FULL OF BEANS

It’s been a while since we were down at the supermarket. It’s not something that we have consciously decided to do, it just happened.

In winter when the nights are long and the mountain madness sets in, it’s always very entertaining and sociable to venture to the supermarket to get a fix of dazzling fluorescent lighting, warmth from the cookers and wee chats with friends and neighbours. According to Steven Fry there were people in France at the turn of the century that used to hibernate all winter. Maybe they were onto something. Mind you, he said the same community used to walk about on stilts in the summer because their land was so boggy. I wouldn’t fancy that – how would I get into the car?

SHORT NIGHTS
This time of year though it’s different. The nights are short, the children keep you occupied and we are not short of a visitor or three. So the real reason for not having to do any shopping or go into town is that our homegrown vegetables are maturing at a fast rate of knots. We are coming up with more and more inventive ways of eating and cooking them up into delicious meals for the family. Freezing them is a possibility but that’s an art form in itself and I tend to get a bit confused with the blanching process...It doesn’t take much to confuse me at the best of times.




FREE RUNNERS
I’m outside picking the runner beans today and it’s getting to be a great way of doing stretching exercises to reach the fresh ones at the top. I used hazel rods for them to grow up at the beginning of the season and didn’t bother cutting back either the rods or nipping the tops off of the beans. Its suggested that you cut the runner bean plants so they only grow to about seven feet, to keep the plant producing more beans lower down which would save stretching your back too much (or worse still wobbling about on a kitchen chair) trying to reach the top. I thought I would give them a free run and they have reached over ten feet now and are going strong, and still producing. It’s amazing how many beans can mature over night. The broad beans are a straightforward crop to grow, as they are extremely hardy. They can be grown in borders without high supports so they are very versatile and I just love the softness of the inside of the pod. They have a lovely bed to lie in. After I’ve harvested ours I will pull out the plants and fill the space with something else. Maybe some late-flowering perennials or more than likely the leeks that desperately need to be thinned and given a new home with more space..

YOUNG AND TENDER
One of the benefits of the “Grow your own vegetables” is that you can pick the crop far earlier than shop bought ones. You get them at their tastiest and when the nutrition value is the highest, especially if they are cooked straight after picking. Some onions you buy from the shops can be up to two years old. I have picked our onions for tea and the white crispy flesh is so different from supermarket bought ones.

BIG TEA
I’ve picked enough for tea and everything barring the left over party burgers is out of the garden. We are having runner beans, broad beans, potatoes, courgettes fried with onion and raw carrots, There’s a side salad too, minus the tomatoes as again they have failed to fruit outside. There are a few small green ones on a couple of the plants which will get cooked up in a bolognaise sauce. I look back at my polytunnel days with some nostalgia when the family and friends alike were able to pick and eat their fill of these home grown sweeties. The salad is made up of lettuce, spring onions, coriander, chives, radishes, rocket and baby grated beetroot. We seem to be having a lot of earwigs this year and the lettuce and spring onions have had to be checked carefully. It has been common enough this year for earwigs to crawl out of the green leafy part of the spring onions or hide amidst the layers of lettuce. I have heard they taste disgusting and don’t want to inflict the experience on family or guests.


TEMPTING
By avoiding the supermarkets we are also avoiding unnecessary impulse buys and wasteful packaging. Smaller outlets like John and Mary Reilly’s organic farm in Malin will be the retail success stories of the future as we move more and more to buying locally produced products that are of high value, fresh and full of nutrition. Community gardens are springing up everywhere around the country too as families realise that growing your own food is important for mental and physical health. I like the idea of being close enough to your veggie patch to collect your crop with a wheelbarrow, so small community allotments are ideal.

In our own little way, us veggie gardeners are voting with our feet and showing that self sufficiency can work….well partial self sufficiency in our case….. We still need milk and cheese though as we don’t keep cows….yet.