The first batch of watermelon rind pickles and what to do if you don't have a water-bath canner

It's a 3-day process. That doesn't mean that I'm slaving away at it for 3 days, straight. The first day is the most labor-intensive, with slicing off the dark green of the rind, then cutting, plus simmering and making the brine. The next day, I strained off the brine, to reboil and pour over the rind pieces. And on the third day, I boiled the brine, one more time, poured over the rind as it's packed in jars, and finally, water-bath process.

I packed these jars tightly, so I'm guessing each jar will last through 4 or 5 family meals. I think I have about a 4 to 5-month supply of this kind of pickle. It's something we enjoy, but I also forget about it at times, when there's something else we're into in the moment.

I'm hoping to do 2 more batches like this pickle, for a total of 9 pints.

I store the rind pieces in a Rubbermaid container or plastic bags, in the fridge, for up to 4 days, until I have enough to do a large-ish batch, about 3 full pints.


You wanna see my make-shift water-bath canner? So a water bath just needs to cover the lids and jars, about an inch with the water. Any large stainless, or enamel stockpot works well for this. But you need something to hold the jars off of the bottom of the stockpot, while it's boiling. I don't have a rack.

I had a bunch of regular-size, (the smaller ones, not wide-mouth) used canning jar rings. I tied them together with cotton, kitchen string, to make a circle of rings, about the size of the bottom of one of my stockpots. When placed, top side up, inside the stockpot with water, the jars rest on top of the rings, about 3 or 4 fat jars or 6 slimmer jars, in this stockpot. I've used this exact circle of tied-together rings for about 20 years now. Doesn't look pretty, but it works, and can be replaced any year, with the next batch of worn rings. And it doesn't take up much space to store.

Just an idea to keep in mind, if you'd like to try canning some jam or jelly this summer, but don't have the "official" supplies, like the canning rack. I do have a jar lifter, which is a set of tongs with a wide opening to grasp a jar out of the hot water. Indispensable to me now. But before I had the jar-lifting tongs, I managed with some regular tongs in one hand, and a thick towel in the other to grab each jar as I pulled it out of the water. What's that saying? Necessity is the mother of invention. Homemakers have been figuring out how to do any number of things without every gadget out there, since the beginning of keeping the home fires burning.

Repairing damaged surface of faux leather shoes

I know, real leather doesn't get this sort of damage. But sometimes, what you have is the faux leather. And once it's damaged, they look awful. What to do about it?

Faux leather is a plastic-like surface over a fabric structure. When some of the plastic surface gets scraped off (usually on the toe or the heel of the shoe), the fabric under part is revealed, and makes it so obvious that the shoes are a cheap, faux leather.

We've repaired this kind of damage to several pairs of shoes, over the years, using craft acrylic paint and clear fingernail polish.

About a year and a half ago, one daughter repaired her brown prairie boots. We didn't have a shade of brown which matched her shoes, so she took several browns that we had and mixed a suitable match. Her repair lasted about a year, and she recently retouched the surface of her boots.

About a week ago, my other daughter was lamenting needing to buy new black shoes. I told her to hold off, and we'd see about fixing her current ones. One day when she was sick, I decided to do something nice for her while she napped, and I fixed her shoes. They were pretty scratched on the toes and the edge of the buckle.

I used black craft acrylic paint (the kind you pay under a dollar for at Michael's or Jo Ann's), and a paint brush and dabbed paint onto the revealed fabric, under the plastic faux leather surface, on the toes as well as the buckle. I allowed the acrylic to dry thoroughly, and then a coat of clear nail polish over the paint. That's it. 5 minutes of hands-on time.

Here are the shoes, close up, with the fix.

And here's what it looks like from a normal, eye to shoe distance. Before, you could definitely see that the shoe was scratched and damaged. Now, you can't tell unless you are up close.

My daughter has a hard time finding shoe that fit her foot comfortably. So, we're always reluctant to have to replace a comfortable pair. Making these shoes last another year, at no cost (we had the supplies at home), is all Win.