Threshing time

It takes me by surprise each year. Somewhere in the middle of Christmas celebrations I start longing for my garden. Strange. Especially because by the time the harvest is pulled in each fall, I'm so tired that I'm not at all sure I should garden another year. It is something like giving birth. After a few months, you can consider the joys once more, while the painful memories fade slightly.

So, this year, when the catalogs started arriving, I was, once again, infected with the gardening virus. When playing games with my family got a little tiresome, I pulled out the bean and pea pods that I'd picked last fall for seed-saving. I'd stored them in my garage in old #10 cans to dry. Granny Flash and I spent an evening shelling the seeds and labeling them. I saved most of what I will need for snow peas, green peas, green, yellow and purple beans, and some of what I will need for dry beans.

I'm just starting this seed-saving adventure and I like it. It will save a lot of money, come ordering time, and it gives a sense of independence - something I enjoy quite a lot. Not only that, I feel a little more in control of the safety of my seed!

The first and last pictures are of Jacob's cattle bean, which I grew last year. Unfortunately, cut worms destroyed much of the crop. So, we didn't get to taste them. We just saved the seed to try again.

I'm eager to try more dry beans. I want to see if homegrown, fresh dry beans are more digestible for Laughing Water, who is quite intolerant of legumes in general.

I haven't been receiving many comments lately and I'm worried that people are having trouble posting them. I'm not sure if that is the problem. If you are reading this, I'd love to hear from you. If a lot of people post, then I will know that the posting system is working.

So here is a question to post about: I usually plant my garlic in the fall, but didn't this year. Can I still plant in the spring and have a harvest?

TTFN - Nanette