Adventures in canning.

So, what do you do with a gabillion cucumbers and hot peppers from the garden? Well, you give some away, you eat some and then you make pickles. And pickles we made. Being new to the process, I let my husband take the lead as he has had some previous canning experience. What you need: jars (preferably Mason), cucumbers, hot peppers (optional), dill, garlic, pickling salt (which we couldn't find so we used Kosher salt), vinegar, water, a few large saucepans and a canning pot (or super large stockpot).

In a nutshell, you sterilize everything, make a brine, stuff the jars and set in a bath of almost boiling water. Then, place them on a kitchen towel and cover with another towel. Once cooled, they should self-seal and then store in a cool, dark place. We are still trying to find out how long they need to sit, our recipe didn't say.

I thought it was going to be a more involved process, but it was really quite easy and fun. I'll let you know how they turn out.

Garden goodness.

Oh I love this time of year! Our garden is starting to explode with goodies. We have amazing peppers such as Poblano, Hungarian Hot Wax, Jalapeno, Sweet Banana, Gypsy, Giant Marconi and Cubanelle. (We stuff them with cheese then throw on the grill...so good.) We have a million cucumbers which we are going turn into pickles. And of course many varieties of tomatoes which are just starting to ripen. We are also growing my most favorite thing ever...corn! It is so fun to grow and doubles as a very nice privacy screen.

Home Sweet Home

As a participant in Poppytalk Handmade's newest Marketplace "Home Sweet Home," I decided to list a couple new cards with dwelling motifs. You can visit my table here.

1. "moonlit yurt*" blank note cards, set of two for $5.50.
2. "new home" greeting card with "congratulations!" on the inside for $3.50.

*a portable, felt-covered, wood lattice-framed dwelling structure traditionally used by nomads in the steppes of Central Asia. (Thanks Wikipedia!)

Trunkt

I've spent the past two days updating my Trunkt portfolio, it's been collecting dust for a while now. I'm hoping it helps generate more traffic to my Etsy shop as well as creates some wholesale interest. If you're not familiar with Trunkt, they are a website dedicated to showcasing artisans and their wares from around the world. They've really done a nice job updating the site over the years.