We Have Pickles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday night, with the cold mostly gone, I harvested our first big batch of cucumbers(and admitted it might be time to stop giving the cucumbers Miracle Grow)

Because we've been SOOOOOOOOOOO long without pickles, I made 2 jars of refrigerator pickles, which will keep up to 6 weeks but if they tasted anything at ALL like dill pickles would be gone much, much sooner
See how they're sort of cloudy? That's because they are made with lemon juice--not vinegar--and no salt (though I added a tiny bit), and they taste wonderful! I think even someone who did NOT have to give up pickles 4 months ago would think so.

Then cut up 6 pounds of cucumbers and set them to brine overnight.I made pickles years ago, and while they tasted great, they were really soft and mushy. Doing a bit of research, I found that the top ways to NOT get mushy pickles are:

1. Use varieties of pickles specifically for pickling
2. Use cucumbers that aren't big yet
3. Cut the blossom ends off
4. Soak the cucumbers in ice water before pickling
5. Use some commercial additives

None of which I had done before. This time I have opted for 4 out of 5 and
We'll find out in a few weeks how I did. The tricky part is, I'll have done a few more batches by the time the pickles have sat in the pickling solution long enough to open, so we're going to be really, really, REALLY hopeful.