I definitely need some calcium chloride for the next round of pickles. These are from 06 so it's not too surprising that they're mushy! I cut my 2008 bread and butter pickles into thicker slices and ended up with a texture more to my liking. So far I've pureed one jar of them and mixed with catsup and some additional spices to make sloppy joes. They were okay but a *little* on the "weird" side. My younger son said, "Hey, what's this whitish-greenish seed looking thing??" (I think it was a mustard seed!) and my elder son said, "I don't know, but I smell pickles!" LOL! Thanks for all the suggestions for ways to use these. The peas, pickles, and cheese salad sounds kind of, how shall I say....yucky! :-D I appreciate the idea, however, and just might find myself intrigued enough to try it some day! I don't really do macaroni salad, but potato salad is a thought, as are the deviled eggs. I have chopped up sweet pickles and put them into tuna salad in the past, so that could be another option. I've never eaten sweet pickles on a green salad--could be interesting! The tip about pickling the beets with the leftover brine sounds good, since I also have a couple pints of home canned beets lurking in the closet!

I have tried baking soda with little effect a mix of ascorbic acid and water may also help a little. The mildew happens rapidly and once you see a single yellow leaf, it has begun. I spray with a fungicide called Serenade, which works quite well. Its done every 7 days during the bearing of the cukes. Bees love the blossoms and I usually have many bees busy all day long. I go out and pick at sunrise as its a little cooler and easy to find them on a vertical trellis. The honey bees must be local as they are busy all day and the area sounds like a huge bee hive. They usually are just fine even if I am out there picking right next to them, as they are not very aggressive. I posted links above to web site for pickling cucumbers, and if you don't know how to get these links copied to an internet browser, just simply point at an end or start of the HTML line (above), and hold down the left mouse button and move to the left or right to highlight the whole line. Once highlighted, press the control key down while you then press the C key. Open a new browser page and remove the text at the window at the top. Or point to what text is there, and then its highlighted, press the delete key. Position the mouse pointer in that window while you hold the control key down and presk V to paste the previously copied text. Press enter. Then it will show you the web page link. I made it easier to show you the Jung pickling cucumber seed assortment. Here is a link that might be useful: Jung Seed- pickling cukes

Two 40-50 foot oaks and many limbs hovering over my house. The tree guy here, used ropes and a ladder, and nothing else but a chain saw. The big and buggy maple out front when cut, and fallen had gone all the way across the street and slammed into the guard rail. We had traffic blocked for about 15 minutes for them to clear way the mess. All it took was a 2 day visit at about 6 hours a day total. They will soon be back to get rid of some birch and more, as one had fallen right outside my kitchen window and I woke to find it in my walk way. Luckily nothing planted there was damaged. But if it were to happen now, we can say its a $3000 damage I don't wish to pay for. My poor little old New Zealand made alumminium famed glass greehouse is only 6x8. Its now got dead birch tree limbs just waiting for more snow load to come. Wish you luck. BTW, most of my garden is sunny until about 3-4 PM. after that and before 9 am its shady. But I still manage. The oaks further back are at least 75 foot tall, and the trunks are well over 2-3 feet around. My poor blueberries lean to the eastern sky all the time and there are no real branches on the west sides of the rows over the big oaks. Mighty they are, but can be cut down if very necessary. Next door quickly realized that if I have damages from his trees, he will be getting many expensive bills to pay!

I've been making freezer pickles for years. The combination of vinegar, sugar and freezing magically results in a very crisp pickle upon opening. I put them in 1 cup containers because they do go a bit limp if not used within about a week. I also make freezer cauliflower pickles ... using the same recipe. Linda Z has several freezer recipes using different seasonings. Mine is below, but I see no reason why your recipe wouldn't work just fine. Freezer Pickles Yield: about 4 pints. 7 cups unpeeled cucumbers sliced thin 1 cup onions sliced thin 1 cup red bell peppers sliced thin 1 tbsp kosher salt 1 1/2 cups white vinegar 2 cups sugar 1 teaspoon celery seeds Sprinkle salt over sliced cucumbers; let sit one hour and then drain. Make syrup with vinegar, sugar and celery seed. Bring to boil till sugar is dissolved. Let cool. Mix cukes with onions and pepper, Put vegetables into sterile jars and fill with syrup. Freeze. Can thaw and eat after 24 hours.