Friday, July 20, 2007

Weather and Picking Green Beans

Today was the usual Friday harvest routine. Only, the weather was absolutely gorgeous. Before I started working with farmers I never really gave thought to why we have this stereotype of farmers always talking about the weather. I mean, I suppose I knew it had to do with their concern for their crops and all. And it does, but I suspect it also has to with being outside so darn much. Compared to living in the city, the weather gets so much more of our attention during a day. I mean, we're constantly feeling the sun or the wind, seeing the clouds pass, putting on or taking off clothing and hats, and gauging how the rest of the day will unfold. Because it's on our minds all day it just naturally becomes something we think and talk about. I reckon it's just like in high-school, where the image is of high-schoolers' conversation dominated by gossip about other students; for farmers, weather is gossip.

So what does absolutely gorgeous weather mean to me? Well, it means 23 C (23.5 C in Newfoundland), sunny and partly cloudy with 20 km winds from the north. With a good night's sleep at my back I could probably work an entire day and still feel up for more. At least, that's how I feel today.

Today we started picking green beans. Picking these guys is very much like picking peas, in the sense that it's relatively slow (compared to the other crops), and requires careful attention to find the beans amongst the clutter of leaves and stalks. It's also not as gustatorally entertaining because eating green beans raw gets really old, really fast.

I spent an hour or two yesterday searching for recipes for the next CSA newsletter. I came across the idea of roasting green beans with garlic and oil and salt. "Ugly Green Beans" the website called them. Yum. I'm really looking forward to trying them.

No comments: