Saturday Morning Garden Vibes + Easy Fridge Pickles

​I don’t know about you but last Saturday’s Summer Garden Morning was such a delightful two hours of veggie harvesting, flower-arranging, bug watching, playing-in-the-hose time, planting new seeds, and being together!

I loved getting to spend time in the garden together (whether you were there in person or in spirit)!

I know that there are so many things to do on summer weekends (like go up to the cottage, spend a day at the beach, go on a lakeshore drive, and spend time exploring all that Michigan has to offer), and yet it was just so special to explore the garden together for a few sunny hours in the morning.

Thank you SO much for coming! It really means a lot to me to get to share the garden with you.

On Saturday, one little guest smiled and looked up at me, blue eyes shining, and said “this has been the best day ever!” as he walked out between his grandparents, everyone holding bags of fresh produce and flowers that were picked during their visit with me.

Cue the happy tears! 🥹

Another family spent time together playing Connect4, SpotIT, and iSpy in the morning sunshine while the two littlest members giggled while splashing and playing with the hose, filling buckets of water and then simply dumping them out.

Just watching them and hearing their pure delight hit a reset button inside of me, re-invigorating a sense of child-like joy I needed to find again.

The two hours we spent together flew by and before I knew it the garden had returned to its normal, one-with-nature sounds.

And if it’s possible, I believe I felt the garden smiling!

Flowers had gone to good homes, the veggies had been picked and were on their way to feed families, and the bugs had been spotted and ogled at.

It was like the garden knew, it knew, that today, its purpose of bringing joy and families together – while providing a bountiful harvest – had been fulfilled!

On the note of summer garden veggies, like the prolific cucumber evident in our recent Saturday garden haul, I’ve been looking forward to sharing this delicious recipe with you.

Fridge Dill Pickles! 🥒

There are so many cucumbers pouring out of the gardens around us, and this is such a yummy (and easy) way to enjoy them—a slightly new taste but oh so fresh and munchy!

I mean, how good does that look?

Plop one of those pickles on a burger or sandwich – chef’s kiss!

Fun fact, if you make this yourself, you could grow all the ingredients for these fridge pickles right at home.

It’s so cool, to me, that what starts as growing a cucumber plant one year can snowball into growing your own garlic, then dill, then letting your cilantro go to seed so that you have your very own coriander (did you know that’s where coriander came from?), and pretty soon, you can step out your back door and harvest all that you need for this recipe.

Oh what fun that would be, am I right?

Anyways, here’s that recipe to go with the pickle picture above.

Putting everything together doesn’t take much time at all so it is truly pretty easy.

Well, unless waiting is hard for you (or your kids…) because there is some waiting involved since the pickles need to sit in the fridge for a bit so the yummy fresh flavors can all blend together in the jar.

I just love to taste the fresh dill and coriander seeds, so I let mine sit longer, like for 2 weeks!

By then, all the flavors come together in a delectable symphony where the taste becomes so alive I just can’t stop eating them!

Even if your kiddos don’t love pickles, this may be a gentler way to introduce new flavors and smells to your kids because YOU get to determine how strong they are.

The longer you let the pickles sit in the fridge, the stronger the flavor.

So…let it sit as long as you wish.

Experiment and try tastes at different stages to see what you and your family like best.

And then I’d love to hear what you think of your homemade pickles.

Email me and let me know how it goes – I can’t wait to hear from you and your pickling adventure!

I hope your weekends are beautiful & full of family and flavor!