From my garden

I just finished picking green beans from my garden. My preference is the Tenderette variety. It's an old-fashioned one that seems to have gone out of fashion in recent years. Most of the gardeners in my family prefer half-runners or Kentucky wonders or pole beans. All I can say to that is strings, strings, and more strings. Tenderettes are a stringless bush variety, and they are truly stringless and truly tender, even when they are a little overgrown. It happens. You pick and then you go back in a couple of days to pick some more and realize by the 8-inch-long bean that you missed that one, and that one over there. Why can't beans be a different color than the leaves and stems? They're so hard to see.

Picking beans is a back-breaking job, but it's worth it when you put that first forkful of tender, tasty beanness in your mouth. The tenderettes cook quickly, too, so you don't have to wait long to take a bite. They're also very easy to clean. Just snap off the stem end and break to your desired length, or not at all, if that's the way you like to serve them.

Here's a hint for picking:  don't just pull the bean off willy-nilly. It's best to use two hands, using one to hold the stem and the other to break off the bean right above the stem end or cap. If you leave part of the bean behind, it will keep on growing and the nutrients from the soil will be diverted from the whole unfinished beans. The main stems are also very brittle and break easily. It makes me so mad when I break part of one with new little beans just starting to grow.

This year I'm keeping a daily tally of how much produce I've harvested and will add it all up at the end of the growing season. I was inspired by an article in Mother Earth News about growing $700 worth of food in a 100-square-foot space. I had never kept a log of our produce, and we're hoping for a larger yield this year because of the added raised beds and improved soil. I have everything down and will report at summer's end. So far, I've harvested 3 1/4 pounds green beans (among other things) in two pickings. In my part of the country, we call one picking a "mess". As in, I picked me a mess of green beans today. That there is country talkin', my friends.

To the right of the green beans in the picture is sage. If you have never grown sage, then stick some in the ground, because it is virtually foolproof. It will grow in the poorest soil, but, of course, it will grow better in amended soil. I grow it because there is nothing like homegrown, dried sage in your Thanksgiving dressing (stuffing for you cityfolk). I also grow it because my mom always had a big patch of it in her garden. She passed away in 1987 and I still have the last jar she gave me. I couldn't bear to use it all.

Now, I will make an offer that you can't resist. If anyone who isn't growing their own sage would like enough to season your holiday stuffing this year, just let me know in comments, and I will send you some after it's dried.

This picture is one "mess" of Swiss chard that I've grown this year. It has been bountiful in a space about 4 ft. by 4-ft.  I've harvested approximately 4 pounds and there is probably another pound to pick, but it's getting pretty buggy and the heat is starting to affect the taste.

We love chard. It is so easy to prepare. First, you must wash it thoroughly, changing the water a couple of times. (And don't waste that water...use it water your outdoor plants!)  Then all you need to do is rough-chop it horizontally, stems and all, and throw it in a large pan with a little water, minced garlic (optional), olive oil and salt and cover and steam until tender. Its taste is earthy, like a cross between kale and spinach. And like those two vegetables, it cooks waaaaay down. You start out with what you think is a vast amount, and it ends up with two people fighting over the little dish full. So always cook a lot more than you think you can use. I was excited about my crop this year, because it included yellow-stems among the red ones. It doesn't take much to get me excited about good food.

And finally, something I will be adding on a regular basis.

Randomness:

Too small for a post...too good to pass up.

                                                                

I want to tell you how much I love my new office chair, but first I have to tell you about the old, nay, ancient one that was a castoff from friends departing for southern climes. It was old when we gladly received it five years ago. It finally fell completely apart a couple of weeks ago, literally, while I was sitting in it. Then I have to tell you that the first chair I brought home gave me no love whatsoever. I chose a fabric one, because I didn't want more leather for the cats to de-leatherize, and the helpful salesboy swore that he had the very same one at home and loved, loved, loved it. And I was trying to cheap out with a 20% discount on the one that someone had returned just a few days earlier. It was already assembled and Husband was out of town.

I soon found out why said person had returned it. The seat felt as if it were tilted slightly forward, just enough to make me feel like I was falling out of it, the arms were not adjustable (which I need for the carpal tunnel) and the fabric felt as if it were burning acid into my bare legs when I was wearing shorts, which is my uniform in the summer. The store has a 30-day, no-questions-asked return policy, so after a week of being uncomfortable and with the ad that came out in Sunday's paper proclaiming that the chair I should have bought was now on sale for $70 less in my hand, I dragged the thing back to the store. (I'm sure there were some syntax rules broken in that sentence.)

After receiving my refund slip, I headed to the back of the store straight to my new chair, sat in it, and fell in love all over again. How do I love it? Let me count the ways:

1. The seat height adjusts really high. (I have my computer in a former entertainment center, so looking up at the monitor with my bifocally lenses was giving me headaches and a crick in my neck.

2. The seat back adjusts for lumbar support, angle and height. Awesome.

3. It's nice and big for my big butt that's getting bigger, because of sitting in front of the computer for hours writing posts. But at least now I'm comfortably fat.

4. As you can see in the picture, the feet have nice little texturized rubber things on which I can rest my bare feet without them sliding off every second.

5. The arms adjust up and down and back and forth.

6. And, last but not least, memory foam...need I say more?

Enough about the chair. I'll leave you with a really sweet picture of Sassy and Frankie showing each other some sleepy love.

If you want to see Frankie's identical twin, go to Natalie's Chicken Blog in the backlink below (or just click on the name here).