shortages

[flowerbug]

A couple years ago we found a pasta I could eat for 1$ a bag. I teased mom for stocking up like crazy. Glad she didn’t listen to me! We still eat rice more, even that had gotten a little hard to find though! Haven’t rice and beans pretty much been staples forever?

i've not really been a plain rice fan for ages. i can eat it and do ok, but i'm not much into white rice. brown rice i like a lot better - it has more flavor and fiber it seems to stick a bit more and also works well with lentils. that used to be a pretty standard meal for me at least two or three times a week. now i live with someone who doesn't like lentils much so i don't have them too often. adzuki beans are an ok substitute for lentils.

Anyway, I can hopefully grow beans this year (they always get too much rain and rot, maybe I’ll figure out the trick this year) it would be great if they work this time!

we get a lot of rains here at times too and what i do is pick pods if i see the weather is going to take a bad break and then i dry them inside layering them on cardboard box-tops or flats. i keep an eye on them and rotate them so they don't mold. it works out ok. you can also pull the plant when the pods are full with the beans and then hang them upside down in a dry place to finish. in some areas with some bean varieties they go through and knife the bean plants (cut them off in the ground and then leave them to dry and finish in windrows). that doesn't work so well in a wetter climate.

since i'm only doing a few thousand plants i can't dry the whole plants and i don't have room to hang all of those but i can usually find a way to stack flats crosswise to get them to all fit while they're drying. if i can shell them as they finish enough i can conserve on space and then put the beans in a flat to finish drying until the winter gets going. about mid-way through winter i start putting things into plastic containers or glass jars for storage. they all have to be dry enough and i check them several times while i am sorting for any signs of mold to keep that from being an issue in storage. so far this all is working out but it does mean i have to go through the beans often enough to get the pods picked. the dryest pods i pick i can put in paper bags to finish drying and they are fine that ways until i get back to them to shell and sort them out.

 

[Messybun]

i've not really been a plain rice fan for ages. i can eat it and do ok, but i'm not much into white rice. brown rice i like a lot better - it has more flavor and fiber it seems to stick a bit more and also works well with lentils. that used to be a pretty standard meal for me at least two or three times a week. now i live with someone who doesn't like lentils much so i don't have them too often. adzuki beans are an ok substitute for lentils.




we get a lot of rains here at times too and what i do is pick pods if i see the weather is going to take a bad break and then i dry them inside layering them on cardboard box-tops or flats. i keep an eye on them and rotate them so they don't mold. it works out ok. you can also pull the plant when the pods are full with the beans and then hang them upside down in a dry place to finish. in some areas with some bean varieties they go through and knife the bean plants (cut them off in the ground and then leave them to dry and finish in windrows). that doesn't work so well in a wetter climate.

since i'm only doing a few thousand plants i can't dry the whole plants and i don't have room to hang all of those but i can usually find a way to stack flats crosswise to get them to all fit while they're drying. if i can shell them as they finish enough i can conserve on space and then put the beans in a flat to finish drying until the winter gets going. about mid-way through winter i start putting things into plastic containers or glass jars for storage. they all have to be dry enough and i check them several times while i am sorting for any signs of mold to keep that from being an issue in storage. so far this all is working out but it does mean i have to go through the beans often enough to get the pods picked. the dryest pods i pick i can put in paper bags to finish drying and they are fine that ways until i get back to them to shell and sort them out.

I love that idea! What do you do when your plants themselves are rotting before they can fully develop bean pods? Mine will be fine one day and literally the next morning the stem and plants will be mush. I’ve only noticed it after rain though, that’s why I assume it’s the water. Thank you for helping my gardening dreams! Lol

 

[Messybun]

I wonder if you could grow in pots and then move them out of the rain? I grew shelling beans in pots and the ground last year and they both did really well

Maybe. We get a lot of rain, do you think they’d be okay in a shed without light for a day or two while it rains?

 

[Messybun]

If you have a LOT of rain as well as poor draining soil....try hay bale garden for those beans.. Faster than digging and amending with drainage material. And. Yes pots.

Got some of that! Like the sound of less digging too!

 

[flowerbug]

I love that idea! What do you do when your plants themselves are rotting before they can fully develop bean pods? Mine will be fine one day and literally the next morning the stem and plants will be mush. I’ve only noticed it after rain though, that’s why I assume it’s the water. Thank you for helping my gardening dreams! Lol

white mold can happen at times. what i will do is remove the affected parts as much as i can to open up more air flow for the surrounding plants and hang up the bits of plant that need to dry more. sometimes the beans are far enough along they'll finish ok. sometimes not.

one thing i've found is to not mix bean varieties so that when the plants finish they are done in blocks so you won't get a green plant crowding a drying plant. the white mold often happens on dry plants who are being in contact with green plants. pick the dry stuff out as soon as you see it. it is very unusual for a fungus to attack a green plant unless it is coming from some neighboring dead plant bits.

sometimes though, things don't work out for each plant. so diversity and planting a lot makes up for small amounts of failure.

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

Maybe. We get a lot of rain, do you think they’d be okay in a shed without light for a day or two while it rains?

I would think that they might be ok for a day. If they have flowers, it would be best to keep them outside so they can be pollinated. Do you have an area that is covered? I have a table on my deck that I am able to move under the covered portion and then move back out to the full sun as needed.

 

[tortoise]

I love that idea! What do you do when your plants themselves are rotting before they can fully develop bean pods? Mine will be fine one day and literally the next morning the stem and plants will be mush. I’ve only noticed it after rain though, that’s why I assume it’s the water. Thank you for helping my gardening dreams! Lol

If you try growing in pots, you can mix potting soil 50/50 with perlite or grit. The soil will hold less water to prevent rot

 

[flowerbug]

I would think that they might be ok for a day. If they have flowers, it would be best to keep them outside so they can be pollinated. Do you have an area that is covered? I have a table on my deck that I am able to move under the covered portion and then move back out to the full sun as needed.

beans will self-fertilize. bees will fertilize too but by the time they do it often the plants have already done it to themselves.

 

[tortoise]

I saw pasta shortage at one store today. I smugly cooked pasta today i bought 20 to 30 pounds a few months ago...

I saw another product /shelf section out of stock in the cooler section but can't remember what it was. edited to add, it was raspberries and strawberries, driscoll brand. The space was filled by spreading out blackberries.

Overall not bad. I noticed a couple big price jumps. Cheese was up $1/pound on all varieties since a week or two ago. Frozen berries were up $1-2 on 2 pound bags, but I havent bought frozenberries for months (maybe a year) so IDK if this is sudden or seasonal.

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

DH said treated lumber and plywood are up again. They were down for a bit but he was looking as I want a new coop and an add on to my current chicken run.