Saturday was canning day for dill pickles and pears. Altogether my Mom, our friend Priscilla and I canned up 14 quarts of pickles and 4 quarts of pears in light syrup. 
The pears were from the tree in my parents’ back yard. It has taken awhile for them to begin to get really ripe and delicious. You’ll notice the lovely pink color… we added 3 drops of red food coloring to each quart. My Grandma Pickett used to do that, so we carried on the tradition.
As for the pickles, they are from a recipe of my Grandma’s also… she got the recipe from a neighbor in Portland, OR, so they are called:
Mrs. Volz’ Dill Pickles
Pack the cucumbers into clean, hot jars (we used quarts), leaving at least 1/2 inch headspace. Add 1 clove of garlic, a generous sprig of dill, and a grape leaf on top. The recipe says to use a horseradish leaf, so if you have those available, use that instead of the grape leaf (I learned from Priscilla that the grape or horseradish leaf makes the pickles more crisp… all those years I never knew the reason for the grape leaf). If you like, a small red dried hot pepper can be added to each quart jar for a little zip.
Meanwhile, bring to a boil a mixture of 1 quarts water, 1 pint vinegar and 1/2 cup pickling salt (don’t use regular salt with iodine — get pickling salt or use kosher salt). Pour the pickle juice over the cucumbers. Use a plastic utensil to remove air bubbles and make sure to leave 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe the jar rims clean and add a canning lid (from simmering water); add the ring and process in a boiling water bath for 20 minutes. (This was my addition… Grandma never did the water bath part. Back then, they just let the jars pop from the boiling water and didn’t water bath process them. Nobody ever died from her pickles, but I cannot recommend that you use that method.)
The work on the house continues… but we did have to make use of the wonderful cucumbers from Priscilla’s garden and the pears from Mom and Dad’s tree…