 Dodson Foundation 4-H Agent for Pike County. And joining me today for our adventure is Emma Claire and Ellie Grace Olson. Let's go! Our adventure begins today at Willoughby's Farm in Houston County, Alabama. They have been growing cucumbers since 1990. They also grow carrots, cotton and peanuts. But on this farm pickles are a big deal. First they fertilize the ground, plow it and get the ground ready to plant the seeds. They're planted in well-drained soil. The presence of bees are important. They are brought in for pollination. After the 40 days it is time to harvest. There is a blade on each side that cuts the bond so that the machine is able to grab the entire bond when the cucumber is still attached. The hugger chain actually grabs the cucumber and draws it into the machine. Where there are rollers that separate the cucumbers, they drop down the elevator into the basket. The cucumbers that are too big fall back out onto the ground. From the basket they are loaded into trucks where they are taken to be grown. Sorted and loaded into trucks bound for the pickling plant. Our next stop on our adventure is Magnolia vegetable processors in Brundage, Alabama. Vakers of Wiggles brand pickle products. Today they are making pickling okra. The pickling process is the sign for all vegetables. The okra is first washed and inspected. They are then pricked and sent through a metal detector. Next they are blanched. While the okra are being blanched the jars are washed and each jar gets two pieces of garlic and one pepper. The okra is then fed into the filler. The filler vibrates to spread the okra and drop them into the jars. From the filler area the jars proceed down the line to the topping area where they actually hand top all of the jars to make sure that the jars are full. Once the okra or pickles are in the jars the pickle juice or brine is added. This gives the pickles their flavor. The brine is made in giant mixers and the ingredients are tested and allowed for quality control. After the jars have pickles and juice they are kept in vacuum sealed. They then go down the line to a rinser where the jars are washed off. Next the jars are heated to just the right temperature. Then cooled quickly the jars then proceed into the labeler where labels are added in a best if used by date and production code are labeled on each jar. They are then sent down the line to the pepper where they get cased and stacked on pallets. Ready for shipment! Our Ag Victor continues in the kitchen. Let's make some pickles of our own. We're going to show you how to make pickles at home and what you'll need is some apple cider vinegar, salt, sugar, measuring cups and measuring sphinis. You'll need one cup of water, one cup of the apple cider vinegar, a fourth cup of sugar, and one tablespoon of salt. And you'll need to bring this to the boil. I'm going to let Emma clear this to the stove and stir that until it boils. While she's doing that, Ella Grace is going to fill one of our jars with the whole pickles and I'm going to chop some of the pickles and onion for her to put in the other jar. Small pickles work best. Small cucumbers work best when making pickles. They taste better. We're going to pour the brine into this measuring cup so it will be easier to pour into the jars. We'll fill the jars to about a half inch from the top. Put more in if we need to. I think we're good. Then we'll put the tops on and seal them tight. These will go into the refrigerator and you don't need to eat them for at least 24 hours. The longer that you leave the pickles in the refrigerator, the better they're going to taste. But make sure you at least leave them 24 hours and they should be good for up to a month in the refrigerator. We hope you'll make some pickles of your own. Look for the links in outdoor gardening and the pickle recipe at the end of the video. We hope you'll join us Friday for our Zoom celebration and let us know how your pickles taste. Thanks for joining us in our ag adventure.