Tired of Beans?

I'm sure you have looked at the beans in the previous post long enough... too long, in fact.  I-Needa mentioned to me that I really MUST post.  I know!!!  Things have been happening.  I've been really busy and other things as well.

Beans?  Yes, there have been lots of beans.  I'm really a tad tired already of snapping those little dears and cooking them.  Mr. has this idea that when something is in season, and he has grown it, that we will eat it.... every night, if necessary.  Bah Humbug!!!

In the manner of trying to get along with my new husband, I have been cooking those darn beans.  I will admit they are good, and I shouldn't whine about good fresh produce.

So...... off on another topic:  Genealogy.  Yes, that's another thing I've been doing... almost to a fault.  I will not take credit for the real footwork in this matter.  My second cousin once removed that I happened to find a few months ago has blessed me with a treasure trove of research he has been working on for years.  I have gotten into it as far as looking around to the best of my ability, and sending him any information I can find to help him in the search.   He is amazing, and I will call him Super Sleuth.  He deserves it.

That's what I've been doing.  I've been bolted to my computer chair and fascinated with searching out ancestors.  At times my eyes have seemed to spin in my head.  I probably do need an intervention, but am having a grand time with all this.  

I apologize for not posting sooner.  I know... I've said that before... I do mean it.  I do!  I think you will be happy just not having to look at that bag of beans any longer.   Have a blessed day!

Do You See the Pressure Cooker?

This innocent little bag of beans awaits rinsing, snapping, and cooking.  There are a couple of stray banana peppers there too, but those are not the topic of conversation at that moment.

What is the topic of my thoughts is Mr. and the pressure cooker.  Do you see the pressure cooker?  You know, it is hard to can green beans with no pressure cooker.

Being the wonderful new wife that I am, I listened to my husband's less than subtle suggestion that canning would be a wonderful thing.  I stepped up to the plate and took a workshop on home canning.  I patted myself on the back and have to admit being quite pleased with myself over that one.   I came home and was almost in a state of enthusiasm about canning.

The produce has started coming.  This is the second batch of beans.  Actually, this is only half of that second batch. It was sharing time, and Mr. took the other half to a friend.  I'm sure they were excited to get them.

 I've cooked and we've eaten one sack.  They were yummy... fixed with bacon and a bit of salt and pepper.  Sooo good!

I've asked Mr. several times to check at the country house and fetch the canning equipment.  He keeps saying that he has it, but it doesn't seem to appear.  I pointed to the sack of beans as they sat on the counter and asked if he could see the pressure cooker.  He gave me a look when I told him that would be the title of my blog for the day.

Don't get me wrong,  I know that when the pressure cooker and other canning supplies arrive, so will the immediate expectations of canning.  I won't have any excuse not to get busy and can those beans.  Perhaps I should just lie low and not mention it again.  I'm really torn as am feeling a bit lazy about this processing food idea.  As it is, I can just blame it on Mr.  It's his fault... well.... it IS!

Country Pics

Yesterday morning Snappy and I headed for the country.  I was heading to the home of a friend and  P.E.O. sister for a delightful luncheon.  Of course, I took Snappy.  I felt sure I could find something interesting that would beg to be photographed.

I was so impressed with how pleasant, pretty, and peaceful her yard looks and feels.  I think they've added new sidewalks recently, and the grass seemed to be trimmed to perfection.  

I decided to wander around the house to the back yard.  I just stood there awhile taking in the fact that you could see forever into the distance.  No buildings, no roads, no people.... just land and more land.  It isn't the city of concrete and steel.    Snappy and I focused on the distant things and tried to capture the moment.  

I walked around a bit more, then came back to the scene.  Well.... look who arrived.  I walked quietly forward as didn't want to scare off my grazing friends.  I think Snappy made a little noise, but we tried to be quiet.

                                         

The grazers decided to move on as I was getting closer and Snappy was being a nuisance... I guess.  I certainly wished that fence wasn't in the way as wanted a picture of them running down the hill.  Goodbye......

Not far down the hill , and the grass beckoned again.  Ah, how delightful to just stand there nibbling on the grass.   I was getting a little hungry myself and decided I really should quit running around in the yard and go join the luncheon folks.  I knew I had something much better than grass to look forward to.   There was fun, festivities, and food awaiting.

    

As I left to return to my home, I happened to see the horses again.  There was more going on in the pasture by the side of the house.  People who had probably left to give us peace and quiet for our luncheon had arrived.  Things were starting to happen.  I considered pulling up a chair and just sitting out the afternoon in the country drinking in the open space and air.  However, people were leaving and I felt I had to go too.  So.... Snappy and I packed up and went away... away from the pasture, away from the lovely rural setting, away from the wide open spaces.  Ah... 

A Spot of Pretty

I've had lilies in my back yard for awhile waiting to open.  They are really huge this year, and I've been thinking that one day the buds will open.   I noticed them this morning and thought they were rather pretty. Snappy and I went outside this evening before dusk and I managed to get a few pictures of the flowers.  I can't tell you exactly what this is, but one of a bunch of lilies that I ordered several years ago from a QVC show.  We've had quite a bit of rain lately, and they seem to like that.

I must say that this Easter Lily seems to be running a bit tardy this year, but it has finally arrived and is showing its splendor.  I was thrilled to see this one as well.

I will confess that I'm not much of a gardener, but I do appreciate the beauty of God's colors and know that having a little spot of color in the yard is a thing that should make us smile.

Canning 101

Never ever did I dream that I would be taking a canning class!!  That is another one of those unexpected things that has come into my life as a result of Mr.   He has a garden.  He loves his garden.  He works hard in his garden.  Of course, you know what that equals.

One day he looked at me and suggested that I can all this garden stuff.  "CAN?" I said.   This was followed by uproarious laughter on my part and a puzzled sober looking face on his part.  Somehow, we just weren't following each other's line of thinking.

I had to let that whole idea wander around in my brain awhile.  I think the biggest selling point was the green beans I ate during the winter.  They were home canned, and they were yummy... really yummy.

So... I took a giant step and mentioned to Mr. that I might try canning.  That lit up his eyes.  I'm not going to jump right into a big production, but will actually try a little canning.  My mind went to all the horror stories I could think of about unsafe foods.  I opted immediately to obtain help and information.

I went to Nearby City to the Agriculture Building.  You've got to love Extension Services.  They do all kinds of wonderful things, and I was about to learn Canning 101... my name, not theirs.

So... here is the class.  Since those yummy green beans aren't quite ready for canning, we started with other foods.  Carrots was first on the list.  I'm telling you that I don't have a fondness for carrots, but the class did carrots.  I can use them in stew at some point.  Who knows, I might just can a few more for the sake of having them on my shelf when I want to make something with carrots.  At least I can do something with them and learned a lot of little canning tricks with this pressure cooking lesson.

Here are the little dears all sitting in the pot ready to put the lid on and get started.

The fire is going, the pressure cooker is going to do its job!

It may not look like much, but it certainly took awhile for all of us to get our carrots to this point.
Trust me, canning can be labor intensive.  There are no shortcuts that I can see.  It is either right or not.

Our instructor is pointing out a few things to some of the gals.

She was really nice, and very patient with us.  You could tell that she knew what she was doing.  That gave us confidence.

After lunch, we started in on canning apples.  We did those in a hot water pack... no pressure cooker. I know Mr. is going to be happy about apples.

After all was said and done, each of us had our two little jars that we canned.

Ah, carrots...

Ah, Ah, apples.   Now, I can really see some advantage to this apple canning.  I'm picturing pie and cobbler in our future.

I'm sure my good friends Grace and Juju are going to have a real struggle imagining me with a pressure cooker dashing about my kitchen in canning mode.  It just goes to show you that you never know what you will do for your man.   Tah Dah

Snake

Linda wrote a personal message to me informing me of a SNAKE in the neighborhood.  She said she had seen a two foot black snake lying by the gate on her deck last week.  She thought it came from a neighbor who had not mowed their grass.  In telling another neighbor who lives two doors down about it, the neighbor reported seeing that snake on her patio.

That, dear Readers, means that snake Snake SNAKE might be headed my way... RUN... Find the killer shoe... be prepared!   I'm going to have a good long talk with Pumpkin, my killer cat.   I don't really like the love offerings that he sometimes places by the back door... in plain sight...  However, he might be my first line of defense.   I might also talk with Mr. who believes in good snakes/ bad snakes.   I got in trouble not long ago for running over a 'good' snake that slithered in front of my tires on the way to the country house. I thought the poor man was going to actually grieve over that snake as he saw visions of mice that might have been eliminated except for my errant way.

Self Defense

I realize that the picture leaves a bit to be desired in the up close and personal photo critique.   However, it was sent from I-Needa's iPhone at the scene of excitement.

It all began when I'Needa's phone rang and the neighbor told her to 'hurry over.'    Well, actually, it didn't all began there.

It began at the grocery store.  Good Neighbor purchased a sack of potatoes and hauled them home.  Haven't we all done that?  I certainly have.  Of course, this time of year Mr. is hauling in country potatoes, so I haven't bought potatoes for a few weeks.

I keep digressing... So.... Good Neighbor was reaching into the sack of potatoes and taking them out to fix.  That's when she saw  THE SNAKE!   Yep... a snake Snake SNAKE  in the sack of potatoes that she had just hauled home form the grocery store.    What do you do????? RUN, of course... and fling potatoes as you go!   That's what she did... That's what I'd do.

She headed for the back yard and commenced the murder.  Flinging the bag of potatoes everywhere, she isolated the culprit, that wicked snake and murdered it, right there on the patio.

You can see a picture of the murder weapon.... sent from I-Needa's iPhone.    Yep.   She shoed it to death.

You can tell that she really did.  Look again at that top picture.  Does it look like a snake?   I think not.  There is not much of resemblance to anything you might recognize.  However, Good Neighbor admitted to wanting to make sure that all parts of the monster were dead.  She didn't want to shoe it again later.

Here is Good Neighbor, in a much better mood since being assured that the SNAKE was out of her life.  It couldn't get her.

The potatoes had to be picked up.  She is recanting the tale to I-Needa and telling of her bravery under siege.

It was all very exciting, and you can see from her hands just how long that snake really was....

Well....   'It was THIS long!!'

Promise of Harvest

I headed out to the garden the other day armed with Snappy.   I just needed to find out how much stuff is out there.  I know we are going to have more potatoes than Heinz has pickles.  That I know.   Mr. has been bringing them to the kitchen on a daily basis wanting them steamed.  I'll admit, they are good with just a little butter with salt and pepper added.  Yummy!

Mr. is quite happy with his garden.  He has downsized as use to have twice the garden.  I'm just as happy, I'm sure, with a smaller one.  After all, I will get to deal with the produce.

I was really interested in the fruit trees.  These apples just made me jump up and down with glee.  The trees are loaded with them.  I know it will be a lot when they are ready to eat, but I'm seeing lots of apple items in my future.

Ah....... peaches...... Yum.

I took some pictures earlier that I shared with you when these were but buds on the trees.  They are coming right along, and I have grand hope for these as well...

A different kind of peach.  These are the dwarf peaces that I-Needa said should probably be used to make peach tarts.  She is funny.

They look pretty good to me....

Last, but not least, just look at the grapes.  I'm not sure if they will be edible this year or not, but they do look promising.

Now that you are drooling, perhaps it is time to dust off the recipes and think about all the wonderful things that can be made with a little fresh produce here and there.  It won't be long before fruit stands are selling some of their home grown produce.  Yes, I'm looking at this as a promise of a great harvest.  

Down with bugs and raccoons!!  Let my produce BE!