Pickles, Pickles, and more Pickles

Pickles are like hot dogs that got pissed and turned into the Hulk

My wife and I have had a garden in our back yard for the past few years.  We typically grow pumpkins, onions, carrots, and green peppers and most of the time, they all turn out great.  

I never really had any interest in helping out with our garden...it was more my wife's hobby.  I would help rota-til the garden, turn off the sprinkler at night, and then put my muscles to good use and carry our pumpkins up to our house in the fall.  

Last year, as we were harvesting the final vegetables from our garden, I got the idea to plant cucumbers in our next garden and make them into pickles. I'm no stranger to the kitchen and am comfortable making any type of cuisine, but have never attempted to make pickles before. 

Over the winter, my pickle idea kind of floated away like a fluffy snow flake in January.  However, on a sunny (but chilly) March day, I was shopping with my family and came across the gardening section of the grocery store and noticed their enormous display of seeds.   

I scanned their wide array of seeds looking for cucumbers, thinking that was what I needed.  Little did I know that there was actually a cucumber specifically for pickling.  

Fast forward a few months later...the sun is shining, it's a heckuva lot warmer, and our pickling cucumbers are producing faster than we can pickle them.   

My first batch of dill pickles is currently on day 3 of the fermentation process (the recipe I found says it will take between 3 and 7 days to complete).  I tried one today and it isn't quite "pickly" yet.  

I plan to use this summer as a testing phase to see what works and doesn't work.  My goal is to have more pickles next summer and hopefully sell them at our local farmers market.