Sunday Scribblings: Picking Green Beans-Be Practical and Remember "Slippery When Wet"

The Sunday Scribblings word this week is slippery. You can find other posts here.

The sun room always felt cool in the early morning. The north windows framed Grandma West’s garden. With precision the straight rows yielded rosy Early Girl tomatoes, pale green sugar peas vining on string supports, and curly Red Sails leaf lettuce ready to harvest. The deep green color of the zucchini plants contrasted with the smaller beet plants just getting a start. Closer to the back fence was a mixture of colors in the flower garden. My eye caught the deep pink cosmos contrasting with the pale yellow gladiolas as they glistened with welcomed dew.

Grandma said morning was the best time of day to pick green beans. From that sun room window I observed her daily ritual. As she gently pulled the ripe beans off the sturdy vines I was drawn to her hands. “When you garden you must be practical,” she explained to me the day before. Practical meant short trimmed nails, clear polish if any, rings left in the dish on the dresser, and no gardening gloves. “No gardening gloves because you must feel the beans with your bare hands to decide if they are ready to pick”, she added in our earlier conversation.
The second daily ritual was wearing sensible gardening shoes. Grandma always explained how the garden soil is slippery when wet. “You need to have shoes with treads that keep you standing,” she would chuckle, “ I would hate to fall on my tomato plants.”

I left that sun room to greet my grandma. Knowing I am the one always known to slip whether the ground is wet or not I walked with care. A question brought her back to the present. “How can you tell when the beans are ready to pick?” I inquired. She was stroking another bean pod as she snapped it from the vine, dropping it with a ping into the rusty galvanized bucket.
“Well now”, she said slowly,” it certainly won’t make you sick. Green beans are good for you. It will put hair on your chest! Come help me pick a mess for dinner, but be careful. The garden soil is slippery when wet.”

As I walked gingerly to her garden post I began pulling the beans off the vine. I turned back to this practical gardener and asked, “Why would I want hair on my chest? I am a girl Grandma!”

Grandma’s Fresh Picked Green Beans
Pick a mess of green beans (judge amount by people served).
Snap the beans in smaller pieces and remove strings if necessary.
Place beans in a pot. Cover the beans with cold water. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for forty-five minutes. Drain liquid.
Add crisp fried bacon pieces and toss in a small amount of the bacon grease. Serve warm as a side dish.