Instead of being frustrated that four boxes in the garden were dedicated to these green beans - two boxes to the yellow wax and two boxes to the green wax - and only 12 measly little beans grew big enough to eat, we decided to allow ourselves to relish in our grand harvest.
Aidan went outside with his safety scissors from his kindergarten box and 'carefully' cut off each bean. And by carefully I mean he lopped off a few plants and even cut a branch off my big tomato plant as he walked by for good measure.
He was amazed by our awesome harvest, which shows me two things.
1) He's only five and finds all of nature's beauty astounding and new.
2) His mom is a crappy gardener if the poor kid is giddy over a 12-bean harvest.
It's important that you realize there will probably be no more beans from these plants. The plants are only a few inches high and withered and droopy. They can't possibly have any more bean production power left in them.
So our 12 beans was a Christmas miracle of sorts.
We cooked them divided them up between the three of us (Farmer B was at work). You should have seen our plates at dinner with four little green beans perched on each plate next to the sausage and pasta. It was definitely Bob-Cratchet-inspired proportions.
It was so sweet to see Aidan savoring each green bean and telling me how great food from the garden tasted. It was so typical to see my 3-year-old take about 2 bites of pasta, then deem everything on his plate inedible and go without dinner again. As soon as he slithered off his chair and slunk under the table I stole his four green bean ration and slowly savored every single one. Sure I could have shared them with Aidan, but he was already on to his ice cream at that point and sometimes eating eight green beans you grew in your garden can be just what a mom needs to make it through the day.
I loved your "point #2"... hilarious! And that is awesome he got so excited! Let them do the planting next time and see what happens... I let my 4 year old plant my peas last year and in spite of him chucking them willy-nilly, we had the best pea year ever!
ReplyDeleteIt can only get better, right? I had crappy beans this year. Apparently they like regular watering. Go figure!
ReplyDeleteEven with a small harvest, it's still worth the effort. It will only get better - trust me. I predict this next growing season will be awesome for you!
ReplyDeleteWow! Looks a lot like my harvest! I planted 3 pole bean plants. Didn't know I'd need more than that. I harvested 21 beans. My son and I share them. They were yummy! I'll plant lots more in the spring.
ReplyDeleteWOO-HOO!! Any harvest is a good harvest if you ask me. :)
ReplyDeleteOh, I've been working on my blog about "The Twelve Months of Gardening" and I thought you beat me to the subject! It's taking me a loooong time, what with being off and on and off and on and off and on....
ReplyDeleteYou know what? I'll bet those 12 beans tasted much better than my tenth pound of beans tasted. One can appreciate that which is scarce and dear much more than those that are served daily. Relentlessly. Like forever. Just ask Mr. H, who could care less if he ever saw another green bean in his life.