Pick through the cucumbers and remove any that are moldy, squishy, or damaged. Only the best can make it into the crock, man. You can gently rinse them in water, if you need to remove dirt or debris.
Fill the crock half full of cucumbers before laying in a few sprigs of fresh dill, a clove of garlic, a chunk of onion, a pinch of peppercorns, and a few grape leaves. Stop it. I can hear you complaining. Yes, I realize this is vague – but that’s okay. They’re your pickles and you can spice them with whatever you like! I haven’t noticed a bit enough difference between using different measurements of spices to waste the time being precise about it all.
Fill a quart jar with filtered water and 1 1/2 tablespoons sea salt. Stir to dissolve the salt and pour this over the cucumbers. Continue to fill the quart jar with this same water and salt mixture, pouring it over the cucumbers each time, until the crock is full and the cucumbers can be completely submerged in the liquid.
Place a crock weight (or plate if you don’t have one) over the top of the pickles so that they remain completely submerged during the course of their fermentation. You can also layer on some grape leaves to help protect the cucumbers from oxygen as well.