Master Gardener Recruitment

For anyone interested in becoming a master gardener, now is the time to think about it!  The coordinator for Fillmore County just send out a notice regarding this.  If you are interested, the first thing to do is to apply with your county coordinator.  Once approved locally, you will be ready to go through the University of Minnesota's course online or at a class in Winona this spring.  For further information, go to the University's master gardener website at www.mg.umn.edu.  For any of you outside of Minnesota, most states have a master gardener program through an extension agency.  If you live in Fillmore or Houston counties, you may also contact Jerrold Tessmer, Extension Educator, at tesme001@umn.edu.

Cucumbers

What should we do with all these cucumbers?  That is the million-dollar question for cucumbers and other veggies this time of year.  I actually did not grow cucumbers this year, but have been gifted with a bunch!  Some have been turned to pickles, but others have ended up in the compost bin, as they were ready to use at the time I acquired them, but I didn't have the time to process before they started to liquefy.

So, with these gifts, I tried my hand at pickling.  I am a lover of dill pickles - home made or not.  My mom sent to me a few pickle recipes, including a dill recipe from my Great Grandma Caldwell.  I'm sure I have eaten her pickles in the past and was pretty excited to recreate them.  The process seemed straight-forward and visual outcome was very nice!

The recipe said the pickles would be good to eat in two weeks and better as time progressed.  I was excited to open my first jar last Sunday, but disappointed to taste how salty they were.  Now, I don't mind salt and don't consider myself sensitive to it.  My husband and mother-in-law also tested and concluded the same thing.  The good news, though, was that my friend Deb said they went well with their bloody Marys!  I think I'll have to head out to Sol N Tyne and check them out!


However, since tasting them, I have been considering the recipe and how to adjust it.  The first part of the recipe was to soak the cucumbers in salt water.  At first  I thought that was the problem, but then realized that the extra pickles that I put in the 'fridge did not have the excessive salt flavor.  So, the issue must be the brine.  I think my next shot at this recipe will be to lessen the salt in the brine.