Sweet and tangy gherkin slices

More pickles

Bees chilling out

Bees just hanging out on the hive.

Sweet Gherkin Pickles

Sweet Gherkin Pickles
Servings: 8 pints   Prep Time: 4 days   Cook Time: 10 minutes BWB  

Ingredients

8 pounds 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inch cucumbers

1/2 cup canning salt, divided

8 cups sugar, divided

6 cups vinegar, divided

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

2 teaspoons celery seed

2 teaspoons whole mixed pickling spice

2 sticks cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon whole allspice

Directions

Wash cucumbers; drain. Combine 6 quarts boiling water and 1/4 cup salt; pour over cucumbers. Let stand 6 to 8 hours or overnight.

On second day, drain. Combine 6 quarts boiling water and 1/4 cup salt; pour over cucumbers. Let stand overnight.

On third day, drain. Prick cucumbers in several places. Combine 3 cups sugar, 3 cups vinegar, and turmeric in a large sauce pot. Tie whole spices in a spice bag; add spice bag to liquid. Bring to a boil. Pour hot liquid over cucumbers; let stand 6 to 8 hours. Drain cucumbers, reserving liquid. Add 2 cups sugar and 1 cup vinegar to liquid. Bring to a boil. Pour over cucumbers; let stand overnight.

On fourth day, drain, reserving liquid. Add 2 cups sugar and 1 cup vinegar to reserved liquid; bring to a boil. Pour over cucumbers; let stand 6 to 8 hours. Remove spice bag. Drain cucumbers, reserving liquid. Add 1 cup sugar to liquid; bring to a boil. Pack pickles into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. BWB 10 minutes.

Canned potatoes

Got 50 lb of potatoes from the Q-mart.  After going through the bag many of them were cut and needed to be used right away.  There were too many to eat right now so some were canned for later use. 

Used the recipe  at http://canninggranny.blogspot.com/2012/07/canning-potatoes.html 

basically 

clean cubed semi cooked potatoes, 1 teaspoon salt in quart jars processed for 40 min at 10 lb.

Cucumbers

Cucumbers are starting to come in force.  Time to make the pickles

Update

Turks turban

red curry

July 14 bee update

After a few weeks we have gone back into the hive.  We now had lots of brood so we obvosoly have a laying queen now. 

Baby beets

beets from thinning

July 6 update

Squash is doing exceptionally well this year

Tomatoes are getting bigger but already have sines of blight

Beets and carrots are doing good

 Peppers are pathetic

 beans are starting to produce.

Peas are almost done. Heat is killing them off.