The Pickle Lady

I became instantly jealous when I read this article my mother gave me about another local woman starting a business making and selling pickles.  Who am I to actually feel jealous?  It is so awesome to see and hear that so many people are starting local specialty food businesses.  I remember having one of the Vlasic kids in a school where I used to work, and his folks would send all the teachers who had him in their classes a case of special pickles for the holidays.  Aside from the bribery-via-pickle, I remember the pickles being a super-cool and original gift, despite them being from a massive corporate giant, now owned by Pinnacle Foods.  It's still great to receive anything for which the maker has personal ownership.  After all, Vlasic didn't start out corporate.  They started out as a family creamery business.  Anyway, back to the massive corporate giant comment-- I admit I shop at Wal-mart and other local giants, so I can't use any kind of valid judgment when it comes to shopping choices.  Still, I think we'd all probably rather shop at locally-owned and operated businesses.  It's all about money and time, but I think we're moving in the right direction.  Congratulations to this pickle-lady at Victory Canning out of Portland, Maine.

 In the meantime, I'm sending off my own batch of new stuff to be "deemed safe" by the State of Maine.  Look forward to Zucchini Relish, Bread and Butter Pickles, Gingered-Rhubarb Preserve, and Rhubarb Pie Preserve.  You should see how this stuff has to be packaged in order to guarantee (never possible) that it arrives safely in Orono!