Pickled Out

What does a trip to the farmer's market, a kitchen reeking of onions and jars covering my table equal? It's pickling time! We had hoped for a great batch of cucumbers from our garden, but they've suffered and are yellowish and bitter. (Yes, we've learned some more about the nutrient and Ph levels for cucumbers and will grow them differently next year!)

Anyways, we love Darrin's grandmother's bread and butter pickle recipe and went through them way too fast last year. We decided to make 2 batches this year and planned to get them done on this past Saturday afternoon. (He ended up getting stuck at work for 20 hours, poor thing, so we made them last night.)

Here's his story:
On Friday, I sent Darrin to the wonderful Raleigh farmer's market, not far from where he works, to get 12-15 pounds of small cucumbers for the task. He came home with a HUGE box of them and excitedly told me of the deal he got. "I shopped all the different stands and figured out that the ones with the cute girls handing out samples were more expensive than going to the old ladies. The woman with the best deal (.99/lb) asked how many I needed. When I told her 15 pounds, she said, "How about this entire box for $15, it's 15-20 pounds." He picked it up and agreed, knowing it felt heavier. We weighed the box- nearly 30 pounds of cucumbers!! So we have pickles coming out of our ears! I'd be "pickled pink" if anyone wants to take a jar or two.