I had to work yesterday but Matt had the day off. Feeling the need to be useful, but unable to force himself to labor outside under the hot sun, he transformed our small cucumber crop into bread and butter pickles. Matt is our resident brewer, and since the key to both brewing and canning is scrupulous cleanliness I had great faith in him. However, since I have done all the cooking and preserving for the last four years I did get a barrage of phone calls and texts asking where I had hidden anything from canning jars to pickling salt to turmeric.

I came home to a permanently stained, utterly wrecked, and terribly humid kitchen, but it sure smelled good!

I am doubly proud: not only did Matt do a lovely job of preserving part of our meager bounty (which also helps to get another row of food out of the way of the impending piglets) but I didn’t even know we had any cucumbers yet!

— Amanda