Sunday, July 13, 2014

Memories and green beans.

One of the things I look forward to in the garden is green beans.  I like green beans fine, but that isn't why.

I get to snap green beans.  It was one of the first chores I remember doing to "help" with the stuff from the garden when I was small.  We would have this big bowl of beans, Mom would get some bowls for us to put the beans and the ends in, and normally, Grandma, Mom and I would sit and snap.

Snap ends, fold in half, snap, fold again, snap, repeat.

Usually Grandpa and Dad were still out picking, depending on if we were canning, or just needed it for dinner.  We would get this small pile of ends, and a HUGE, to my tiny kid's eye, pile of snapped beans.  Grandma and Mom would chat about the latest whatsit, I would sometime toss an end at one of the cats to play with (we would snap on the back porch, so as not to make a big mess in the kitchen).  I had to learn not to encourage kitties this way, however, as I would usually end up with kitty in my lap, and have to go wash before I was allowed to help any more.  And occasionally, we had a green bean eater in the bunch, and would have to encourage kitty to find another snack... Ahem.  Sharing is nice, but the cats seemed to think we should all eat from the same bowl...

One year, a crow showed up while we were snapping.  I don't know if it was someone's pet, or what, but it adored Grandma.  So much so, that it just landed on her head, and watched the snapping process.  (I always wondered how Grandma could tolerate having those pointy toes on her head...)  However, he wasn't exactly the nicest house guest, he tried to jump down and take a bean, Grandma shooed him away.  He jumped back up and watched again for a little bit, and repeated the process.  After shooing him the second time, he jumped back up on her shoulder, cawed loudly in her ear, and left a LARGE deposit as he left.  This time, Grandma had to wash up before continuing...

Lately, since I can't can right now, (turns out, you are not supposed to can on glass stove tops, which is what the place came with, and I am too cheap to get another one), I am just getting enough beans for a mess for dinner.  I go out, a bowl in hand, let Rudee sit nearby, and I snap.

Snap, toss an end to Rudee.  Fold in half, snap, fold again, snap, repeat, until Rudee decides to stop eating the ends, then drops the slightly mashed, slimy ends on my foot.  (EEEEEEEW!)

A few days ago, I was just getting ready to snap beans, and Husband came over, and sat down, and we snapped beans together.  Rudee then got to 'chase' the ends, as Husband didn't want the slime treatment, so he would toss them a few feet away.  We talked about the day, Rudee was happy with both his people paying attention, and we had a nice dinner with green beans.

Yep.  Nice memories.

3 comments:

stephen Hayes said...

Remembering simple things like snapping beans can be a time portal into the past. A pleasant trip for most people. Take care.

messymimi said...

Wonderful memories, and you have a gratitude for your food, having grown it yourself, that those of us without such experiences just do not have. Enjoy your beans, and conversations, and games with Rudee, and memories old and new!

Sharon said...

Nice memories, I remember shelling peas with my girlfriend and her mother. We had a laundry tub of them to do.

Raw green beans - great snack!