Red Cherry, Black Crow

The 7th grade has officially been completed.  This week Our Aristotle, a State of Maine certified teacher, completed his annual assessment which I delivered to the School Department.  

The interim Superintendent had quit, having been replaced by an Interim-Interim Superintendent.  A new Superintendent reportedly has been hired and will begin later this month.  They never confirm receipt; I am like a paperboy throwing news into the void, but regardless, we go forward.  To reach their office – their sanctus sanctorum – I had to go through two sets of high security doors, that required someone to buzz me in; if our homeschool is relational the School Department seems transactional.

It is summertime.  These days the living is not so easy, but the pace here has slowed.  We have been working the garden and spreading straw to suppress weeds.  Potatoes are thriving. Pole beans snake up the trellis. Tomatoes form on the vine. Coneflowers shout to the sky. Lavender abounds with bees. In the kitchen we have begun making pickles.  

Each summer we plant one cucumber seedling, of the pickling varieties, which provides more than we can keep up with.  As the roots go down, the shoots sprout up, flowering and bringing our bounty.  

Several years ago I worked at the Chebeague Island Inn.  The chef had a stellar recipe for Bread-n-Butter pickles, which hotel quantity had to be scaled down for a family of four.  This one is a keeper, to be passed down generations.

Slice 4 cucumbers at about 1/4″ thickness, then in a sauce pan combine:

• 1/2 large, onion, sliced thin
• 1T + 2t salt, kosher
• 1/2 C + 1t white vinegar
• 1/4 C + 2T + 2t apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 C + 2T + 2t sugar
• 2 1/2 t mustard seed
• 1/2 t red chili flakes
• 1/4t + celery seed
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 allspice berries
• 3 whole cloves
• Pinch turmeric
• 2 1/2 dried chilis 

Bring all to a boil, let it cool. Into a one quart Mason jar add the sliced cukes, then pour in the brine.  These BnB pickles will keep in the fridge for several weeks.

In other news, the sour cherries have been abundant, more than we can pick, which inspired this haiku:

Red cherries, Black crows

A murder, in our orchard

All sour, no sweet