Thursday evening, Nanny called to ask if I intended to pick the green beans, squash, cucumbers, and okra. She said she'd picked all that stuff mid-week, but it needed it again. To be honest, at that moment, with the summer heat raging, I couldn't have cared less if they never got picked, but I said I'd have a look at them after supper. When we finished eating, The Husband and I got on our bikes and rode down to the garden. There wasn't enough daylight left to do everything, so we picked the easy stuff, and I said I'd be back Saturday morning to get the green beans. As we were preparing to ride back home, Pop-Pop hollered out the back door that if we would put the soaker hose in the tomatoes and turn it on, he'd come out later and turn it off. The Husband dutifully complied.
Saturday morning, I woke up at 6:30, drank a cup of coffee, put on my gardening clothes, and headed to the garden for my appointment with the green beans. I'd been working about an hour and a half when Nanny came out to help. We finished off the green beans, picked a "mess" of purple hull peas for Nanny's supper, and checked the other vegetables. The squash, cucumbers, and okra needed picking again, so I went to the shed to get a knife to cut the okra while Nanny started on the cucumbers.
Now, I haven't mentioned that Pop-Pop recently strung wire for an electric fence around the entire garden, except for one little gap near the tomato plants. No, I didn't get shocked, for he hasn't electrified it, yet. But the wire is waist-high - too high to step over, too low to bend under - and so right now the only convenient entrance into the garden is through that gap by the tomatoes. Coming back with the knife, striding full steam ahead, I took about two steps before sinking ankle deep into mud. I hollered, "Whoaaaaa!" and started windmilling my arms - reverse the engines, Captain! - to regain my balance. Hearing me holler, Nanny looked up and said that Pop-Pop had forgotten to turn off the soaker hose Thursday night. It had dripped all night long, deeply saturating the ground around the tomatoes. Friday's blistering sun had dried the top layer, making it look deceptively safe to walk on. When I tried to pull my feet out, the mud sucked off both of my plastic garden clogs. I stepped out of them and left 'em where they were until I finished cutting the okra, then I pried them out, hosed them off, and rode home with my bounty.
Back at home, I canned 7 quarts of green beans and 3 pints of pickled okra. The squash and zucchini went into the food dehydrator. Having fooled with various ways of preserving squash over the past few years, I've learned that we like it best dried. I sprinkle the squash slices with a seasoning blend and dry them until they're brittle. They make pretty good chips for dips, but my favorite thing to do with them is toss a handful of them into soups and pasta dishes. They re-hydrate fairly well, and they bring a little taste of summer to winter meals. I suppose they'd be ok stored in an air-tight jar, but I like to put them in bags and freeze them. A 5-tray dehydrating nets about a scant quart bag full of dried squash. Since they're dry when they go into the bags, they don't stick together, and I can just reach in, grab what I need, and put the rest back in the freezer.
With this canning, I think we have about all the green beans we need. Unfortunately, the green bean plants do not know this and will continue to make, especially if we get a shower or two along the way. Thus, if you live nearby and need some green beans, grab your pickin' bucket and come on over. I'll even help you pick them.
Note to my sister: another week and the eggplants will be ready. Come & get 'em!
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