Day Fifty-Eight - The Joy of Home Grown Vegetables

Finally, I have done something with all of the vegetables I brought back from Nacogodoches last weekend.  You wouldn't think this would be such an accomplishment.  But I came back with a lot of food.  Before I went down there I had talked to Dad.  He has a garden and apparently the green bean "crop" was ready.  So he asked me if I wanted to bring some green beans back with me.  I did naturally.  But green beans were all we had talked about.  

Sunday morning I got up at a VERRRRY early time for me.  It was before 9!  I drank one cup of coffee and Dad and I headed out to his garden.  I must tell you that between my brother Ronnie and my Dad there is quite a lot of gardening competition.  The tall tells are out of control.  For instance Ronnie called Sunday and said that he was bringing green beans to Mom and Dad's house for whoever wanted them because he just picked beans off of two plants and it had filled several grocery sacks......  and God bless him, he has six rows!!!!  He also told stories of how it doesn't hurt his lower back to pick HIS green beans because the plants are so big, they are at eye level when you stand.  Of course, this could indicate that the plants are totally normal sized and the issue is really just that Ronnie is that short. 

Anyway, Dad and I went out to pick green beans Sunday morning.  Dad has three rows that were all planted at different times.  The first row is the most mature and it was my row to pick.  The second row had never been picked before and Dad was picking those for the first time.  The third row was not yet ready to pick.  Since I had the first row, he gave me the big bucket and he took the smaller one.  It took us 20 or 30 minutes to pick all the beans that were ready.  He had to help me finish my row because I am a known wuss.  Then we took a look at the pinto beans.  Dad has never grown them before so we picked a couple to take in and shell to see if they were ready.  Then we picked a couple of tomatoes.  That was everything that was ready in his garden on Sunday.

Mom and Dad had dug up potatoes sometime last week.  So they had a ton of potatoes sitting on a table in the garage.  They told me to take what I wanted.  So, I grabbed a small bag full.  Probably 3 or 4 pounds of potatoes but no more.

Once the beans were picked we went in and had breakfast and started getting things ready for the BBQ later in the day.  Then my parents went out on the front porch to read.  I couldn't read on Sunday because I was afraid I would fall asleep, you know, because I had gotten up so early.  So, I went in and got my green beans and started snapping them.  Just before I finished Dad went in the house and got things ready so that we could blanch them.  I wound up freezing two gallon sized bags and a quart size bag of beans!  I was very excited to be taking some fresh green beans home with me.  

When Ronnie and Rebecca got to the house a little later for the BBQ, Ronnie came in with a huge bag of vegetables.  He said it was mostly green beans, but he had some squash that he had picked that morning too along with a small sack of pinto beans.  Dad and Ronnie, both made up some stories about how each of their gardens were the worlds greatest.  I think it is hysterical that they make up "fish stories" about their gardens.  They really just need to go fishing!

Anyway there was a big discussion about when you pick pinto beans.  Ronnie brought the small sack of them that he had brought over out to the porch and you're not going to believe this, but we all gathered around and shelled the beans together and discussed which ones were more ripe than the others.  I think we all have a pretty good handle now on exactly what the shell looks like when pintos are ready to pick.  We ended up with one quart sized bag of pinto beans.  I brought them home too.  

Eileen took half of the green beans that Ronnie brought over and I took everything else.  Which means I came home with another big bag of green beans and squash.  Monday evening when I got home, I blanched and put the green beans in the freezer.  It was two more gallons and another quart sized bag.  Then Tuesday I cooked the yellow squash for dinner along with a pork roast, some of Dad's potatoes and carrots.  There were also two big zucchini's in the bag that Ronnie had brought so I made a zucchini appetizer with one of those and put the other one in the fridge for later. 

Then last night as I ate my left over roast and squash, I decided I had better do something with the pinto beans so I put a pot of pinto beans in the slow cooker before I went to bed.  I didn't have everything that I normally would put in a pot of beans on hand, so I just made something up.  I woke up this morning and my house smells like heaven!  YUMMMMMMM!!!!  The only thing I am missing is cornbread and I think I will make some before lunchtime today so that I can have it with my pinto beans, squash and roast.  My house smells like ours did when I was a kid.  

There is something about the smell of good food that brings back so many good memories.  I know that my family was one that always ate our meals at home sitting around the table together.  Mom cooked every night and as I may have mentioned before, you were never late for dinner.  As I reflect on this a little further, I wonder if it might have had more to do with the reward of a great meal with the people that we all loved most, rather than with any punishment we could have received by being late for dinner.

Have a great weekend!