Bam: Canned Beans.

Today was a really great day. It's been pouring here on and off. One minute it's bright and sunny and the next it's the end of the world and you can slice the rain with a knife. The rain is good for the garden and the drop in temperature means that the tomatoes will set more fruit. They get very annoyed when it gets hotter than 80-85 and refuse to do anything. Me too, Mr and Ms. Tomato, Me Too. So during the burst of sun I dashed into the garden and decided the green beans had gotten big enough and it was time for pickin'. I got nearly a shopping bag worth of beans out of the first spit of beans that I planted way back in May, and there's still some nearly mature beans (which I'll probably save until my friend Nicole gets here) and a bunch of little baby beans. This harvest means I'll have fully recouped my money for any bean seeds I bought. If I haven't mentioned by now, with the odd cucumber I've gotten out of the cucumber vines, I've also recouped all the money I spent on cucumber plants. So far Mr Garden is pulling his weight.

What really made the day great though is I finally was able to accomplish one of the goals I had set out to do with this garden, pickle and jar things. Now I've made a couple of quick pickles with the few cucumbers I've gotten, but I'm talking water bath, mason jars, the full deal. A few of weeks ago I had bought as\ really awesome book (Food in Jars by Marisa McClellan, who has a really awesome website and whose recipe for Dilly Beans I used). Although I spent some of the later afternoon whining to my sister about being too tired (yes I complained about being tired to a mother of a 10 day old, either I'm a very brave man or my sister is a very forgiving soul, perhaps a nice combination of both), I decided tonight would be the night. And so bam:

Dilly Beans. Now I've got to wait 2 weeks until the flavor fully develops but I'm a sucker for anything dill flavored, so I'm excited to try.

Right now I'm debating how much more to show on here of what I can, just because I like to give canned stuff as part of my holiday presents to folks (I like giving DIY sorts of gifts more than just buying crap, it feels more heart-centered). We'll see. I know I will do a post or two of the tomatoes I can and it looks like by the end of the month I'll be swimming in tomatoes, so expect that at least.