{"id":5248,"date":"2013-09-14T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-14T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/?p=5248"},"modified":"2018-03-12T16:55:33","modified_gmt":"2018-03-12T22:55:33","slug":"is-bread-and-butter-pickle-making-result-of-childhood-cucumber-picking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/is-bread-and-butter-pickle-making-result-of-childhood-cucumber-picking\/","title":{"rendered":"My Bread and Butter Pickle Psychosis"},"content":{"rendered":"

(or at least as far as I remember; recipe included)<\/em><\/p>\n

I was sent off<\/strong> to be an illegal farmer worker at the age of 12. Well, at least it would have been illegal by today’s standards. I worked for hours in the hot sun, making just a couple of dollars a day. Never mind that I loved the open air, was often singing, and was with friends. It was child abuse.<\/p>\n

How can it be<\/strong> right to drop off a child in the first light of dawn to begin a day of bending her back over long rows to be picked? Ignore the fact that my parents were teaching me how to work well<\/em> and I was happy to have<\/em> work. There I was, carrying 5 gallon bucket after bucket of cucumbers, one on each arm, hour after hour, building stamina and leg muscles. I would be able to easily out run all the other kids at school come fall. But my parents should have known there was the possibility of long term adverse affects.<\/p>\n

The damage<\/strong> was latent for years. Until one spring, I inexplicably planted cucumbers. The seed company must have some liability in all this. They did subject me to photos that triggered my condition. For someone who had never even bought a cucumber, buying seeds was a clear sign of problems to come. I had never even eaten pickles, although I do now remember gazing hypnotically at the jars while grocery shopping…<\/p>\n

Next thing<\/strong> I knew, I was picking cucumbers and musing dreamily about what to do with them. My husband, unaware of the possible consequences, off-handedly suggested that he had had an aunt or grandma who make bread and butter pickles that he liked.<\/p>\n

My old<\/strong> Better Homes and Gardens cookbook supplied me with a recipe for how to use this plant. I made my first batch of bread and butter pickles and the sleeping pickle-making maniac was awakened within me. Summer after summer now, I make pickles. Even if we have rows of pints down on the pantry shelves. On the occasional year that my cucumbers don’t produce, I grow depressed and agitated. I can moderate this some by counting jars of pickles.<\/p>\n

Once a person<\/strong> has reached this stage of pickle making psychosis, the only real treatment is supervised pickle making. The people around can try to keep the atmosphere calm in the kitchen, while carefully suggesting things like, “Don’t we have some tomatoes to pick?”<\/em> But pickle making will always be on the patient’s mind, so it is best not to try things like hiding the recipe or feeding all the cucumbers to the chickens.<\/p>\n

In an effort<\/strong> to bring peace to others with this condition, I offer my bread and butter pickle recipe:<\/p>\n