bunch (double what the old lady spent), but no go. Sigh. So General and I left, I was bumed and he was just hot and tired. As luck would have it, on the way out, we found one stand with three bunches of dill. I bought him out (for five dollars, score) and then spent the afternoon picking, cutting, and soaking cucumbers.

And now, as I look at my pretty jars of pickles, I find it hard to even have the desire to eat my yummy homemade pickles. Of course, I may just change my mind in a few months, when I forget how much work they were to make.