Hi All,
First off, there are lots of green beans now ready for picking at the sheep pasture garden. I got a three gallon pailful in just 1/10th of the patch this morning.
So everyone should feel free to help themselves. I'll try to get the rows all marked so people can note what has been picked most recently (I picked the north half of the two western-most rows -- adjacent to the corn).
Let me bounce an idea off all of you. How many would be interested in participating in the garden equivalent of the old fashoned "quilting bee" -- only this would be a "green been canning bee"? We could set up to pick, wash, snap, blanch, pack jars, and can in pressure cooker/canners as a group project. I have one pressure cooker/canner and could probably borrow at least one (maybe two) more. We could use propane camp stoves or burners for both blanching and the pressure canning. I have about 10 cases of wide-mouth pint jars, maybe 4 cases of narrow mouth pints, and quite a few quart jars -- all of which I would not mind at all loaning to anyone who doesn't have jars.
I have three work tables (4-foot by 8-foot) that we can set up for the canning assembly line. I also have quite a bit of raspberry, peach, apricot and rhubarb wine that needs to be consumed and many bean canners might want to help with that too.
When? Well we need to decide that. I think weekends would probably fit the schedule of the most gardeners but you tell me what works best for your schedule if you think the whole idea isn't too for departed from sanity.
The second item of interest is a call for volunteers to help get the beans picked. The beans at the horse pasture site are not ready yet but when they do start producing, we'll need to pick all 20 rows about twice per week -- probably for at least a month. I'm reasonably sure that will generate more beans than all of us collectively could eat, can, freeze, or whatever. I think there will be enough beans to supply several different food banks in the area if I can prevail upon enough people to get them off the vines and into banana boxes for delivery. Whatcha think??
Don
Food banks? Volunteers? Yeah, whatever....but a canning bee? Well, hot damn and let me at 'em. I can't imagine anything more fun. Hell, it borders on naughty, even.
So at 9am sharp on August 23 I was at the Garden with bells on, bucket and box of mason jars in my hand, ready to do my part. After setting the jars down with the others I carried my bucket out to the communty bean field (remember, the one where I helped install posts and string earlier in the summer) and started picking.
After a couple of hours we had filled buckets and bags with beans of all sizes and it was time to start the production process.
In the parking lot of the church that adjoins the Sumner Community Garden, Don (80 years old at least and hasn't sat down in 6 years, I'm guessing) had set up a few wooden tables along with 3 or 4 propane burners and a Coleman stove. Sitting on these burners were a mixture of pressure canners and large stockpots. Cases of Mason jars were stacked at one end of the line of tables. Pairing knives were set in a small pile on one table. Small garbage pails half filled with water were sitting on the pavement in front of the tables and Don was already busy dumping beans in and swishing them around to clean them off. After swishing, the beans were drained and dumped on a table in front of eager gardeners waiting to start snapping, stringing and cutting.
On one of the propane burners was a pot full of water. As it would come to a boil a load of beans, now cut into bite size lengths, would be dumped in to blanch. After a minute or two these were ladled into the sterilized jars and set aside to wait their turn in the pressure canners.
After what seemed like an eternity of standing around trying to look busy so no one would force me into actually participating in this extravaganza of womens work, quart jars full of wonderful beans suitable for eating far into the upcoming winter started piling up before our very eyes. I got 12 of these beauties....
...but next year I'm having my own party. Sheesh!
--It's Fosco, Dammit!
