Modern Victory Garden

My yard is nowhere near the size that one would require for planting a vegetable garden.  Luckily, my mom's is.  Laney, Shesh, and I planted seeds there in February and are now reaping the benefits.  Laney and I gathered 2 baskets of goods on Monday, and had to look twice when we plucked these melons (technically) from the ground.  These odd looking fellows are Armenian Cucumbers, aka Dukes.  They are supposed to much more mild tasting than their American counterparts, and were cultivated by Armenian Californians.  I googled some recipes and found one for refrigerator pickles.  Here is the one I am trying:

2 unpeeled Armenian cucumbers or 1 qt. regular cucumbers
1 med. green pepper (I am using Anaheim chilies)
1 med. onion
1 tbsp. pickling salt
1 tbsp. celery seed
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c.white vinegar

Cut cucumbers into slices approximately 1/16 inch thick. Finely chop pepper and onion. Combine all vegetables in a jar or bowl and sprinkle with pickling salt and celery seed. Stir gently and let stand for about 1 hour.  Combine sugar and vinegar, stir to dissolve sugar. Pour over vegetables and stir. Cover and refrigerate. Pickles are ready to eat in 24 hours. Store in refrigerator.

While googling the cukes I came across this bit of wisdom from Max Lent, the author a refrigerator pickle recipe:  "When you serve these pickles to middle aged or older friends, be prepared to hear childhood stories of life on the farm or stories about a grandmother's cooking."  

Well, I met my grandmother for lunch today and told her about the pickles I would be making tonight.  I also told her that we had so much produce that I had ordered a canning set and it would be here Friday.  It is a large water bath with a metal jar rack, jar tongs, and other tools I will figure out how to use this weekend (hopefully without burning myself).  As the aforementioned author predicted, I got stories about food too!

Gigi told me that her grandmother lived with them during WW2.  She grew a Victory Garden during this time.  Nana would harvest and can the goods for the family, and store them in the basement.  Gigi told me that every so often you would hear the metallic ping of one of the lids hitting the ceiling below them as it blasted off its jar.  What a great memory she has!  I sincerely hope that I do not hear that sound coming from my pantry after this weekend as I attempt canning myself.  The first item I will be canning is green beans.  We have a very generous crop and there are only so many green bean casseroles, stir fries, and side dishes you can make before you get sick of the beans.  Hopefully my canned green beauties will last until winter so we can open up a can and relish in the taste of summer.  I will keep you posted!