The Selfish Giant

 

The other day while I was picking blueberries, a story I hadn't thought of in years and years suddenly surfaced in my mind.  What triggered it I'll never know, but I've learned to pay attention to the small, peculiar happenings in daily life, because these will-o-the-wisp occurrences can open doorways to a treasure trove of revelations.

I found the story online and reread it, feeling once again its powerful message.  I knew right away I wanted to post it on my blog, but hesitated, thinking maybe it was more appropriate for Easter time.   But the longer I pondered, the more I realized this story is always appropriate, possibly never more so than now.  With its gentle purity, it can help keep our hearts from growing cold and bitter in response to the barrage of distrust, anger, intolerance and division assaulting us from all sides.

It cuts through even the thorniest of barriers and finds its way to the center of our beings, where we are all human as well as divine.  I offer it from the inmost place of my own being which strives for light.  With its many layers of meaning, you can take as little or as much as you want from it.

THE SELFISH GIANT

by Oscar Wilde

Every afternoon, as they were coming from school, the children used to go and play in the Giant's garden.

     It was a large lovely garden, with soft green grass. Here and there over the grass stood beautiful flowers like stars, and there were twelve peach-trees that in the spring-time broke out into delicate blossoms of pink and pearl, and in the autumn bore rich fruit. The birds sat on the trees and sang so sweetly that the children used to stop their games in order to listen to them. 'How happy we are here!' they cried to each other.

     One day the Giant came back. He had been to visit his friend the Cornish ogre, and had stayed with him for seven years. After the seven years were over he had said all that he had to say, for his conversation was limited, and he determined to return to his own castle. When he arrived he saw the children playing in the garden.

     'What are you doing here?' he cried in a very gruff voice, and the children ran away.

     'My own garden is my own garden,' said the Giant; 'any one can understand that, and I will allow nobody to play in it but myself.' So he built a high wall all round it, and put up a notice-board.

 

TRESPASSERS
WILL BE
PROSECUTED

 

     He was a very selfish Giant.

     The poor children had now nowhere to play. They tried to play on the road, but the road was very dusty and full of hard stones, and they did not like it. They used to wander round the high wall when their lessons were over, and talk about the beautiful garden inside.

     'How happy we were there,' they said to each other.

  Then the Spring came, and all over the country there were little blossoms and little birds. Only in the garden of the Selfish Giant it was still Winter. The birds did not care to sing in it as there were no children, and the trees forgot to blossom. Once a beautiful flower put its head out from the grass, but when it saw the notice-board it was so sorry for the children that it slipped back into the ground again, and went off to sleep. The only people who were pleased were the Snow and the Frost. 'Spring has forgotten this garden,' they cried, 'so we will live here all the year round.' The Snow covered up the grass with her great white cloak, and the Frost painted all the trees silver. Then they invited the North Wind to stay with them, and he came. He was wrapped in furs, and he roared all day about the garden, and blew the chimney-pots down. 'This is a delightful spot,' he said, 'we must ask the Hail on a visit.' So the Hail came. Every day for three hours he rattled on the roof of the castle till he broke most of the slates, and then he ran round and round the garden as fast as he could go. He was dressed in grey, and his breath was like ice.

     'I cannot understand why the Spring is so late in coming,' said the Selfish Giant, as he sat at the window and looked out at his cold white garden; 'I hope there will be a change in the weather.'

     But the Spring never came, nor the Summer. The Autumn gave golden fruit to every garden, but to the Giant's garden she gave none. 'He is too selfish,' she said. So it was always Winter there, and the North Wind, and the Hail, and the Frost, and the Snow danced about through the trees.

     One morning the Giant was lying awake in bed when he heard some lovely music. It sounded so sweet to his ears that he thought it must be the King's musicians passing by. It was really only a little linnet singing outside his window, but it was so long since he had heard a bird sing in his garden that it seemed to him to be the most beautiful music in the world. Then the Hail stopped dancing over his head, and the North Wind ceased roaring, and a delicious perfume came to him through the open casement. 'I believe the Spring has come at last,' said the Giant; and he jumped out of bed and looked out.

What did he see?

     He saw a most wonderful sight. Through a little hole in the wall the children had crept in, and they were sitting in the branches of the trees. In every tree that he could see there was a little child. And the trees were so glad to have the children back again that they had covered themselves with blossoms, and were waving their arms gently above the children's heads. The birds were flying about and twittering with delight, and the flowers were looking up through the green grass and laughing. It was a lovely scene, only in one corner it was still Winter. It was the farthest corner of the garden, and in it was standing a little boy. He was so small that he could not reach up to the branches of the tree, and he was wandering all round it, crying bitterly. The poor tree was still quite covered with frost and snow, and the North Wind was blowing and roaring above it. 'Climb up! little boy,' said the Tree, and it bent its branches down as low as it could; but the little boy was too tiny.

     And the Giant's heart melted as he looked out. 'How selfish I have been!' he said; 'now I know why the Spring would not come here. I will put that poor little boy on the top of the tree, and then I will knock down the wall, and my garden shall be the children's playground for ever and ever.' He was really very sorry for what he had done.

     So he crept downstairs and opened the front door quite softly, and went out into the garden. But when the children saw him they were so frightened that they all ran away, and the garden became Winter again. Only the little boy did not run, for his eyes were so full of tears that he did not see the Giant coming. And the Giant stole up behind him and took him gently in his hand, and put him up into the tree. And the tree broke at once into blossom, and the birds came and sang on it, and the little boy stretched out his two arms and flung them round the Giant's neck, and kissed him. And the other children, when they saw that the Giant was not wicked any longer, came running back, and with them came the Spring. 'It is your garden now, little children,' said the Giant, and he took a great axe and knocked down the wall. And when the people were gong to market at twelve o'clock they found the Giant playing with the children in the most beautiful garden they had ever seen.  

 All day long they played, and in the evening they came to the Giant to bid him good-bye.

     'But where is your little companion?' he said: 'the boy I put into the tree.' The Giant loved him the best because he had kissed him.

     'We don't know,' answered the children; 'he has gone away.'

     'You must tell him to be sure and come here to-morrow,' said the Giant. But the children said that they did not know where he lived, and had never seen him before; and the Giant felt very sad.

     Every afternoon, when school was over, the children came and played with the Giant. But the little boy whom the Giant loved was never seen again. The Giant was very kind to all the children, yet he longed for his first little friend, and often spoke of him. 'How I would like to see him!' he used to say.

     Years went over, and the Giant grew very old and feeble. He could not play about any more, so he sat in a huge armchair, and watched the children at their games, and admired his garden. 'I have many beautiful flowers,' he said; 'but the children are the most beautiful flowers of all.'

     One winter morning he looked out of his window as he was dressing. He did not hate the Winter now, for he knew that it was merely the Spring asleep, and that the flowers were resting.

     Suddenly he rubbed his eyes in wonder, and looked and looked. It certainly was a marvelous sight. In the farthest corner of the garden was a tree quite covered with lovely white blossoms. Its branches were all golden, and silver fruit hung down from them, and underneath it stood the little boy he had loved.

     Downstairs ran the Giant in great joy, and out into the garden. He hastened across the grass, and came near to the child. And when he came quite close his face grew red with anger, and he said, 'Who hath dared to wound thee?' For on the palms of the child's hands were the prints of two nails, and the prints of two nails were on the little feet.

'Who hath dared to wound thee?' cried the Giant; 'tell me, that I may take my big sword and slay him.'

     'Nay!' answered the child; 'but these are the wounds of Love.'

     'Who art thou?' said the Giant, and a strange awe fell on him, and he knelt before the little child.

     And the child smiled on the Giant, and said to him, 'You let me play once in your garden, to-day you shall come with me to my garden, which is Paradise.'

     And when the children ran in that afternoon, they found the Giant lying dead under the tree, all covered with white blossoms

Wild Medicine Part Two

Lion's Mane mushroom (Hericium erinaceus) is a fabulous medicinal as well as a tasty edible.  It grows on dying or dead oak, walnut, beech, maple, sycamore and other broad-leaf trees, usually on logs or stumps.  It's easy to identify and has no poisonous look-alikes, but there are a few other closely related species.  Coral mushrooms have small white branches growing upward instead of shaggy hairs that hang down.  They are also edible and possibly medicinal, but the one most studied is Hericium erinaceus.

It has some very unique healing properties.  In Traditional Chinese Medicine, this mushroom has been used for stomach ailments and for the prevention of cancer in the GI tract.  It improves immune function and is anti-microbial.  But perhaps the most exciting property of lion's mane is its ability to stimulate regrowth of neurons, making it of great significance for the treatment of Alzheimer's, senility, neurological trauma, cognitive issues and possibly muscle/motor response issues.

Hunt for lion's mane in the fall after a few good rains.  Hard freezes will turn the mushrooms brown and bitter, so try to collect them before the weather gets too cold.  The specimen shown below is a younger one and hasn't yet formed long, shaggy filaments, but I picked it because I was afraid if I waited, it might get eaten by animals or be spoiled by the elements.

Lion's mane can be eaten fresh, sauteed in butter or simmered in soup.  It can be sliced and dried in a food dehydrator, or made into a tincture for medicine.  Tincturing mushrooms is a little more complex than making a simple herb tincture.  Most mushrooms need what is called a dual extraction to capture all the medicinal components, some of which are water soluble, others soluble only in alcohol.  The process takes time, but yields potent medicine that will keep for years.

Here is the process:

After you have harvested the mushrooms, remove any bits of dirt as well as you can.  Don't worry if you don't get them all, a little dirt won't hurt anything, and will be strained out later.  Don't wash the mushrooms -  they're too fragile and will soak up water like a sponge.  Weigh the mushrooms with a kitchen scale.  The ratio of mushroom to alcohol when using fresh mushrooms is 1:2, which means if you have 10 ounces of mushrooms by weight, you will need 20 ounces by volume of alcohol.  I use Everclear, which is 90% alcohol.  This allows for dilution by the water content of the mushrooms (they naturally hold a lot of water!) and the water you will be adding later in the process.

Break up the mushrooms and put them in a blender or food processor with the alcohol and blend them up.  Transfer to a clean glass jar with a lid and let steep for one month, shaking daily if you remember.  Don't forget to label the jar with the contents and date, so you know when it's finished.

After a month, strain out the solids with a thin tea towel or several thicknesses of cheese cloth.  Squeeze out as much alcohol as you can.  Measure the amount of tincture you have and write it down.  Put it in a clean jar, and transfer the solids you've strained out into a pot with enough water to cover plus some extra to allow for evaporation.  Stir it up to break up the mushroom pulp.  Simmer, covered, for two hours or longer, keeping a close eye on the pot and adding water if necessary so it doesn't dry out and burn.  Some people cook it in a crock pot and leave it on all night.  You are aiming to have about 1 part water to 3 parts alcohol, so if you have 20 ounces of alcohol tincture, at the end of simmering you will want approximately 6 1/2 ounces of water.

It will look like apple sauce.  This batch I am making yielded 4 cups of alcohol tincture, so I needed about 1 1/3 cups liquid mushroom extract.  I had to simmer it several hours uncovered to reduce the liquid, as I started with 4 cups to make sure it wouldn't burn.

After two hours or more of simmering, let the contents of the pot cool, then strain and discard the solids.  It takes a lot of squeezing to get all the liquid out!  You will end up with a lovely syrupy liquid full of potent polysaccharides and some rubbery mushroom solids.

Measure the amount of liquid from the pot.  If it's much less than 1/3 the amount of alcohol, add a little water.  If it's much over 1/3 the amount of alcohol, let it simmer a little longer with the lid off.  The final alcohol content is supposed to be 30 - 35%.  It doesn't hurt to have higher alcohol, but the water soluble polysaccharides will precipitate out, so you just have to remember to shake the bottle before using.

Mix the water and alcohol together, then label and store your tincture in dark bottles in a cool cupboard.

Dr. Stephen Harrod Buhner, one of the western world's most skilled herbalists, recommends lion's mane tincture for encephalitis, respiratory illnesses, cognitive impairment, nerve damage, depression and anxiety at a dose of 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. 3-6 times daily, depending on the severity of the condition.

One last thing:  preparing medicine is sacred work.  Do it on a day when you are feeling well and have no other distractions so you can devote your whole attention to the task at hand.  The alchemists of old went through rigorous purification processes before entering their still rooms.  Too often we forget or don't realize the profound effects our energy, mood and state of mind can have on our work.  Reverence and devotion can make the difference between a mediocre medicine and a great one. 

   

 

Wild Medicine

 

Covid-19 has caused a massive shift in the way we live and think and behave.  Like most crises, it has brought out the best and worst in human behavior.  We all long for the virus to run its course and disappear.  But like it or not, some of the changes it has brought will be permanent: lives and jobs lost, lingering health effects, families broken apart not only by the illness itself but by vehement, sometimes violent disagreements over how the pandemic should be handled, and even whether there is such a thing as a virus.

The vaccine may (or may not) shorten the duration of this pandemic, but it won't prevent another from happening.  Inevitably, there will be new diseases to challenge us.  Day by day the world grows more populated, the environment more damaged.  Clean water and air, food and fuel are becoming increasingly scarce and we will need to work harder to stay healthy.  

It's easy to feel overwhelmed facing the problems of this modern world, but we all can and must find ways to improve life on earth for ourselves and for future generations.  Challenges always bring opportunities for growth, and Covid 19 is no exception.  How can we use the current crisis to strengthen ourselves against future pandemics?  Is relying solely on vaccines the only alternative?

Maybe a starting point for change would be to alter our views and perspectives.  Maybe we should try viewing the pandemic as an effect rather than a cause.  Whether Covid started in a lab or a bat or a honey badger, many other factors contributed to its spread and deadliness.  International travel is a big one.  Keeping animals in tightly confined, overcrowded conditions is another.  But perhaps the greatest factor is our modern lifestyle.  Many marvelous inventions have made our lives easier.  The payoff, however, is less physical activity, less time spent in nature (the source of all healing) and more pollution, weakening our immune systems, making us prone to disease. 

Connecting in deeper ways with nature is one way to foster health on all levels - physical, mental, emotional.  This can be as simple as sitting in a chair in the sun with your bare feet on the earth.  Sunlight is a vital nutrient our bodies need to be healthy, as much as food and drink.  Placing bare skin on the soil connects us with the Earth's natural electric charge, which stabilizes the body, reduces inflammation, pain and stress, improves blood flow, energy, mood and sleep, and bolsters the immune system.

In winter when sunlight is scarce and it's too cold for sunbathing, sitting near an infrared light for a short time each day is the next best thing.  Countless studies have shown that infrared light can be of tremendous help with chronic illnesses.

Making and using natural medicines is a profound way to deepen our faith and trust in Mother Earth's infinite healing power.  Growing a pot of mint on the patio to make tea could be a first step on an exciting journey.  Our backyards, nearby fields and forests are brimming with medicinal plants.  Learning how to properly harvest, process and use plant medicines, and gaining confidence in their ability to heal is incredibly impowering.  The worry, fear and helplessness one can feel in the face of a serious illness or pandemic is debilitating in itself.  But if we have an arsenal of effective, safe, natural remedies in our medicine chest made with our own hands, and if we understand how they work, and why, the worry and fear can dramatically lessen.

This fall I harvested two types of medicinal mushrooms from our own woods.  Both kinds are easy to identify, have no poisonous look-alikes and have potent healing properties.

Turkey tail (Trametes versicolor) is a very common species that is plentiful throughout North America.

It grows on dead or dying hardwood trees, stumps and fallen logs and can be harvested year 'round.  Our stacks of firewood blossomed with it during the fall rains this year.  Tough and leathery, it's not suitable for eating, but makes a medicinal tea which inhibits cancer cells, strengthens the immune system and contains antiviral and antifungal properties.  It also contains polysaccharides that nourish beneficial bacteria in the gut.  

There are several other mushrooms that look similar to turkey tail, all non-poisonous, and easy to tell apart with a little practice.

Here is a six step process used for identifying turkey tail:

1. The top of the mushroom has a velvety feel, and tiny fuzz is visible with a magnifying glass.  If no velvet, it's not true turkey tail.

2. The caps show starkly contrasting rings of color which are shades of grey, blue-grey, brown, red-brown and paler tan or white.  Older mushrooms may develop green algae on the top.  I avoid these, as they're past their prime and may not make good medicine.  

3. Cap color is not pale, like the species shown below:

4. Turkey tail has tiny pores on the underside, barely visible to the naked eye but clearly seen with the magnifying glass. 

5. There is another similar mushroom with pores which are larger.  This is the trickiest part of the identification, but again, by studying them side by side you will be able to tell the difference.

 

The mushrooms on the right are turkey tails.  The bottom two specimens show the underside, which is white, cream or light grey in older specimens.  These pictures don't show the pores very well, but compared to the mushrooms on the bottom left, you can see the difference - the ones on the left are darker with larger pores, and the caps (seen at top left, are pale with barely visible rings of color.

Here is another look-alike, but easy to distinguish from true turkey tail by the gills underneath:

6. Turkey tail is thin and flexible, easily bent. 

Below are a few more turkey tail look-alikes.  The specimens on the left do have small pores on the underside, but are thick and unbendable.  The ones on the right have rings of color and are thin and flexible, but are very smooth on the bottom with no pores, hence, not turkey tail.

 

 

If you are lucky enough to have woods nearby, or even a woodlot in the backyard, I encourage you to start noticing the mushrooms growing there.  It's almost certain that some of them will be turkey tail.  Even if you don't use them, you can at least learn to identify them, and know that potent medicine is growing nearby.

When you feel confident enough to harvest some, carefully pluck them off the wood and dry them for a few days in a warm, airy spot.  Before putting them away in glass jars in a dark, cool spot, you can examine them, removing bits of grass or debris and cutting off any bark clinging to the base.

Here is a recipe for turkey tail tea, which can be taken daily.

5 cups water

2 Tbs. ground turkey tail (the finer you can grind them, the better; a coffee grinder works well).  Or just chop or cut them into small pieces.

Optional: turkey tail has a fairly strong, mushroomy taste, so if you're not a mushroom fan, you can add spices which will make the tea taste delicious as well as add extra medicinal benefits.  I like

a few cloves, 1/2 tsp. each of fennel seeds, coriander and caraway, and a piece of cinnamon stick.

Put everything in a pan, bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer gently, covered, for one hour.  Turkey tail needs a long cooking time to extract the valuable polysaccharides.  Strain out the solids, and if the total volume is much less than a quart, you can add some water to dilute it.  Stronger tea is fine to drink if you like it that way, and you can use more turkey tail if you want.  This is a very nutritious tea, almost a meal in itself.  It will keep well in the fridge for several days.

Here is a link to a very good article on identifying turkey tail with excellent pictures if you're interested in further study: https://practicalselfreliance.com/turkey-tail-mushroom/

Tomorrow I'll share information on another very valuable medicinal mushroom, so stay tuned!

Move Over, Romaine!

 

Lettuce doesn't usually come to mind when thinking of nutritious foods, but some varieties are actually a good source of folate, vitamin C, A, and K, with decent amounts of minerals, antioxidants and fiber.  That said, we are not talking about the pale iceberg lettuce so plentiful in supermarkets, which is lowest on the lettuce totem pole of nutrients.

Romaine is usually listed as the most nutritious variety, but this is not always the case.  For one thing, the lines separating lettuce varieties are growing more and more murky.  Modern lettuce breeders have produced hundreds of new varieties.  There are romaines crossed with leaf lettuces, with butterheads and crisp heads.  There are red romaines, speckled and splotched romaines and varieties in every shade of green.  Some have open heads, some form tightly closed domes.  When lettuce leaves curve inward and form a solid head, less sunlight reaches the center.  Light produces pigment and chlorophyll, which is where the nutrients are.  So those pale, crunchy, mild tasting hearts of romaine, delicious as they are, are not as nutritious as an open headed leaf lettuce, which remains deeply colored to the base because it receives more light.  The pay off is that leaf lettuces get bitter faster, as bitterness is a response to increased light, heat and the maturation process.  Keeping lettuce well watered and picking it promptly helps avoid this.

I have been growing some of the romaine/leaf crosses, which have more open heads and deep color along with those wonderful crunchy ribs.  I also like growing red lettuces.  Not only are they fabulous to look at, they contain potent antioxidants called anthocyanins which help protect against cancer.

But my top pick for flavor, nutrients, heartiness and productivity is an ancient form of lettuce from China called celtuce.  Unlike other lettuces, celtuce is grown for its stalk as well as the leaves.

There are a number of varieties, my favorite being Red Mountain Celtuce.

Red Mountain Celtuce seeds are available from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

It has the deepest green color blushed with red, gets quite large and has a very unusual flavor, unlike any other lettuce.  I like to steam or simmer the leaves just slightly, till they wilt. They turn as deep a green as spinach, and the water they're cooked in makes a lovely, dark red broth.  The stalks are wonderful peeled and sliced in salads, steamed or stir fried with other vegetables.  They can be spiralized to make green noodles, but cook them only briefly, else they will loose their crispness.

Celtuce stalks have more fiber and folate than leaf lettuces, and almost twice the amount of vitamin C. 100 grams contains 3,500 IU vitamin A, or 117% of the daily requirement.  It's also higher in potassium and manganese.

Another form of celtuce which does very well in hot weather is called sword leaf.  It's paler green and grows to an enormous size.  The leaves are tender and buttery.

Sword leaf lettuce seeds are available from Southern Exposure and Kitazawa Seeds.

I also grow head lettuces. Nothing beats the tender crunch of well grown crisp heads.  They may not be the most nutritious variety, but after all, variety is the spice of life!

End of Season Salad Extravaganza

 

Every day I like to go out and forage for my lunch salad.  Today I made an extra special salad because we're due for a big freeze tonight and the wild greens and herbs won't be so plentiful.  I picked dandelion leaves and blossoms, plantain, chickweed, lime balm, salad burnet, marshmallow leaves and rosemary, and one lovely clover blossom I found blooming in the garden.  Then I added sunflower sprouts, pak choi, arugula, cucumber, fermented Mexican gherkins and cranberries and olives.  The dandelion greens, plantain and marshmallow I steeped in boiling water a few minutes with garlic and rosemary.  Then I drained them and added to the salad, drinking the liquid as a nutritious tonic.  For dressing I like black pepper, a dollop of mayonnaise and plenty of mustard.  It was an adventure in tastes!

 

 

Goblin Song

 

Down along the river by the shady old slough

There's a hole in the ground where the water runs through.

It rushes down, down, like sand through a sieve

And it trickles through the cave 

Where the goblins live.

On a moonlight night there's an awesome sound

When the goblins creep and crawl

from their hole in the ground.

They stomp and they snarl, They hiss and they boo,

And they dance around the hole Where the water runs through.

Dance, dance, by threes and by twos,

You crusty old goblins in your pointy little shoes.

Dance, dance, till the sky turns blue,

And then tumble down the hole 

Where the water runs through.

So you'd better be careful if you're walking by the slough

When the fireflies glimmer and the moon does too.

A rustle in the bushes means the goblins are there,

And they'll pepper you with pine tar 

And tangle up your hair.

They'll grab you by the ear and make you listen to their moans,

And the noises coming out of them will rattle all your bones.

It's a terrible cacophony, a horrifying din

When from underneath the buckbrush 

The gnomes join in!

Dance, dance, by threes and by twos,

You crusty old goblins in your pointy little shoes.

Dance, dance, till the sky turns blue,

And then tumble down the hole 

where the water runs through.

Happy Halloween!

The Best Little Pickles You've Never Heard Of

 

Jar of freshly started pickles (right), and after 6 days of fermenting (left).

Not a melon or a cucumber, but something entirely different, Mexican gherkins are tiny, bite sized fruits that look like mini watermelons and taste like a lemony cucumber.  I got some seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and planted two vines, surrounding them with large tomato cages so they'd have something to scramble up on.

They took awhile to start producing, (the seedlings are very tiny) and they like warm weather, but once they got going, they produced huge amounts of  little, dangling fruit.  In fact, I had so many I decided to try pickling some, though I like them raw in salads and also in soup and stew, tossed in right before eating.  

I fermented them because it's so easy, and the beneficial bacteria produced during the fermentation process manufacture additional vitamins and enzymes (Mexican gherkins are already quite high in antioxidants, vitamins and minerals).  Plus fermented products add valuable probiotics to the diet.

After one delicious crunch of gherkin pickle, I was sold.  This is where they really shine!  Here's a simple recipe if you're lucky enough to find some fruits at a farmers' market, or grow your own.

Half fill a clean quart jar with rinsed gherkins, no peeling necessary,

Add a handful of spices of your choice.  I used garlic, fresh thyme and oregano.

Fill the jar up with gherkins, leaving 1 inch headspace on top.

Make a brine solution with 1 Tbs. non iodized salt (I like Himalayan pink salt) and 1 pint unchlorinated water.  Stir till the salt is dissolved, then pour over the gherkins till they are covered, but leaving that 1 inch headspace.

Cap the jar tightly and turn upside down, shaking gently to dislodge any air bubbles.

One last necessary step is to weight down the pickles so they stay under the brine, else they can mold on top.  Most sources say to stuff a zip lock bag filled with brine solution on top of the pickles to hold them under the brine.  But I don't like using plastic, so I invested in some ceramic discs made for this purpose that work beautifully.  You can also use a smaller jar that fits inside the fermentation jar.

Label the jar with the date and contents and put it on a saucer in a dark spot in your kitchen. 

The pickles will be ready in 1 - 2 weeks, depending on the air temperature and how tart you like them.  Start tasting after a week.  These delicious little pickles will keep in the fridge for many months, if they last that long!