How to Make Salted Green Beans

(this is a view inside my crock of the beans I did yesterday, the coloring is weird due to the flash)

Charlotte asked for more information on these so here is what I can tell you. This is the first time I have made these myself so I am definitely no expert.

Here in Germany this is a traditional method for preserving green beans. You can even buy packages of salted green beans in the grocery store as an alternative to canned (there really is no comparison, the salted beans are far superior). They taste fantastic and retain a great deal of their nutritional value. You have to soak them in water for about 30 minutes prior to cooking to remove the bulk of the salt or they are really inedible. I dump them in a sauce pan, rinse them several times with cold water and then leave them to soak in cold water for about 30 minutes. Then drain, rinse again and add enough water for cooking . I usually cook mine slowly for 30 minutes or so, it just depends on how tender they are, I check them frequently as they cook. I think that the salt causes them to cook a bit more slowly.

I found a paragraph dealing with salted green beans in John Seymour’s book on Self Sufficiency so that is what my first attempt is based on. You need a ceramic crock. For people in the US, you can find them here. I’m not sure where you would find these in the UK. You need preserving salt. Any salt will work but the course grained salt is nicer. John recommends 1lb salt for every 3lb green beans. This salt quantity is a lot higher than what I use for sauerkraut but I think that is because with such a large amount of salt, the beans are not being fermented, they are actually being preserved, just as they are going into the crock. The nice thing about this method is that you can add more beans every day, all through your harvest instead of having to save them and prepare them all at once.

So here is how you do it…Wash your crock with super hot water and soap, rinse well, set aside to dry. Wash your beans in cold water. Then string them, cut the ends off and any bad spots you find. Then they need to be sliced lengthwise. If your beans are very thick and tough, you might want the slice them even more than once. Just slice directly down the middle, lengthwise, cutting them in half. You can also cut them into 2″ lengths or leave them long, it’s up to you. Start your layering with an initial layer of salt on the bottom of the crock then comes your first layer of beans. I did my layers in increments of 1lb beans then 4 0z salt (500g beans 110g salt) After each layer, I lightly tamped mine down…*lightly*…. John did not say to tamp them, he said press them and pack them down tightly…I chose to tamp them a bit.

Just keep adding to the crock until you’re harvest is over, or until your crock is full (leave about 1″ space to the top of crock). Remember to keep water around the lid so no bad things (bactieria etc.) can get in. Store in a cool place and then just take some out as you need it. John did not specify a “resting” time for the beans so I assume you can use them just as soon as you’d like. I decided that I would let mine rest for at least a month before I start using them. That’s just a personal preference…one of those “it feels right” things.

I finished putting my beans up last night. Mine were store bought, but I just wanted to try the method once befor doing my own beans next year. I ended up putting up 4lbs. That didn’t even fill my crock to the half way mark, but it is enough to test. I’ll let you know how they taste in a month or two :))

So there you have it! Go forth and salt beans!

The Bees of Summer…

…who are now scurrying to get ready for winter. They do seem to be a bit more nervous and testy during this time of the year. They realize I think, that they don’t have much more time to prepare. The major nectar and pollen harvests are over for them, they’ve kicked all the slackers out of the hives, the drones, who can’t seem to do anything for themselves (including even the simple things like feeding themselves) and would seriously burden a hive during the winter months.

Our bees didn’t manage to collect enough to see themselves through the winter. They’re still collecting what they can, but it won’t be enough, so, during the past few weeks, Peer has fed them up on sugar water. They’ve collected it all and are now busy making honey with it. They’ve got one more treatment to undergo for mites and then that’s pretty much it for the year. Peer has done all he can to ensure their survival…once the hive is closed for the winter you just don’t open it again, so only time will tell, they will either survive the winter or they won’t.

Here is one of the few salvageable “junk” items that we found on the property when we moved here. It’s an old watering trough. We use it to catch rain water that comes off of our roof which we use to water the garden. The bees use it as a watering hole…

The plant growing in it is a Swamp marigold.

All day long this spot is full of thirsty bees, I love to watch them drinking, it’s not something you see every day…well, not something most people see every day The problem with a deep watering hole like this though is that the bees seem to fall in fairly frequently and they usually drown, they don’t do well in the water. That’s why there are a few pieces of floating wood…little life rafts

Throwing in the Towel…

..well, at least for this year. I’m talking about our garden…our first vegetable garden. So far this year it has been a dismal failure due in large part to our inexperience but not only that. The soil hasn’t been worked in decades and was used mainly as a garbage dump. You name it, it got dumped here and we’ve been digging out the remains for years. We’ve also had very wet, cold and dark weather which didn’t help. I think we planted a bit too late as well.

All in all, it just didn’t work this year and we are jumping ship… saying Uncle…throwing in the towel..and the trowel…we know when we are beat. We have so many other things to concentrate on before winter sets in that trying to save our sad, fruitless veggie plants would be a total waste of time…they’ll make good compost.

So we will chalk this up as a learning experience. We did harvest a few things, a few peas, some cabbages, some onions and some potatoes…. All in all we didn’t even get 10lbs of potatoes, they just weren’t there…the plants looked great and died like they should, but there just weren’t any potatoes to speak of… I’m thinking alien abduction…that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

But here is a picture of what we did get. We planted Linda white potatoes and some red and blue potatoes, I have no idea what variety they were, they were a gift from a friend. We like the reds but the blues we weren’t particularly impressed with.

We spent part of the weekend pulling up the failed plants and turning the soil. We left the corn and the fava beans. The corn has a few small ears on it and the fava beans are drying. My herb garden on the other hand did very well, so at least there’s that

I did some more baking over the weekend. I wanted to test a new crusty white bread recipe, here’s what I got.

I can’t tell you how yummy this bread is

Since the garden is a bust, I am going to focus a lot on learning to can, make jams and butters, work on the baking, and start dreaming and planning for next year. ..oh…and cheese, I want to learn to make cheese. I bought several pounds of green beans at the store and I am going to salt them this week for winter storage. This is done pretty much the same way you make sauerkraut….layers of fresh green beans and salt in a large ceramic crock which is set aside to ferment. These beans taste fantastic if they are done right. I haven’t made them before so I want to practice on store bought beans first, that way if it doesn’t work, I won’t feel like crying because I wasted so many beans from our own garden. In another month or so I’ll also make sauerkraut, I’ve made it for the past 2 years now and it is a wonderful winter food. Tastes fantastic and is so good for you, it is also easy to make.

So that’s all the latest…oh yeah, I’m conveniently forgetting that tomorrow is my birthday…well gee, I’m excited… the big 4 5….wow,look at me go…can you feel my excitement?

Cage Free Eggs…does it really make a difference?

I saw this article today in the New York Times and I have mixed feelings about it. I personally don’t see a whole lot of improvement in this method, the chickens are still packed in like sardines and I am sure that living conditions are still just as appalling when you get right down to it. I wouldn’t want to buy eggs produced from these chickens any more than I would those from battery chickens but I am happy to see that people with a bit more influence than your average Joe are taking notice and demanding change. It may not be the change many of us would like to see but at least it is a step in the right direction. I just hope they don’t stop here. I’m sure the industry will do only what it feels will appease these squeaky wheels in the hopes that they will eventually lose interest and turn their sites on the next fashionable latest outrage… then it will be business as usual in the chicken factories. I hope I am wrong…

Anyway, I’m probably just a dreamer but this is more my idea of “cage free”

Muffins, Crusty Loaves and Warm Fuzzies

As predicted, it was a busy day for me, but a thoroughly enjoyable one. I do love to cook and bake but I admit, I never did much of it when I worked a regular 9 to 5. Since I’ve moved to Germany and especially during the past 2 years, since I started working from our home, I have a lot more time and desire for being the domestic goddess that I truly am at heart. I love the smell of a well used kitchen and it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside to be able to give my loved ones something warm and yummy that I just baked myself. The feeling is intensified even more when the ingredients are those that were grown on our own land, planted, tended and harvested with our own hands.

So anyway, here is a sampling of what I baked today.

The bread is a yummy thick-crusted multi-grained bread. Tonight we’ll have some with our cabbage soup. One of my goals for this year is to develop the habit and settle into a routine of baking all of the bread and baked goods that we use. I want to learn to can this year also. I’ve never done any, other than vague childhood memories of helping my step mom make pickles and tomato sauce one year. I’ll start with jams and butters and go from there.

The blueberry muffins are fantastic. I made 2 different versions. One is just plain blueberry, the other has a crumbly, buttery cinnamon topping. We like the cinnamon version the best They are a bit sweeter, but not too sweet. I used 2 different recipes for these that I found on the internet. The batter I made following the “Best Blueberry Muffin” recipe and the topping I got from the “To Die for Blueberry Muffin” recipe.

You can find the two recipes here and here.

Dreary Days and Blueberry Muffins

Today was a pretty typical day for this summer. We have had more cool damp overcast rainy weather this year than we’ve had since I moved here. This was taken this afternoon, from a recently harvested wheat field just across from our house. It was 2pm, looks more like early morning doesn’t it? I’ll admit that I don’t usually mind weather like this but it gets a bit monotonous after weeks and weeks with little change. No wonder our veggie garden didn’t do so well.

So, I went for a long walk this afternoon, a bit of air to lift my spirits, it always does the trick. Of course I brought the camera with me This first shot shows the other side of our house (remember…work in progress). The little garden house is my glass studio. I work from home and sell online which works really well for us, I also teach classes here. The bamboo screen next to my studio is the temporary home of our honey bees. Next year we’ll be moving them over to the other side of the house.

Here are our hives. We started with 2 this spring. Our area had a really heavy swarming season this year so we’ve ended up with two big hives and the addition of 4 smaller hives…3 from swarms and one from a split. Peer recently combined the 4 smaller hives and we’ll go into the winter with 4 full hives. He has already fed them up in preparation for the winter and he’s begun their mite treatment (they really hate it!). He’ll have to treat them 2 more times and then will leave them alone for the winter. What we’ve got here are apis m. carnica, they originate from Slovenia. They’re very gentle good natured bees. Today they aren’t too active due to the cool damp weather.

Tansy is supposed to be a good herb to use in a bee pipe. This is a big bunch that Peer is drying for his pipe.

I couldn’t resist harvesting a couple pounds of plums from this tree. I’m going to make my first batch of plum butter with them this weekend. I’m going to experiment with small batches until I find a recipe that I like.

Tomorrow will be a busy day for me. I’ll be in the studio during the first part of the day and then in the afternoon I’ve got a bit of baking to do. A nice thick-crusted whole wheat loaf and some blueberry muffins…mmmm The blueberries didn’t come from the garden, we didn’t grow any this year, but will be planting some next year. These came from the market but they sure look good! If these turn out well, I’ll pass the recipe along to you on Friday.

Soapnut Shells - What’s not to Love?

Peer recently discovered soap nut shells while researching safer/milder alternatives to commercial soaps and detergents. I have very sensitive skin and nearly all soaps and detergents bother me. I’ll admit that I was skeptical when he first mentioned them to me, and again when our first order arrived. “How in the world are these ugly little nut shells going to clean my clothes?” I wondered. Well, I’m here to tell you that they can and do clean our clothes

Here is the botanical information…

Botanical name : SAPINDUS MUKKROSSI

Family name : SAPINDACEAE

Common name : SOAPNUT

Habitat : Through out India, Nepal in lower forests

Description: medium sized deciduous tree up to 20m in height with grey smooth bark, peeling off in scales, leaves pinnate, leaflets 2-3 pairs, terminal pair being the largest, flowers white, polygamous, male flowers many, bisexual flowers few, all in the same pubescent panicle, fruits fleshy drupes, the pulp becoming a saponaceous wrinkled rind on drying, seeds black. (information and image borrowed from “In a Soapnut Shell” website…no affiliation, I just liked their image and information )

Soap nuts contain saponin, a natural detergent which is used to clean clothes. Soap nuts, especially Sapindus mukorossi, have become popular as an alternative to manufactured, chemical detergents among those who live in an environmentally friendly style. A few nuts can be placed in a cotton drawstring bag in with a washload and reused several times. Soap nuts are safe for washing silk, woolens and other delicate fabrics. (from Wikipedia)

How they are used…

It couldn’t be easier. You take 6-8 shell halves (the exact number seems to differ from source to source - I use 8 for a load of laundry) and put them in a cotton cloth drawstring bag. You put the bag in with the clothes and that’s it, run the washer as you normally would. I have read that you can reuse this same bag of shells up to 4-6 times so long as the wash loads are within just a few days of each other. I haven’t done this myself. I usually reuse mine 1-2 times and then replace them. You can also use these to make a skin washing liquid which is gentle on sensitive skin. We haven’t tried this yet but when life slows down a bit this winter, I’m going to.

It’s too bad that we can’t grow these in our area, but so long as I can get them, I’ll use them.

Fruit Trees and Blogging Legs

I’ve been fiddling with this program all day, I also tried a few other blog programs at the same time and this is the one I like best. I’m starting to feel more comfortable with all the gidgets and gadgets, widgets and wadgets, the feeds and burns and all the other high tech stuff I’m not used to! I can tell that this is going to make life a lot easier for me once I’ve worked with it a bit more, it’s just gonna take a while.

I did take a short break this afternoon and went grocery shopping for jam making supplies. We are lucky enough to have dozens of plum, pear and apple trees growing wild in our area. It’s very common to see them planted one after another all along the old tractor and small village roads. I think this practice started after the war when food was so scarce. I’ll try and get some pictures tomorrow. Anyway, people don’t harvest from these trees like they used to so most of the fruit just falls off the trees and rots. The critters enjoy it but it makes me sad to see all that food going to waste. So sometime during the next week I’m gonna get me a big old basket full of plums and make some plum butter. I haven’t had that in years!

We checked the pear trees also but they aren’t ripe yet. There’s a lonely old tractor road just above our house where someone planted several pear varieties. Now they sit there forgotten…

Just Give Me the Cliff Notes Version…

Ok, for those of you who don’t want to wade through the archives but are curious about where we’ve been and where we’re going…here is the cliff notes version…

We bought our little 1/4 acre strip of land about 5 years ago. When we got it, it was basically a garbage dump. The previous owners, for the past 30 years or so, did nothing with the land other than throw their trash onto it. It was wild and overgrown, full of stinging nettles and hidden potholes and of course about a ton of trash. We spent more than a year rebuilding the house (which was also trashed) and cleaning the garbage out of the yard. You can see still a bit of the garbage that needs removing. Here in Germany we can’t just take our trash to the dump, there IS no dump. We have to rent a huge dumpster and pay to have it hauled away…this isn’t cheap. But it’s something we need to do before winter arrives.

I realize that this looks like the sort of place you might expect Elly Mae Clampett’s cousin Pearl to walk out of, but try an keep in mind that this is still a work in progress

While rebuilding/redesigning the house, we included 2 wood stoves, one upstairs and one downstairs. We heat only with wood now. For cooking we use a gas stove. Someday I would like to get an old style kitchen stove that uses wood as the heating source. You can buy them here but they are really expensive and they are also pretty big. I’m not sure one would even fit into my kitchen.

Last year my husband prepared our garden beds and this year we planted our first vegetable garden. We’ve had a poor harvest so far, but it’s not surprising considering the state of the soil, the cold wet weather we’ve had this year and our inexperience. We’ve learned a lot and will do better next year.

This year we also began keeping bees. We have 4 hives and those are doing well. We collected about 40 jars of honey from them this year.

Next year we’d like to begin raising some animals. We will begin with chickens. I’d like to add a few goats maybe the year after that.

So, that’s the quick version. If you’d like a bit more detail you’ll find a link called Old Farm Blog up at the top of the side bar.

A New Home!

Down on the Farm gets a new home! I’ve been procrastinating about this for months now and in the end, it’s the fantastic archiving system, the ability to add feeds, the ability to be more interactive with the comments feature, and being a bit more visible on the web that finally convinced me to make the move. I’ve tried to move all my old posts over from the website but it didn’t work. Instead I just added a link up at the top called Old Farm Blog. That will take you over to the Farm page on my main website where you can read previous posts. I started the Farm blog in Oct 2006.