Chinese Long Beans, Yard Long Beans, Asparagus Beans or Snake Beans

This is the second year I have grown these interesting Beans.  They are easy and very prolific in my Potager Garden. I originally started growing them just for the interest factor, but after seeing them for sell in the Athens GA Farmers Market, I decided that I needed to do some culinary experimentation with them. I really hate not using any produce that I grow so I am now on a mission to find some good recipes for this bean!

Here are such a few facts about this fun veggie:

*It can measure from 1 to 3 feet long but is best eaten when they are 12 to 20 inches long

*This bean has a soft texture that is flexible not as crisp as the western green bean

*Focus on the young beans, the older yellowing beans are not really tasty

This is a way I used them that was very successful.

Beef and Asparagus  Bundles

16 asparagus spears
2 heads Bibb lettuce leaves separated
1 (4-oz) packaged garlic and herb spreadable cheese
8 thin slices deli roast beef, halved
1 red bell pepper, cut into 16 strips
8 yard long green beans

Snap off and discard tough ends of the asparagus and cut into 4 inch pieces. Cook in boiling water until crisp and then plunge into cold water and stop the cooking process.  Drain and pat dry

On each lettuce leaf spread a strip of the herb cheese. Then put one piece of the roast beef, the a couple of the asparagus spears,  and the green pepper strip. Wrap each bundle up and tie with a steamed long bean.

They were delicious...as an appetizer or salad or main dish...this is delicious!!!

Nothing better than Family

Family is the most important thing to us. We were so lucky to have my 94 year old Mom, my sister with her new beloved son and our son with his two wonderful kids. Life does not get much better than this.....

All the food was fresh from the garden. But the love was fresh from the heart. Recipes to come.....

More Rhubard Love

So it has been so funny. I told my sister I made a Rhubarb Pie for my Mom and she said please make one for my husband. There seems to be love for this fruit/vegetable. I think this plant is beautiful in the garden, plus my Dad loved it, so it is a must in my garden.


I decided to do a different recipe for Randy to take to his mom and Dad tomorrow. Rhubarb Bread Pudding



Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups half and half
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup sugar
8 ounces whole wheat bread, cut into pieces
3 cups chopped fresh rhubarb
Zest of orange
2 Tbsp brown sugar

Heat oven to 350 degrees . Spray an 8x8 baking dish worth cooking spray.
In a large bowl, whisk half amend half, eggs, vanilla and sugar together. Add bread pieces and submerge them into the liquid. Add chopped Rhubarb, and orange

Empty into baking dish and press down. Cover with foil and bake for,40 minutes. Uncover and add brown sugar and bake for 15 minutes until it sets

Reports are coming in that is is wonderful. So for all the Rhubard lovers ....have at it.

So it has just been too crazy of a couple months. I have decided that I will come sit every night for about 15 minutes or more and listen to the birds and feel the love of my land. The dogs enjoy it. And the cats come around as well. It is as if everyone is saying look what we have it is beautiful ; even if all the weeds are not pulled and the gardens are not perfect.
Life is good
So here is the view from my chair tonight. I am blessed.





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Why I grow Rhubarb

Rhubarb was one of my fathers and fathers-in-laws favorite vegetables. Therefore we have always had it my garden. I think it is beautiful In the garden. But not overly fond of its taste.



This a perennial vegetable, that is usually used as a fruit in desserts and jams. You only eat the stalks, they have a rich, tart, sour flavor. The beautiful leaves of this plant are poisonous, but are very beneficial to the compost pile.

I harvested a large amount yesterday. So I need to do something with them.


I made a pie for my father-in- law. They loved it. (Recipe below) My mom wants a pie as well. Plus now my oldest sister wants me to send her something made with rhubarb for her husband.

A couple weeks ago, I made a rhubarb pound coffee cake, so I may make that again for my mom and my sister's husband. Then what do I do with the rest??? Stay tuned I will let you know.




Fresh Rhubarb Pie

Ingredients:
4 cups chopped rhubarb
1 1/3 cups white sugar
6 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon butter
1 recipe for a 9 inch double crust pie

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2. Combine sugar and flour. Sprinkle 1/4 of it over pastry in pie plate Heap rhubarb over this mixture sprinkle with the remaining sugar and flour. for with small pieces of butter and cover with the top crust
3. Place pie on the lowest rack in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking for 40 minutes


I will blog the Rhubarb Pound Cake soon. Enjoy. I would love to hear your recipes for Rhubarb.

Don't Ditch The "Ditch Lilies"

My Father had a love of these Lilies!!  They have been called everything form "Ditch Lilies" to "Road Lilies" to "Tiger Lilies" to the common "Orange Lilies". I have even heard some people call them "_____ Lilies".

There Latin name is hemerocallis fulva, they are technically a form of daylily, but a different species and a breed of their own!  These guys will grow anywhere and give new meaning to the word hardy.

These late spring bloomers are resistant to anything including "Round Up". They will grow in most any soil, sun or shade, and can live through any drought! They are the survivors of the flower world.

I love driving out in the country this time of year and seeing all the "Ditch Lilies" along the roadsides. It seems to me they exist where houses once may have stood or gardens may have once existed but only the "Ditch Lilies" have weathered the storm of the years!

My father loved them because we had a home in Brown County Indiana that had horrific clay soil and hordes of deer.  Much to my Dad's delight they not only grew and bloomed ...they also spread everywhere; they were not discouraged or slowed by the obstacles put before them.

When I moved here over 30 years ago, I of course brought a few. Now I have tons....but I have put them to great use. I have them along fence rows, on the perimeter of the woods, and in the fields, but they keep spreading. I have even just dug up clumps and dumped them along the fence row and voila they survived!

My latest adventure was to move them from my vegetable garden. Although some parts of daylilies are edible, these tigers were taking over valuable space. I had the perfect spot for them over by the orchard where some stone and rock had been dumped. I am certain that this pile of rocks will be like candy to the tubers that these plants spread from and they will flourish. They will be lovely this time of year as I pick the raspberries and now I have more room for vegetables in the Potager Garden.

Moral of this long story.....Don't Ditch the "Ditch Lilies".......every plant has beauty and worth, in the right spot!

Volunteers Help Us Bloom

Come one come all. This Saturday we are having a work session the Tim McClure Botanical Gardens. We need anyone and everyone. The gardens are looking better than ever and is will be our final push to mulch and prepare for the summer.

No prior experience needed. This is a great chance to learn about maintaining a garden, plants, herbs, and much more.

I have even heard a rumor that there might be some "Freebies"



I hope you will come help us. Volunteers help us bloom. If you need any additional information just email me:

Beckykirts@gmail.com