first pickling

I'm reminiscing back to when the weather was above 40. I miss it. Regardless, we're moving right along to Thanksgiving and Christmas. Time never slows around here. But back when the weather was warmer, I pickled my first batch of pickles. ALL BY MYSELF. My crazy neighbor harvested a good load of pickles for me, but I finally did this process alone. I was pretty smitten with myself when all was said and done. Sadly, this is about all I did with regard to the garden this year. I'm failing. Sorry, crazy neighbor.  :(

Because said crazy neighbor is The Best Neighbor Eva, she brought me some goodies to help me make it through my first independent pickling session. And the best pickling kit ever. I'm so thankful to have her! If I remember correctly, the whole process took me 3 hours, not too bad.

the amazing kit

let the process begin - prepping

'helper'

ready for stuffing

{insert official name of this process}  ;)

Pickles were never so beautiful until this day. *Proud moment!* ;)

After the pickling was done, I ran some errands and came home to a lovely note from my crazy neighbor. She's too kind. After talking with her later, I found out 'we' canned 90+ pints of pickles… of which 8 were the batch I did... uhhh… good job, Courtney? Glad I could contribute ;)