More Beans!

I love shelling beans. There is nothing better than sitting on the back porch on a warm, sunny late summer day, listening to '80s New Wave on Pandora, and popping shiny dried beans from their dehydrated pods. It's something that makes me simply happy. Maybe it's because I love doing fiddly things with my hands. Maybe its just sitting still with something uncomplicated to do. I don't know and I guess it doesn't matter. I'll just take the quiet joy.

My legs didn't even go numb this year.

My not-so-attentive bean supervisor.

I planted rattlesnake beans and black turtle beans this year. They are two of my favorites. Both grew fairly well but the beans themselves are somewhat smaller this year. Perhaps it was the lack of regular rain. We only watered the garden a couple of times and the garden seemed to do fine on its own without further intervention.

Dried rattlesnake beans on the vine.

Turtle beans on the plant. (these ones don't really vine)

The rattlesnake bean pods have a curved shape and are tight around the beans. The pods split open fairly easily but the beans need to be removed individually. The black turtle beans have smoother, looser pods. They pop right open and the beans can be removed in one fell swoop per side. I like shelling the rattlesnake beans better but it's fun to have different tactile experiences with them.

Rattlesnakes

Turtles

I wrote a more in-depth post last July about my bean cultivation, etc. - Beans! - so there's no need to go into detail here. I just wanted to make a brief post about the joy I find in bean shelling. You should try it. You might like it.

All the beautiful beans!