order, plenty & peace

 
Having never read the books myself, we've lately been listening to the LotR audio book read in a lovely Brit accent. I'm particularly fascinated with the passage where Treebeard explains how they lost the Ent-wives. Apparently the menfolk wanted to stay in the wild forest & herd trees while their maidens wanted to plant gardens & live in them "for the entwives desired order, and plenty, and peace."

This is where my day-to-day brain lives, in a way, however simple & boring that may be. And this morning I was craving all sorts of hobbit-food, provided by the bounty of the Fredericksburg Farmer's Market:

-blackberries for jam

-cucumbers for pickling (recipe from Nourishing Traditions, pg 97)
-rye sourdough (for jam toast)

-vidalia onions, stems attached (for a sweet pesto, recipe to come)
-cherry tomatoes

-grass fed lamb & Canadian bacon

-kalamata olive bread for dipping in oil


Pickled Cucumbers

• 4-5 pickling cukes or 15-20 gherkins
• 1 Tbsp mustard seeds
• 2 Tbsp fresh dill, snipped
• 1 Tbsp sea salt
• 4 Tbsp whey (if not available, use additional 1 Tbsp salt)
• 1 cup filtered water

Preparation 

Wash cucumbers well & place in quart sized, wide mouth mason jar(s). Combine remaining ingredients & pour over cukes, adding more water if necessary to cover them. The top of the the liquid should be at least 1 inch below the top of the jar. Cover tightly & keep at room temperature for about 3 days before transferring to cold storage.