Daisy Day

My grandmother would pickle all kinds of things. She made a terrific bread and butter pickle as well as a vegetable medley with cauliflower and carrots. Her canning foods were often served at Thanksgiving or as a relish side dish at family gatherings. Our daughter LOVES pickles and was looking forward to tasting my creations. It passed the muster with her…….I was dill-lighted!

I successfully canned 40 lbs. of pickling cucumbers. I made the brine and then after cleaning the cucumbers added them to the crock. Here is a link to the recipe I used. Though the recipe calls for red wine vinegar, I used white vinegar and had great results. As the pickles sit in the crock you will notice a white “scum” that floats on the top. It actually looks like mold but it is yeast. This should be skimmed off the top of the brine every couple of days.

The canning and preserving process goes back thousands of years (2400 BC). They are mentioned in Shakespeare (The Tempest) and even Cleopatra was known to use them as one of her beauty secrets. In our household, they are gobbled up year round topping burgers, served as sides and sometimes added to salads. They are a house staple.

I experimented this year, at my daughter’s request, of making a pickle that is also sweet and savory. I sliced haberno peppers and added them to a basic bread and butter canning recipe. My fingers burned for a couple of days after cutting the hot peppers….the burn was real! I would highly recommend wearing rubber gloves and keeping your hands away from your face and eyes if you decide to tackle this challenge! The results were quite tasty and won her approval. “Mom, these taste awesome!”

I crocheted mason lid covers and added a simple edging to the pattern. See link for pattern.

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Dilly Facts about Pickles…..who knew???

*The average person eats 9 lbs of pickles annually.

*Pickle Juice is known to cure a hangover.

*Pickling is thought to be started by the Mesopotamians in 2400 BC.

*Amerigo Vespuci, the namesake of how America was named, was a pickle peddlar from Spain and accompanied Christopher Columbus on his voyage to America. He knew the benefits of pickles and warding off scurvy and it is thought that Columbus stopped in Haiti to grow more cucumbers for his trip to the New World.

*John Mason, the inventor of the Mason Jar we still use today, invented the jar because he needed a thicker glass to withstand the high temperatures that are required to sterilize the jar during the pickling process.

*The phrase “in a pickle” was originally coined by Shakespeare in his play The Tempest. “How cameth though in this pickle?”

*Kosher dills were brought to New York City by the immigrant Jews in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. These delicacies added flavor to the rather bland diets consisting mainly of bread and potatoes from their mother countries (Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Russia).

*Football players and athletes will sometimes drink pickle juice to relieve leg cramps. A famous story is cited from the Philadelphia Eagles vs. the Dallas Cowboys. The Eagles credit their win over the Dallas Cowboys to their consumption of pickle juice, which they believe, helped with their endurance during the game. A Brighmam Young University study backed this claim.

Some Dilly Pickle Riddles

What do you get when you cross a crocodile with a pickle?

A crocodill

What do you say to a pickle in the morning?

Rise and Brine

Don’t though it may seem cucumbersome to add to your calendar…….

Don’t forget to add this to your calendar……..relish the day!

Resources:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/14/us/national-pickle-day-facts-trnd/index.html

https://www.tastemade.com/articles/7-things-you-didn-t-know-about-pickles/

https://www.pbs.org/food/the-history-kitchen/history-pickles/

https://www.history.com/news/pickles-history-timeline

It was a cold and blustery January morning. The grey sky felt like a blanket that was covering the earth only it was trapping in the cold instead of the heat. This day was just what I needed. It felt like a break. The walls of the house seemed to be contracting. Cabin fever is real! I needed fresh cold air and nature to wake up my senses.

My husband agreed to go for a walk with me around Lake Waban. I was able to snap some pictures, collect some branches and sticks that had fallen from the week’s rain and wind. I could tell he was wondering what I was going to do with my collection. In reply to his curious look I told him, “A winter bouquet of course!”. I then let my creativity begin.

I feel a sense of connection walking through the woods. It is peaceful and quiet. I wonder where all the animals hide as we walk around the water. Funny thing about winter….everything looks breakable….the water like a sheet of glass, the evergreen trees look like they could snap, the leaves on the ground have an added crunch with the thin coating of ice. The campus buildings in the distance seemed to be puffing giant white clouds into the air. The plumes of steam are a direct contrast to how stiff and rigid the landscape around us looks and feels.

Making something fresh and new out of the remnants of nature feels nurturing. I add some fragrant pine and rough brown sticks to my stash as we navigate our way. My collection is growing. I become a bit more discerning in my selections as we still have a long walk home.

At home I place my collection on the counter. Now its time to decide where all of these treasures will be placed in the jar.

I fuss over the sticks, the pinecones and the hay-like pampas grass I found in the dirt. It is stark and simple. A perfect replica of our stroll. I even added a little sparkle as the sun did manage to peak out for a brief moment.

My completed bouquet sits on our dining room table on one of the doilies my grandmother crocheted. Bringing vintage and nature together feels satisfying. A brisk walk through nature on a dreary January day was just what I needed to feed my mind.

I’ve always wanted to start a blog and so for one of my goals in the New Year I have made that dream come to fruition. I was never sure what I was going to blog about, but after a lot of contemplation, I decided I would share my creativity. As a mother of three college age kids, I am finding myself with more and more time on my hands. When the children were younger it seems we were always planning a party, barbecue, cookie decorating, cooking contest, gardening day, or family field trip. In those days our neighborhood was packed with little children, lemonade stands, back to school shopping, trick or treat parties and Easter egg hunts.

Now, we have wonderful reunions as the older kids come home from college during breaks and the holidays. As they have gotten older, we still enjoy a family dinner or a family game when everyone is together. It is still just as fun, just different and there is a new exciting anticipation and curiosity as they embark on adulthood.

As I write my first blog, relatives and friends have come and gone. All the red and green decorations are tucked back into storage and I am deliberating on what to cook for New Year’s dinner. My favorite day…. New Year’s Day a fresh and uncluttered beginning to the new year; this year a brand new decade!

The house is quieter, kids are working their holiday jobs, my husband is back at the office and I still have a few more days of my break before going back to work. Daisy Days will be my new year’s activity. I will still test recipes on my family, share crafts with readers and work on new projects.

Through all of life’s stages, no matter the level of crazy in life, my solitude and peace of mind came in the form of being creative. For that reason, I decided to blog about the peace and joy I have found in creating. I still sew, needlecraft, crochet, cook, garden, preserve and can, paint, refinish furniture and the list goes on and on……

I hope you enjoy the blog, perhaps find a creative idea or new recipe. Creating something; whether starting a new project, cooking a meal or making a gift to share with friends and family, makes my heart full. Perhaps you will find that same wonderful feeling in the joy of giving and sharing in Daisy Days.