Pickles, Plants and Packages

I have a confession - I don't crave pickles or jalapenos like I used to. About six weeks ago I got off one of my blood pressure medicines and since then I haven't craved pickles or any salty foods like I did before. My blood pressure is fine still.

However, it is summer and we do have quite a few cucumbers. Time to make some pickles! Here's the four jars of refrigerator pickles I put in jars last night! (I used the same recipe I mentioned in a previous posting.) They'll be ready to eat in about four weeks.

Along the same lines, here's a picture of some of the stuff we're growing. The cucumbers went into the pickle jars, but so did the little hot peppers. Frankly, they are not very hot (really) so I don't think they'll make a difference in the taste, but it seemed like a good thing to use them for. The leafy things on the right are Chinese spinach, a red-veined edible amaranth (yeah, I had to go look it up). A nice young lady at the plant nursery suggested it, and I have to say the leaves are quite tasty (I was worried). According to the internet, we might be able to get grain out of it also, but I'm not sure how to do that or what to do with the grain if we did harvest it. I tried one time to grind acorns into meal. It took me days (peeling off those little shells is a pain).  I made little acorn muffins. They were horrible.

And just one final note. Our Great-Uncle Frank was a Postal employee and my brother-in-law Arlo retired from the Post Office, so I have high regard for their skills and integrity. Still, when I receive a package like the one below, I have to wonder - what were you guys thinking?