Urban Homesteading LITE: Pickles

I'm not a real urban homesteader. I can only fake it up to a certain point. I will (likely) never raise chickens. I will never own a goat. I don't sew or make soap. But, I'm doing what I can to use what I have with as little waste as possible. Maybe I'm more of a modern-depression-era gal than an urban homesteader. No matter, it often shocks me to learn how easy it is to make things from scratch. I bake nearly everything from scratch. I'm starting to cook nearly everything from scratch as well - with the exception of bread, pasta and cheese - all of which are apparently easy to make as well. Periodically, I'm going to share the little nuggets of knowledge I've gained over the past few years.

I've been meaning to make pickles for the past few years. I assumed it would be hard - canning and all. I heard about refrigerator pickles, but never really looked into them. Until this year when The Real Dill posted a tutorial on quick pickling. Did you know that you can pickle in about five minutes?!? It's true.

What you need:

• Large or small jars (I used old applesauce and tomato sauce jars)
• Cucumbers, onions, garlic, carrots, etc., etc., etc.
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 1 1/2 cup vinegar
• 2 tbsp. herbs (I used chili peppers)

What you do:

• Cut the vegetables if you want them to pickle faster. The bigger the veggies, the longer it takes to pickle them.
• Stuff the veggies in the jars as tightly as possible.
• Boil the water, vinegar and herbs.
• Pour the liquid over the veggies, seal and put in the fridge.

We're on our third batch of pickles now. They are phenomenal. They will keep in the fridge for weeks, but they're delicious a few days after pickling.