Saturday, August 4, 2007

Harvest time

The song going through my head today is Stephanie Davis' Harvest Time.

Today I pulled 34 garlic bulbs! They are now drying on these high-tech racks.




Then after the garlic was done, we headed over to pick some beans for supper, and two days of not picking had caught up with us. Gladys Taber has something delightful to say about beans.

Beans will stand almost anything once they are established. They will even bear if we have to go away for a few days and the beetles make lacework of all the leaves. It is a little discouraging to come home exhausted from a dog show and shed our store clothes and have to go right out and PICK BEANS. But the true gardener will never let anything be wasted. So beans it is!


We picked and picked and picked, and now have several meals worth tucked into the cellar freezer. Years ago we used to blanch them first, but have since read it is okay to just throw them into a bag. Yellow beans with butter will be such a treat in November or February!


4 comments:

  1. I'm *so* jealous of all that garlic! I do buy some wonderful garlic at the farmer's market - do you ever eat it while it's still moist, before it is dried? Amazing. I am wondering- do you freeze your beans in meal-size bags or just throw a bunch in huge bags and take some out as needed? I could do this easily right now with beans from the market.

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  2. I did eat some this summer before it was "cured" and it was good, but so mild I had to add other garlic to the recipe to give it enough garlic taste.

    I froze the beans in all different bag sizes-whatever I had around. Tom says that because they are dry, all we'll have to do it hit the bag against the counter to loosen the beans and take out what we need for a meal. When I freeze blueberries or strawberries or chopped zucchini, I put them on a baking sheet and freeze them that way before putting them in bags. Otherwise they make a blob in the bag. Thanks for stopping by, Tara.

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  3. It'll be interesting to see how long it lasts, Les. There's nothing in the stores to match it.

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