Programming Your "Favs" in Your Magnum ME-ARC

Marc describes the process of saving your most frequently viewed information to your Magnum ME-ARC so you can access this information more quickly. Learn how to easily view items such as State of Charge, Amp hours in & out, and AC load Amps of your RE system.

Exploration in Fermentation: Pickles

I've never liked pickles. Even the ones I've canned for Marc have always been merely "okay". Then I tried fermenting pickles and...holy cow! They were good...no, not just good. They were flavorful, zesty and delicious! I actually craved them! Now they are the only pickles I process.

Fermenting pickles was my first attempt at the fermentation process. In my research, I learned allot about the benefits of fermentation:

• Fermenting pickles is so much easier and takes less energy to process than canning.
• Eating fermented food can help support digestive health and enhance the immune system as it contains live lactic-acid producing bacteria.
• Having this bacteria in your gut can help you absorb more nutrients from the foods you eat.
• Making your own healthy, fermented pickles is less expensive than buying them in the store.
• Good for your taste buds too!!!

Fermented Pickle Recipe:

The original recipe I referred to when making my own pickles was the one found on the Wild Fermentation website. I modified the recipe a bit.

The only items you need to ferment pickles are a crock or food-grade bucket, a plate that will fit snugly into the crock, a (clean) weight to keep the plate down under the brine, and a towel to cover the crock.

Gather your Ingredients:

• About 4 lbs of pickling cucumbers. I like mine fairly small - they just taste better to me.
• 3/8 cup sea salt
• Fresh flowering dill heads -  I like dill and put in as much as I have on hand. Usually about 5 heads or so, but you can adjust to your own taste.
• Garlic - I put in 3 - 4 heads of garlic
• A couple of grape leaves (optional). This is suppose to help the pickles stay crisp. I've also used horseradish and raspberry leaves with the same results.
• Peppers - 4 to 5. I've used whatever peppers I have on hand in my garden, both sweet and hot peppers and a combination of both, with success.  

Make your Pickles:

• Place dill, garlic, grape leaves, and peppers in the bottom of a clean crock.
• Place cucumbers, cleaned and blossoms removed, in the crock.
• Mix sea salt with 1/2 gallon of water and completely dissolve to make brine.
• Pour brine over the cucumbers.
• Place the clean plate over the cucumbers and weight it down with a boiled rock or jug filled with water. The plate should be under the brine at all times. If there is not enough, add more brine with a ratio of just under 1 tablespoon of salt to 1 cup water.
• Cover with towel or cloth.
• Check the crock each day. Mold will form - just try to skim off as much as you can. The mold is natural and your pickles are safely fermenting underneath in the brine so don't worry too much. Rinse your plate and weight before returning to the crock.
• Check your pickles after a few days and taste to see if they are done. You can continue to let them ferment for up to 4 weeks. Putting them in the refrigerator will slow down the fermentation process.

Temperature will affect the fermenation process so just be attentive to your pickles and check on them every day until you are happy with the taste. If I use one of my small crocks, I just move it directly to the refrigerator once I know they are to my liking.

I never thought making fermented pickles could be so easy and taste sooooo good! 

Up Next: Fermenting Sauer Kraut

Homemade Garden Tunnels

If you’re a gardener you’ve most certainly heard of a garden tunnel to extend your growing season. They can protect your young plants from frost and insect invasion. Here’s a twist on how we made our own garden tunnels.

When Marc was a young boy growing up on his family farm in Kentucky, his Dad would cut small sections of fencing and formed circles around plants so he could train them as they grew. After getting back into gardening later in life, Marc wanted to do the same, but couldn’t find the right kind of fencing. He bought some remesh (concrete reinforment – looks similar to a fence). In trying to mimic his dad, he bent the remesh into a half circle but when the cage landed on the ground in tunnel fashion (as in the picture below) he thought he’d go with it.

Uses:

• Use them with row cover to extend your growing season.
• Create a small greenhouse by covering with a clear plastic.
• Use them as cages to help support your plants as they grow. 

This really works great with tomato plants. Once they are hardened off, I plant young seedlings in the ground and use a cage over the bed with row cover to protect them. I've used rocks, dirt, wood, and sand bags to hold the row cover down, but just recently have been using clothes pins to fasten the fabric to the cages. It seems to work pretty well. You can also put the cages end to end if you have long beds to create one long continuous tunnel. I keep the cages on throughout the entire growing season. When we’re all clear of frost for the season, I take off the row cover and just let the plants grow up through the cages. It also works well with any vining plant like squash or cucumbers. 

Making the Cages:

• It's a good idea to have two people - one to hold the remesh and the other to do the cutting.
• Use small bolt cutters to cut the remesh.
• Buy or salvage 5' remesh- it's cheaper if you buy it by the roll (you can purchase a 5' by 50' roll of remesh at Menards for around $50 - this will make 10 cages). 
• Cut the remesh in 5' sections, making sure your cut is made down the middle of the squares so that you have sharp ends to anchor your cage into the ground. (As shown in the picture on the right).
• Make sure the remesh is bent in a half circle so it will fit over your bed. These cages should fit over a 3' wide bed, but are adjustable, so that you have a little room to play.

We've found these cages have been quite sturdy for us, even in our extreme environment (high winds and heavy snow).  One thing to look out for is unsmooth edges on the remesh. This can cause the row cover to tear in high winds. We have had this happen and have used a file or angle grinder to smooth out any rough edges on the remesh. It seems to have helped. 

The garden is always evolving and we try to make improvements whenever possible, but we feel we've found the garden tunnel that works best for us. It's relatively inexpensive, sturdy, versatile and will last a long time.