An Ity-Bity Bucket 'o' Beans

I planted my little plot of soybeans to enjoy some fresh edamame, but my methods were a little faulty. Instead of picking them when they were young, I kept waiting for them to get bigger. Only, instead of getting bigger, they just got browner.















But all is not lost. I cracked open one of the brown pods tonight and, low and behold, there were nice little hard beans inside. Soup beans.














Some were more dry than others, but I put the not-so-dry ones in the oven for a bit to finish them off. My little bucket 'o' beans is getting fuller.

There was an article in the LJWorld the other day by the wonderful Miss Mellinger (of jinxing tomatoes fame) asserting that it's not worth the time and trouble to shuck beans for soup, given that they are so cheap to buy at the store. I see her point, but I think I have to respectfully disagree. Sitting outside, gleefully popping open the pods, and scooping out the verdant little beans was probably one of the high points of my weekend.

For Your Viewing Pleasure

A pretty summer trio--German Green, Yellow Pear, and Mexican Midget.

Moonflower

A few weeks ago I was at the farmer's market and saw someone with moonflower plants. At the time I had just dug up my potatoes and had free space so....(listen to me pretend I need an excuse to buy plants). As you can guess from their name, moonflowers only open at night.



















I took this picture while the sun was still up--the flower was just starting to open.














Then I took this picture in the dark using a long exposure. In small quantities I don't think you get the full effect, but if you had a nice large planting and a full moon they would be spectacular.

The Good With the Bad

Bad: The lawnmower guys haven't been here since before the 4th of July. I know it's hot guys, but sheesh--it's starting to get down-right pasture-like.














Good: The lack of lawnmowing has allowed my morning glories to begin to grow . . .



















. . . and this funny flower outside our fence. I'm curious to see what it is.
(Update 7/24/06: They finally came and mowed! I'm almost surprised they didn't have to brush-hog. And despite the fact that they let the grass get to knee level, I'm pretty pleased with them--although they did cut down the mystery flower, they trimmed around my morning glories. Thanks lawn mowing guys!)

Today....

....I hacked away at the tomatoes; they're kind of taking over. I've never really thought of plants fighting for space before, but my sweet tomatoes are definitely doing some pushing and shoving.














....I noticed I have beans. The beans are almost as vigorous as the tomatoes. Next year I need much taller trellises.














....But I found a few beans that were all dried and ready for picking.















....All told I got five Hidatsa Shield Figure Beans. I'm on my way to a nice winter pot'o'soup.














....I picked the first "Aunt Ruby's German Green" Tomato.














....And we made a grilled pizza. We had red tomatoes (from the store) and yellow pear and German green tomatoes (from our garden). Combined with some lettuce, onions, garlic, and fresh mozzarella--mmmm!

Eat Pickles!

As I said, I was inspired to try to make pickles. It was easier than the jam. Or at least, it was much more my style. (I learned to cook largely from my Dad whose theory was, "Just throw stuff in until it tastes good.") And, even though hot water has a tendency to splash, it stings much less than hot jam. But I digress....

I followed this recipe--kinda. On the advice of several websites and the lady at the farmers market who sold me the cucs, I tried not to quite boil the jars at the end. Supposedly if you can keep the temperature almost boiling, but not quite, the jars will still seal and the pickles will stay nice and crunchy. Mine did end up boiling a bit at the end, but not for too long. I also couldn't find baby dill sized cucs so I used regular pickling cucumbers (i.e. somewhere between full-sized and tiny) cut into nice thick slices.

All told I ended up with 7 quarts. I'll report back in a few weeks and let you know how they taste.

Nice In Theory

But maybe not in reality.

I picked up these pretty blue 'taters at the farmer's market this morning. They were really pretty when raw, but not so much once they were cooked. And the texture was a bit funny too.

Would All the Vegetables Come To The Front Please?

Another great post from Garden Rant. As part of a project called "Edible Estates" the Foti family in Southern California has planted a vegetable garden on their front lawn. It kind of reminds me of my neighbors here in Lawrence that I posted about, only the Foti garden (being in a place where I gather the neighbors are a bit more likely to complain) is much more stylishly done.

Mr. Foti has kept a blog of his experiences (which both reminds me of my own blog and is tempting me to try to make my own pickles). I particularly enjoyed this observation:

I guess that in person, one of the things that is most striking about the garden when you first see it is how open and close to the sidewalk it is. How vulnerable it seems. There's no fences or anything to keep anybody out. It really makes you aware of how most lawns function as kind of buffer between public and private space. In a way, it sort of illuminates the value of a lawn to most people - not worth stealing, and useful only to the extent that it keeps people away, or doesn't need to be worried about.

Many people don't even take any pride in maintaining their own lawn. They pay a service to do it, usually when they aren't around to see (or hear) it being done. One of the concerns I've heard from some neighbors is that they fear I might have taken on more than I can handle in terms of maintenance. Lawns are so easy to deal with, especially if somebody else is doing the work. There is nothing low maintenance about our garden, and you really can't pay someone to give it the kind of care it needs. I couldn't afford it anyway. If I slack off on the maintenance, it will turn into an eyesore very quickly. I think that is valid concern, but do people really prefer their neighborhoods be maintained by low-paid workers who's main concern is efficiency rather than beauty? I think it's a vicious cycle. The more utilitarian and functional these spaces become, the easier they are to maintain, but also the easier they are to ignore and neglect. Ultimately, the upkeep of a lawn becomes nothing more than a kind of tax on the homeowner that he only pays out of some sense of obligation, or self interest in neighborhood property values.

Personally, looking at my own space, it's very evident what gets more care--and it's certainly not the grass.

(Edited on 7/20/06 to add: Here's a link to the NY Times article discussing the project in more detail and with more pictures. You have to login, but it's free.)

Milkweed, All Grown Up

The pretty Asclepias (aka Milkweed) that I planted in April has been a wonderful little burst of color by the back door. But, somehow I'm not sure if it's growing correctly. It keeps getting taller, but it's very spindley. It doesn't seem like it would be sturdy enough for a butterfly cocoon--which is part of why I chose to plant it. I wonder if maybe I need to plant more of it to make it a bit thicker and more protective?

Lawrence City Band Concert at Southpark

The Lawrence City Band holds a concert at Southpark every Wednesday night throughout most of the summer. After listening to the faint music from our house for several weeks now, Sweet Husband and I decided to drive up to the park to watch and listen this evening.

The music was great. The people watching was fun. The lemonade was to die for.

However, we discovered that Porterhouse does not like marches--too many booms--and I couldn't help but cringe at the kids running, not around, but through the beautiful flower beds. Before you parent-type-people get all up at arms, I generally like the little buggers, and I kinda enjoy watching them frolic. But stomping on Black-Eyed Susans just isn't nice.

Global Warming?

That's what I thought at first, because these hibiscus (found on a random Topeka street corner) are way too big and pretty to be annuals that have been thrown in the beds for just a season. Seriously--they're as big as dinner plates.

But I looked it up and these ("Pyrenees Pink", perhaps?) are definitely hardy to zone 5. What's more, this gorgeous red "Fireball" would live here as well.

Now, where to put where to put it?

Blackberry Jammin'

It's a little seedy, but it's pretty gosh darned good. Here is the recipe I used. One proviso--boiling jam=napalm. Ouch!

But more philosophically....

As I was squishing and trying to remove the larger seeds from my blackberries, I started thinking about my grandmother. When she was growing up canning and preserving weren't things that slightly eccentric people with gardens did for fun; they were things everyone did out of necessity. And it makes me smile because--even though she's still very frugal to this day, and even though I know she did lots of it in her younger days--in my 25 years of life, I don't ever remember her preserving anything. In fact, if you even mention it to her, her smile gets very strained.

Yet, aside from the blackberry napalm, I found it to be almost meditative. Making a trip to the blackberry patch; enjoying the smells, tastes, and the cool juice on my hands as I mashed the berries; tucking away the beautiful, jewel-toned jars in my pantry.

Why is it that the exact same task can become infinitely more fun when you're doing it because you want to, instead of because you have to?

Berry Puff

This was another treat inspired by Dear Alton. He made it on his show, but we couldn't find the recipe. Ever up for improvisation, I made it up. I took one square of puff pastry and cut 1 inch strips off of each of the four sides. I stacked the strips back onto the edges of the piece I cut from to make walls, folding over the extra at the corners. In the space between the walls, I "docked" the pastry (poked several holes in it with a fork) to keep it from puffing there. I cut a second piece of puff pastry, just a little bigger than the first, to make a top.

Then I mixed just a little less than a pint of berries (blueberries and blackberries) with a few good handfuls of plain bread crumbs and sugar. I spooned the berries into the center of the square with walls and laid on the top, pinching slightly at the edges to keep it together. The whole thing went in a 400 degree oven for (roughly) 45 minutes--just pull it out when it looks good. I would recommend using parchment paper underneath. It still came off the pan even without it, but it was a bit of a struggle.

After letting it cool a bit, I decided it would be prettier if you could see the berries inside. So I cut an X in the top and folded each of the ensuing triangles back just a little at the tip to make the center. We didn't have whiped cream, but that would have been awesome. As it was, I dusted it with a little powdered sugar.

Blackberry Pickin'

Sweet Husband and I went back to Lawson's to pick blackberries this afternoon....

Blackberry goodies will follow!

On To-Do Lists, Priorities

(I promise, I'll get back to blogging gardening soon--suffice to say I'm picking tomatoes, and not necessarily as many as I'd like. I'm thinking of starting a tally sheet actually, but for today....)

I was going through some files that were rescued from my old computer today (Thanks Donnie!) and I found this to do list, which I think must have been made just before graduation in December. I found it to be humorous, and you may too....

TO DO
1. make food [presumably for the people who were coming for graduation]
2. washcloths [we only had two at the time--thanks to the completion of this item we now have five]
3. try on pants [I have no idea what pants this refers to]
4. get fish from Merc [see #1]
5. take final to Beth [in this class, at least, my priorities were apparently in order--although this final, on which my graduation depended, still came after the fish]
6. cap and gown [again, essential for graduation, but somehow less important than the fish]
7. yard [aka pup poop patrol, understandably important, since people were going to be walking through]
8. greens? [again, not sure--I think maybe I was thinking of refreshing our evergreen Christmas decorations, but it also could have had to do with the food. But, the part that really made me giggle, tucked very last on the list...]
9. learn BA

FYI, "BA" is a class I was taking that semester, essential to graduation. And when I said learn BA, I really meant that I had to learn BA. I had given up on going to class 'round the first of November.

Yet somehow this is less important than fish and pants I can't even remember!

Granted I was pretty sure things would work out ok--they generally do--but when I think about how much fun it would have (not) been to have a house full of guests and food, but nothing to celebrate because I was too busy getting ready for the party to, um, I don't know, take my finals....Is it bad that I'm laughing at my own silliness?

Wow....

....this is one of the smartest things I've heard from a politician in a very long time. As a kind of secular-new agey-moralist (translation: I believe in a higher power, but think that most of the mumbo-jumbo that people argue about is silly--you live in the way you believe is right, and let me do the same) I tend to be a bit militant about the separation of church and state. Sometimes I feel like I have to be, just to defend myself.

But if we all could use "fair-minded words" and appeal to "univeral values", as this speech suggests, our country would certainly be much better for it. I think I may be becoming a fan of Barack Obama.

What's Wrong With This Picture?

Sunshiney Yellow Pear Tomatoes--perfect and smooth....

....yucky Hillbilly Tomatoes--they look like someone purposely carved spirals into them.

Did aliens do this to my tomatoes? Some kind of bug, perhaps? There's nothing obviously wrong with the plant. No bugs that I can see. And the Yellow Pear is almost touching the Hillbilly plant (although they are in different pots, and thus different soil) so I would think if it was a bug they would both have it. Any ideas?

(Update: I did some lunch time research and figured out that it's a water problem. Apparently these tomatoes were at a critical stage when I left them to fend for themselves over the Fourth of July. I'm sad to lose a few, but relieved to know that I can easily fix the problem for future tomatoes.)

On Freedom

"You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism." ~Erma Bombeck