Just keep thinking about all the yummy stuff that will result!

and have plenty of beautiful food at the end, but my hands are already aching for you. Take care of your beautiful eyes and post pix if you can!

....and didn't feel much pain.

Lotta pickles.

There's such a connection to the past in putting food up. Of course I remember my mother doing it in the late summer evenings. On the day she made strawberry jam she would also make bread. What could be more delicious than the drippings from the jam on an end crust of hot fresh bread?

And my Aunt Dorothy put up the bounty of a huge garden every year. She was a happy and accomplished homemaker with two pantries and a big jelly cabinet in the basement. Full of dill pickles and everything else.

Life goes on.

and which methods people use to stop the crying. They determined that the best way to avoid onion eyes is to put a lit candle next to the cutting board. I've tried it and it really works.

And so happy that you have so much to show for your efforts. Your Aunt Dorothy sounds like a honey! I do the same thing on jelly-making days, now made extra easy by the no-knead bread recipe first brought to my attention on DU. Enjoy those pickles!

I used to do all the slicing for my mother's bread and butter pickles when I was a kid. I used her Feemster slicer that worked like a charm. One summer I sliced the corner off my fingernail. Not pretty...trust me. Those pickles were well worth it.

i was skeptical when my husband suggested it, but it worked.

I should look into this, as we could store in the bilge and it would cut down on my issues with having vegetables and fruits.