I'M IN A PICKLE AGAIN

 My Daniel fasting ended on August 21 and although a bit thinner after 21 days of serious fasting, prayers, and penance. There were over 10,000 people from all over the world participating from 55 countries. I have received some amazing graces and would not hesitate to do it again on the next occasion. 

 I have a lot more energy so I've used that time to harvest and do some freezing of excess vegetables and pickling.  I've picked so many green and yellow beans and frozen some and pickled the rest. There are more in the garden to pick. Even my son Vaughan got in on the pickling of Hot Green Beans. He packed the jars and I processed them. In all, I processed over 120 bottles of assorted pickles. I've got some Mustard Pickles, one of my favorites, some Hot Dilled Carrots, some Hot Yellow Beans pickles,  Hot  Green Beans pickles,   some Dilled  Cucumber Pickles, Bread and Butter Pickles, Lady Ashburnham.

 And now, I need to make some Beet Pickles. Of course, we won't be eating all those pickles as I'm planning to sell some to fundraise for our church. It's been a lot of work but because of no family visitors this August, I could spend more time preserving. I froze tonnes of yellow and green beans, some cabbage, carrots, and my husband dehydrated some Kale. I love pickling and August went by so fast for me. 

I didn't take any pictures of my pickles as they are all in boxes in the basement. I thought that I better take a few pictures for my blog this evening while making the last batches of Mustard Pickles, or is it really my last batch???

These were soaking in a brine for 24 hours and then processed

The results were 9 and 3/4 quarts.  Of course, we will eat  the Mustard Pickles in the jar that was 3/4 full.  They are so tasty. My husband is pretty happy about that.

It's been so dry that the front lawn has turned brown. We got a little rain yesterday which was such a relief for the thirsty garden and yard. It's been cold and windy today. Not our usual August weather.  Our hay crop is less than last year but my husband is selling a lot more hay this year since we no longer have to keep some for our own cows since they were sold last December. 

I hope that you are all staying reasonably well and looking forward to the fall colors. As for me, I'm feeling peace and contentment despite the Corona Virus restrictions. I'm making the best of a difficult situation and finding little treasures where I can find them.

Just a note for my followers who leave comments. Because I have received so many naughty comments of inappropriate nature on my old posts, I had to go into my settings and click on only members can leave comments on my blog.  It has taken care of that Unknown Blogger who left inappropriate comments. I hope that members also means followers. We shall see if you can leave comments. If not, I will have to go back and click on comments moderation and fix it.

I appreciate your visit and comments.

Hugs, Julia