the little wild kingdom

[flowerbug]

got up, had breakfast, talked to Mom for a few minutes, was trying to read a book and felt like going back to sleep. put on some music and rolled over and was out until the music changed to the next track (an hour later). i guess i was tuckered out...

 

[flowerbug]

finished my book yesterday so last night i got some more beans shelled and sorted. these are still small batches from the mixed garden with the most experiments going on. so it's interesting to see what nature has provided.

today i'll be shelling some more as the gardens are wet and muddy again and i don't feel like fighting the mud and mosquitoes in between rains. some days are just fated to be indoor days. i'm not heartbroken by that either as there's a lot of stuff i can get done inside.

yesterday i got a few cupboard doors tightened up and put a magnetic latch for one because the hinges break once in a while and i didn't have an extra hinge on hand.

 

[flowerbug]

shelling more beans today, it's that season. last year i recalled these particular beans being time consuming to shell out so i gave myself two days to get them done. got them done in a hour and a half. hmm... maybe having fingernails and strong hands worked better than i was expecting?

i'm only doing so many shelling sessions a day as sitting is not very good for me, and same with standing at the counter for very long. in the past some times i have sprawled out with box flats and shelled while laying down but it just isn't the same as i can't really see what i'm doing and to me the large part of the enjoyment is watching what is going on as they come out of the shells.

 

[tortoise]

Do your hands get sore from shelling beans?

 

[flowerbug]

Do your hands get sore from shelling beans?

not normally, a few years ago i smashed my thumb with a rock so that made for a difficult shelling season but on the whole it's not an issue.

one thing i am doing, however, is shifting some of my bulk bean production to easier to shell beans. so perhaps 1/3 of what i grow now for bulk beans (dry bean eating) is Purple Dove beans which are very easy to shell. they have very thin shells almost like tissue paper and the seeds mostly just fall right out of the shell. the harder beans i have for shelling are the heirlooms like Painted Pony, Appaloosa, Yellow Eye and some others, but i normally do not grow large amounts of them other than Yellow Eye. Yellow Eye i am selecting as i shell them out for those that are easier to shell and i've made a slight shift in those so far in what percentage of what i shell is a bit easier. i have a few bags of those to shell this time around so it will be another round of shelling and selecting again this year. they're great eating so i'll keep growing them anyways.

eventually if it does become an issue i'll find another way of shelling them, the pillowcase method works ok enough that you can get a large percentage of beans out of the pods leaving you only to go back through and find a few stragglers. i've done it for soybeans when i was growing those in bulk a few years. it's just not as much fun or appealing because i can't touch and see all the pods and beans as they are coming open.

 

[flowerbug]

i forgot to mention that Adzuki beans are also pretty easy to shell (some will even shatter when i harvest them which isn't great, but oh well...). i have a bunch of Adzuki pods mixed in with the various bags of beans so as i'm going along and shelling i'm getting bonus beans from those as i interplanted them in many gardens just to see how they would do.

 

[flowerbug]

got the project done yesterday that needed to be done a few years ago but i didn't notice how plugged up that screen had gotten over the years since i put it in. the screen was over the exhaust vent for one of the bathrooms that we normally use the most for showering so it will help get more moisture out of the house now that it isn't so plugged. when i stained the house last year i didn't notice i'd also stuck some of the flaps together with the stain so now they are free again to also move better. oops.

back to shelling beans this morning and then weeding today also seeing if i can discourage some shrews from nesting along the foundation of the house. they've been moving gravel and i don't want them there that is for sure...

 

[Mini Horses]

Try putting cinnamon and clove by the shrews trails.

Are the appaloosa & painted pony beans spotted?

 

[flowerbug]

Try putting cinnamon and clove by the shrews trails.

i happen to have a lot of old ground cloves i'll never use up plus some cayenne pepper. i'll put some of that in one end of the hole openings and then squirt water in to see if i can evict some tenants and then put some more in the other hole and spray that in too. it will likely take me more time to get the box of spices out of where i have them stored than it will be to use it and spray it... thanks for the tip/reminder.

Are the appaloosa & painted pony beans spotted?

both of them do have spots on them in places but that is not their primary appeal to me as is their general shape of the seeds and growth habit (bush but upright with long pods that mostly stay off the ground). i'm excited this season because i have those new beans that showed up in the painted pony patches that have a different color but also because they are more edible and i always like beans that have more than one use. i don't recall the painted pony being edible in the past but again i may not have tried them at that stage before so next year i get to answer the questions these new seeds have raised for me (i think the parents are not as edible as the result of their cross so this is an unusual cross of two recessives). if they turn out to repeat and be edible as a fresh bean i'll surely get them into more future plantings. we really like fresh beans and i never can have too many of those available for picking all season.

another part bag finished up shelling last night so on to the next this morning. seven more to go but they're getting fuller so it will likely take me a few days for each, plus i have a box stuffed full that was a mistake pour out from a small bag so those will get done before i start in on another bag. i'm not sure which garden they came from so i get to be surprised about anything which is in there.

beans on the brain time of the year for sure.

 

[flowerbug]

really interesting news about the south field (neighbors property) today as i was finally able to talk to them.

potentially going to be an evironmental easement which is a contract for 10 years.

this would also answer a lot of my issues and questions about what's happening and if i was going to have to do some work over there with that thistle patch. good initial conversation, there's a lot of things to talk about and as the plans go i hope i can talk to them about the various things i know about from permaculture and experience.

also got the permission to remove a small tree before it gets bigger as part of the ditch erosion control issue and brought up that topic for them to consider (they have a much longer exposure to this big ditch than we do... and i've learned my lessons there the hard way).

p.s. just had a 2nd talk with the neighbor. sounds great will talk to them again perhaps even have them over for a visit this weekend sometime for a tour and more talking. they've already got an initial plan from the USDA and will set up time with the county land use people for talking more about the plan and what needs to be done - i said i'd enjoy tagging along if they wanted me to. all stuff i'm interested in.