Taking some pointers from our Native American Ancestors, when we planted our rows of sweet corn we planted 'blue lake' green beans in front of them. Now that the corn is a little over three feet tall and the green beans are right at about a foot high, the way the plants grow are proof of how smart our Ancestors really were. Our green beans are latching on to the stalks of the corn and gaining support so the wonderful beans aren't laying on the ground. The corn grows so tall, neither plant is starved of it's sunshine, and they both are thriving. Using the same land to plant us two crops is also a great space saver. My husbands rule is five rows of corn, they grow best that way.
This morning while it was still cool we went out to pick some green beans for our dinner, after about thirty minutes of scavenging through plump leaves we dumped on the table what I dubbed a "Holy Heap of Green Beans!" This is the picture I sent to my parents bragging of our harvest, a few pounds of yummy fresh green beans.
My daughter and I sat down at the table right before dinner and went through and broke off the tips of the green beans, it took us fifteen minutes. Why all the fuss for green beans? You're probably thinking, you can grab two cans of green beans from the pantry, pull out your can opener, and have green beans cooking on the stove in two minutes... I wouldn't trade that time with my daughter for anything, we make great memories when food is involved and I know I'll cherish them all when she's up and left me for college, or some man. But she also smiles and brags to dad "Look what I'm doing helping Mom with green beans" when he came into the kitchen, so I know she is proud helping me.
Now back to the beans, these were all our little ends snapped off, and Ella's big ends snapped off I should add too, since little fingers don't always get the closest to the ends, but she's my great handy dandy helper!
When they were all clean and in the colander we were left with amazing fresh blue lake green beans, no stringy insides, just pure good eatin' ready to get in the pot of boiling water, and onto our dinner plates.
No salt, No additives, No 69 cents a can at the grocery store.
Planted, Picked, Prepped, and Cooked, with our own hands, just like it's supposed to be.
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