Living with the Boss

Despite the groundhogs foraging, we did manage a few beans this year. When I say a few, I mean "My gosh! That's it?" Usually I'm canning green beans for several days and Mr. Farmer is picking two or three feed buckets full from each row. That amounts to anywhere from 32 quarts to 48 quarts of beans. This year he brought me one and a half feed buckets full of beans...from all four rows. That amounts to exactly 10 quarts. Yeah, don't know if that was worth the effort of digging out the pressure canner. I curse you groundhog!

The Monkey and the Boss help can beans.

Despite the poor showing this year, we are still in good standing as far as our beans are concerned. Because of the good years we have had, I have beans a plenty. Pressure canning green beans is a fairly easy endeavor and not nearly as complicated as one might think. Remember I learned how to do it, and so far I haven't blown anything up. The recipe I use has been passed down from Mr. Farmer's great-great-grandmother. It is fairly basic and has been updated for today's safer and not so temperamental pressure canners.

I can bush green beans. When I first got married, I tried making them without canning them. Yuck! They are really tough. I also tried serving them without seasoning them thinking they would be like the kind you get in the grocery store. Well, we use a lot less salt I suppose because they were too bland to eat. Over the years I have learned how to cook them so that they satisfy the picky palates of my family and my need for healthy cuisine. I was forced to succumb to bacon as a seasoning because you just can't make good green beans without it. After many trial and errors, this is the recipe that won over the hearts my family.

Cook two strips of bacon in a dutch oven or medium pot. When it is crisp, I remove the bacon and empty out as much of the bacon grease from the pot as I can. I want the flavor but not all the fat. At this point you can saute a chopped onion in the bacon drippings, but I usually leave this out. Just lazy I guess. Then I dump in 1 quart of canned green beans (or you can use fresh, but you will have to cook it longer and add enough liquid to cover the beans). I also throw in 1 tsp. sugar, 1/2 tsp. salt, and a dash of pepper. I crumble up the bacon and toss it back in the pot as well, but you can leave it out if you want. I bring it to a boil and let it simmer for about 30 minutes. The bacon makes it salty enough for Mr. Farmer and the Queen, and the sugar adds a hint of sweet for the Monkey. I'm happy because everyone eats their green beans.

Notes from the Boss

No bacon in here!

I don't know anything about those green beans. My green beans are all mushed up and don't have bacon anywhere. I think I'm getting cheated. I watched Mom can those green beans. I didn't see any bacon there either. The Queen sings the praises of bacon and so does Dad. I think I need some of that bacon, but I don't think I'm going to get any from Mom.

All fenced in

She isn't the only one who is trying to keep me down. The sisters have started complaining that I don't play fair. They claim that there are no giants that knock down towns and eat people in their games. I disagree. I think every game needs a giant, and I make the perfect one. The Monkey crossed the line when she fenced me in the other day. She said I could play with anything inside the fence. Um, there wasn't anything in there but fence. I explained that to her and then took what I needed from her stuff. Problem solved!