Crock Pickles

I read about Crock Pickles in The Dirty Life, and couldn't wait to try it!

Pickles in the brine

I have seen pickle lids for crocks, and never knew what they were!  They are discs with holes in them, that fit in the crock to hold the pickles down in the brine.  I opted for fabric weighted down with some corel ware.

The crocks, back on the shelf in my kitchen - same place I store the crocks when they are empty...

OPEN CROCK DILL PICKLES

Printed from COOKS.COM

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grape leaves
fresh dill leaves, stems or seeds
mixed pickling spices
12 lbs. freshly picked cucumbers
Pickling solution
2 gallons cold water
1 pint vinegar
1 lb canning or Kosher salt

In a 4 gallon crock with a lid, place a layer of grape leaves, then one of fresh dill leaves, stems and/or seeds. Over these, scatter 1 oz. mixed pickling spices. Fill with evenly sized cucumbers to within 2 or 3 inches of top.Scatter another ounce of spices, another layer of dill, and then a layer of grape leaves. Over this, pour a mixture of 2 gallons of filtered cold water (do not use chlorinated or adulterated tap water or the pickles will not ferment properly), 1 pint of vinegar (any kind), and 1 pound of canning or Kosher salt.
Weigh down using a heavy crockery weight or a dish with a brick over the top. If a stone is used, be sure it isn't limestone. The pickles should be weighted down to keep them submerged under the liquid.
If the temperature is kept about 86°F, fermentation will be complete within about 2 weeks (if cooler, fermentation will take longer).
Pickles should become a dark green, but should not be slimy. At the end of the curing, the pickles may be put up in sterilized canning jars.
Fill the jars with cured pickles. Fill the sterile jars with fresh pickling brine (same as above) flavored with a little spice and dill.

This original recipe, which uses a traditional method of making fermented pickles, does not call for additional processing. If proper techniques are used, the traditional method of making pickles may be used with good success. New recommendations, however, call for pickles to be processed in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes (pints) 15 minutes (quarts) leaving 1/4-inch headspace in jars.

Glass Cleaner Recipe

I mixed up a batch of glass cleaner this week, and finally remembered to take a pic of the ingredients, to update this old post with the recipe.  Nothing fancy..  super easy to make, and this works SO well!  I used it to clean my car this week, it did a great job there too.

Although this is an awesome no streak glass cleaner - it's also fantastic on things like the bathroom counters, the kitchenaid mixer, and the washer and dryer.  :-)

1  Cup Ammonia
1 bottle of rubbing alcohol
1tbsp Ivory dish liquid

Combine first 2 ingredients in a empty gallon jug.
Fill the rest of the jug with water
At the end put is tbsp dish liquid.
Shake gently to mix all together.

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https://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/p/diary-of-housewife.html

The Spirit Gives... self discipline??

I have been struggling with my diet and exercise plan.  It is simple enough to follow, I just lack self discipline.

Today I logged into YouVersion to read Colossians (I'm reading Colossians every day this month) and this was the verse of the day:

2 Timothy 1:7 NIV
For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

I don't know how many times I have read the book of Timothy, but it is safe to assume I have read this verse more than 5 times.  At least.

So how did I miss it?  The Spirit God gave me gives me self dicipline.

So I must have self discipline.

Leaving the question, why do I not see self discipline in my life?  Why am I not using what God has given me?  How can I better tap into this resource in my life? 

I suspect the answer is that I will need to practice it. The more I use it, the easier it will become, and the better I will get with it.

A greek cheeseburger

From the Main Street Grill in Muncy. These are sooooo good!

Homiletics Worksheet

One of my favorite seminars at BSF was on Homiletics.  I love the process of studying the bible through Homiletics.  Recently my friend Natalie taught our Sunday School class how to do homiletics, and again I found I really enjoyed the process, and I decided I wanted to use it more frequently.

There is a great "Crash Course In Homiletics" here - http://www.christinakline.com/homiletics-crash-course/

Earlier this summer our Pastors wife suggested, in our Womens Sunday School Class, that we choose one epistle and read it every day, for a month.  I love this bible reading plan.  I have used many plans over the years, and have read the bible cover to cover a few times now, so the idea of really learning one epistle at a time felt like a good next step for me.

For the month of August, I am reading Colossians every day.  It is only 4 chapters, a quick, easy read every morning.  I decided the 4 chapters made it perfect to use homiletics for my weekly study, doing one chapter each week of August, as well.  

All of that lead to the creation of this worksheet.  I am very digitally minded - I like to be paperless as much as possible.  I do keep a notebook by my bed for some studies, but often I am not in the same place each day, and carrying one more thing around just does not work for me.  The more I can do on my phone, the better.  This worksheet, created in Google Drive, I can type right into from wherever I am - in bed, on the front porch, on the recliner in my living room..  in the parking lot of the school waiting to pick up children from sports.  It's always with me.  Some day I will most likely have a serene, set schedule where I can do my bible study in the same spot, at the same time, every day..  but that will most likely be in my empty nest years, not in my "4 teenagers with insane schedules" stage.  Then again, with the farm, I probably shouldn't count on my empty nest years being completely serene either.

To see the worksheet, go here: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dpTshGapqBdePUL4WJt3Qawl4nig7mtH2PLG_xohRPk/edit?usp=sharing

When I am using this worksheet, I choose file/make a copy and then I rename the copy.  I do not always work from this digital copy - sometimes i use this just as my outline to follow, and I write in my notebook - it truly depends on the week.  I prefer to use a notebook, it's just not always convenient to do so, I do not always have one with me.  Sometimes I work on scrap paper, then add the scrap paper to my notebook..  it all depends.  The worksheet just gives me the format - how I use it varies.

One of the things Natalie taught me was that this does not have to be done all at once!  There are 5 steps, and 5 week days.  Breaking it down to one step a day really works for me.

When I finish up Colossians Chapter One I will post my work here, so you can see an example.  There is no right or wrong - I could do homiletics on the same chapter 5 times in one year, and end up with 5 different aims, learning something different each time!

Watching Aryiana (Goat) give birth

I took these photos this spring when the babies were born - they have been sitting on my camera waiting to be uploaded.  The twins have done great, and are big now!

We knew Aryiana was in labor by the way she was acting..  she was pawing the ground, and kept going into the shelter and trying to get comfortable.  Right before the babies were born she cried a bit, we could hear her, and by the time I got around the fence and into the shelter the first baby was already here.

Here's To Not Catching Our Hair On Fire

From the title (I have caught my hair on fire! And I've been distracted by a chicken too!) I thought this would be a fun read.

It was not. I'm really not sure why I finished it. I would not spend that much time listening to a person in real life who could not go 6 sentences without a string of swear words. It's even less endearing in a book. Her stories of abuse, being drugged, drinking too much, flitting from job to job, and drug use were just not funny. Her life wasn't funny. Her book isn't funny. The author thinks her life is a riot.

This book is like sitting down with a person you vaguely know, only to get their entire torrid life story, all with the attitude that none of what happens to them is in their control. Life just happens, and all the scatterbrained inability to keep a job is from a medical diagnosis, NOT from the weed they smoke. Or all the times they get drunk. Getting arrested is great fun, an adventure! (Yes, she really says this - in great detail. She also thought getting drugged was a laugh fest too, since nothing bad happened while she was drugged.)

Her inability to make a list is just how her brain works, nothing can be done about it.. and yet the same person can write an entire book.

There were parts of this book I could honestly relate to. Many of the symptoms of her ADHD, or "how her brain works", were achingly familiar to me. But those tidbits were hidden in so much junk and disaster (not funny disaster - more like "grow up already" disaster) that I found myself trying to distance myself even from the parts I could relate to. It's her life, her story, and she has a right to tell it.. I just really wish I had not wasted my time reading it.