It seems that even though I know what my next blog post will be doesn't mean that I will get it up...I think I have some reasons why I've been such a sparse blogger lately. But let me first share that dill pickle recipe that I promised. These are super easy and super delicious. Something about processing them in the oven makes them turn out a little crunchier than pickles done in a hot water. It is probably a little late for most of you to be getting a pickle recipe, but perhaps some of you in warmer climates can still make use of it.
OVEN DILL PICKLES
3 quarts of water
1/2 cup of canning salt
1 quart of white vinegar
Cucumbers
Powdered Garlic
Dried Dill
Wash cucumbers, cut if desired, and stuff into jars leaving a 1/4" head space. Add 1/4 tsp powdered garlic and 1 teaspoon dried dill per quart jar.
In a large pot,hat brine until salt dissolves. Pour brine over cucumbers in jar. Wipe tops and put new lids on firmly.
Fill a roasting pan with one inch of water and put prepared bottles into the pan. Put the pan in a 300 degree oven for 20 min. Remove pan and put bottles on a rack or a towel . Tighten lids and let sit for one week before eating.
Here is my last basket of tomatoes. I gathered them a little over a week ago on the day before we had our first freeze. And then on Monday it snowed and it's been cold, cold, cold ever since. Yes, it will get colder, but summer is definitely over which is such a shame because summer is definitely the best season in Idaho.
And now let's discuss my pickle...I started a blog a few months after I discovered the world of craft blogging - I wanted to share in this great world. I also started blogging to share a part of our family life with my friends and family that were far away (we are 4 hours from the closest family). In addition, I also started this blog to promote my shop, but I don't think I do a very good job of that here and I'm not really sure that many people are reading my blog to keep track of what's going on in my shop anyway. Let me know if you are - I'd be curious to know if anyone out there is hoping for more shop news here. Lately, I find it increasingly difficult to keep up with the blogging world. There are so many blogs and even though I have really tried to pare down the ones I am reading, I still cannot keep up with it lately. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels like this is a community in which there is giving and taking and sometimes I'm not sure if I have the time to keep up. I like to respond to my comments, but have also found that hard to do - especially since Typepad change the comment e-mail format. I have become more concerned about the safety of the information that I share here about our family. I admire bloggers who seem to be able to share just the right amount of personal info to make their blog more personable and interesting without indulging all of their family secret but sometimes I'm not sure where to draw the line, especially as the mother of a child with special needs.
I have thought lately about a lot of different things I could do - stop blogging altogether, go private, start another blog for family and friends with more family information and become more crafty here. I can't seem to come up with a solution that will make me happy. I'm not sure that I really want to stop blogging. I'm not a big fan of private blogs, mostly because they can't be read in a reader and I have a really hard time remembering to check them. And I'm having a hard enough time keeping up with one blog, let alone two. How do you decide how much time to spend on blogging and all that it entails - reading, responding to comments, photos, posting, etc.? And if I were to change some things around here, what would you like to stay? What brings you here and what would you like to see more of? I'd love to hear from as many of you as possible. One thing that I've always loved about blogging is the feedback that I can get here. I probably wouldn't have moved to our ugly little house if you hadn't all convinced me that I could make it livable. There are definitely some drawbacks to living in this old house, but overall, we are very happy that we made this move and we are all benefitting from it. I'm sure you will all enlighten me again!