Green Bean Epidemic

It seems like Summer is officially here. 

The green beans are ready, and they are growing fast and furious.

I started harvesting them for the first time about a week ago. I ended up with a 5 gal bucket FULL after one row. I planted six rows total, two varieties that were supposed to mature at different times: Trofeo (gourmet French cultivar with a rich, buttery taste) and Early Contender (one of the earliest producing green beans that is a favorite among gardeners for its high yields).

I was smiling after the first bucket of green beans

A couple of weeks after planting, the great washout happened with about a row and a half.
And the replanting project... so I thought I would be alright on them not all maturing at the same time. I was wrong. Way wrong, as wrong as a person can get. The later green beans caught up with the others because the weather has been so perfect and before you knew it, everyone was blooming and setting tons of little green beans. Overnight and with a little sun and warm temperatures, the little beans became the big green beans. The panic set in and before you knew it, I was contemplating the meaning of life and doing lots of thinking while picking buckets of green beans by hand!
If they are continually harvested, they will keep producing throughout the summer.

So far, approximately 35 lbs have been harvested!

Friends don't let friends plant six rows of beans... but if that happens, you might need to make a few recipes. And hope your friends and family needs green beans. And every restaurant and farmers market you can think of!

This is one of our favorites:

Pasta Ricotta with Green Beans & Tomatoes 

Linguine
Ricotta cheese
Green beans, ends removed
Grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt & pepper to season

Boil hot water and add several drops of olive oil (so the pasta doesn't all stick together- a little trick I learned). Once boiling, add the desired amount of linguine and cook approximately 8-10 minutes until done. Drain. Add the desired amount of ricotta cheese and stir in.

Saute the green beans and garlic with olive oil. Then add the tomatoes and stir briefly so they do not burn (I usually just do this to warm them up). Add to the pasta mixture and lightly stir, trying not to crush the beans or tomatoes.

Season with salt and pepper.


Also if you like balsamic vinegar/ vinaigrettes, try this recipe out! 

Cold Green Bean & Tomato Salad

10 lbs green beans- ends removed but kept whole otherwise
Grape tomatoes, halved
3 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp red wine or balsamic vinegar
Salt & pepper to season

Boil water and 2 Tbsp salt, add green beans and cooked through but still firm.
Drain water and add green beans to cold water/ ice to chill.

In a small bowl, whisk the olive oil and vinegar, salt and pepper (to season). Drizzle over the green beans and add the tomatoes.

Enjoy!

Blueberry Picking Project

Earlier this week, I was dead set on picking strawberries.

I can't even remember the last time I had a fresh strawberry, until my friend Shannon brought some strawberries to a Tuesday garden party at the farm. Even though the strawberry season is so short here, they still put the large, hollow and flavorless strawberries to shame that you find in the stores. Those strawberries are 'improved' to handle the many miles to the Midwest and that means, flavor is usually sacrificed.

I was thinking about strawberry spinach salads, jams, strawberry shortcake type of desserts, and for snitching as a little snack.

Well.... that plan was sidetracked when I found out that the season had progressed the strawberries 3-4 weeks ahead of schedule. The disappointment was short lived because it was blueberry season at the Berry Patch in a surrounding town!

My friend Elizabeth and I were picking blueberries at the Berry Patch in Nevada

I honestly never thought that blueberries would do so well in Iowa. I had never picked blueberries but remember the few times that I would snitch them on a hot summer day. They were one of my dad's and my favorites but rarely did we have them in the house.

It was blazing hot and I probably ate three to each one that I picked... no, not really but it sure seemed like it! After a couple of hours, Elizabeth and I each picked about 3 lbs of blueberries. Then we moved onto the red raspberries but we were ahead of schedule on those. They would all be ripening in the next week or so, so we were late on the strawberries and too early on raspberries.

The blueberries were definitely worth it and that made the strawberries turn into a distant memory. For garden party, I made a fresh lettuce salad (from the garden) with blueberries, glazed walnuts, and a poppy seed dressing.  Also in the works this week are blueberry muffins, a strudel, and other recipes that I have been wanting to make but haven't had the chance. 

We also came upon this bird nest in one of the blueberry bushes.

As for me, I will have to catch up in the garden and pick my mountains of green beans in addition to other veggies that will be available. It seems like I have been waiting forever to start cooking and now, I'm ready!

The Gardens... An Update

So, I've disappeared for a little while on here... but I've resurfaced with some great gardening ideas, recipes, and little projects that I've been busy working on.

For me, Spring means busy season for work and attempting to garden on the weekends.
Sometimes, my friend Elizabeth and I garden until dark. Lately I've been sneaking out early in the mornings with a nice, hot cup of coffee to work outside for an hour or so before the work madness starts.

Our gardens are much bigger than last year's. I wanted to change it up a bit, and this year I planted Red Pontiac and Yukon Gold potatoes- 100 pounds actually. Those, and the onions were the first to be planted. There is an old wives tale about planting potatoes on Good Friday, the Friday before Easter. That didn't necessarily happen for me but in all fairness they were in my farm store's shopping cart on Good Friday. That should count for something?

The potatoes are now all tucked in with straw and flowering.

I can't even tell you how many times my phone and car keys were also tucked in with the straw. To keep myself sane, I had to move them to some other vegetable landmark. And gardening is supposed to alleviate stress... leave it to me to make it stressful!

Soon enough (and I can't wait) these potatoes will turn up in all sorts of recipes: herbed new potatoes, roasted potatoes with carrots, mashed potatoes with chives, au gratins, and much much more!

Also in the gardens this year: basil, cilantro, dill, beets, carrots, cucumbers, green beans, onions, garlic, shallots, tomatoes (20+ varieties of interesting heirlooms in addition to Roma's and others for canning projects), peppers (sweet and hot, including one of the worlds hottest peppers- Ghost), sugar peas, squash, watermelon, French melons, and pumpkins. Of course, we couldn't forget the flowers...and lots of them. I'm growing gladiolas in memory of my great grandma Hughes who was known for these gorgeous flowers.

Growing up and working alongside her, I can honestly say her gardens were legendary and really sparked my interests in gardening and cooking.