Dilly Beans

Like I said...those Royal Beans turn green when you cook them! Kind of fun.

But, I really wanted to share this amazing Bean Salad from Moosewood Cooks At Home. I prefer it chilled.

What You Need (Ingredients and Equipment)

• 1/2 to 1 pound green beans, preferably fresh-picked
• enough water to cover the beans in
• a pot big enough to hold the green beans and cover them with water
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill, or 2 teaspoons dried
• strainer or colander
• measuring cup and spoons
• 3-4 large garlic cloves, pressed or minced
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/3-1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sugar or honey
• 1 tablespoon salt

What You Do

Bring the water to a boil in the pot. Cook the beans, covered, until bright green and just tender (3 to 5 minutes). Drain the beans, reserving 1/2 to 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Put the beans in a bowl and toss them with the dill.

Next, make your marinade: combine garlic, red pepper flakes, vinegar, sugar, and salt in your cooking pot and bring to a boil. After the mixture has simmered for about two minutes, pour it over the green beans and mix well. Add enough of the reserved cooking liquid to make sure the beans are covered. Serve immediately, or chill in the fridge. Like I said, I like it chilled but it's hot and anything chilled is good right now.

Moosewood says they will keep for four days, covered and refrigerated. 

Enjoy!

Royal Beans

I present our first pick of Her Majesty, Organic Royal Burgundy Snap Beans

I'm eager to cook these up and will post one of my favorite green bean recipes along with the update. They are supposed to turn green when you cook them. How magical! We have a special dinner tomorrow night with our guests, Heather and Zach. Cooking up lots of veggies and some iron skillet corn bread. Yummy!

These beans have proven to be easy producers. I hardly touched them in the garden and had no problems with white mold or pests. They are a great bush bean option.

There is a whole mess of Lazy Wife Pole Beans to pick too. I will probably freeze most of them to store. The heat was beating me down and I will have to go back to get those this evening. I'm over the heat already and it's only July 1st! Yikes!

I hope you are all staying as cool as possible. A dip in the river may be in order this afternoon.

Daylily Blooms

My veggie garden is coughing because it is so dry these days. However, the lilies are showing off in the drought. Here are some of the late June blooms...

Burgundy with Yellow Throat

Double w/ Ruffle

Orange with Yellow Midrib and Yellow Throat

Red with Orange/Yellow throat

Ruffle Rose with Burgundy Eye and Yellow Throat

Double Orange Ruffle Spider

Row of blooms

This is a beauty and big

Cream with Yellow Throat

Burgundy with Yellow/Chartreuse Throat

Yellow Spider

Ruffle Peach with Orange Eye

Rose with White Midrib and Yellow Throat

Almost White Trumpet

Funky looking Ruffle Spider. Pink with Yellow Midrib and Throat

Very Large Pale Yellow Blooms

There are over 7000 recorded varieties of daylilies out there in the world. We have over 200 on our farm. I'm not sure we will ever identify them all but I don't know that I care about that anymore. They are beautiful and fun to enjoy during the brief season.

As Promised...

A photo of the Elephant Garlic I harvested yesterday. Time to roast some up.

Notice the little nodes on the bottom of the bulb. You can replant those little nodes and a single bulb without individual cloves will grow from them. It's kind of miraculous.