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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 11, 2022 20:16:49 GMT -6
Hmoosek,
That's great news! If you got 6 beans past the grasshoppers this year, that's 6 times better than I did over here. I'm with Chrysanthemum in cheering you on, "Hurray, little bean! Keep it up!"
I'm beginning to think I'll need to build a full, screen wire enclosure if I'm to be successful in getting a single bean past all the deer, geese, and grasshoppers around here. Come to think of it, that might not be a bad idea. It wouldn't cost too much to enclose a bean plant or two and would surely be a lot better peace of mind at the end of the season to do that, than to look at a bunch of dead nubs where my beanstalks once stood. (That might make as good a winter project as any.) I'll bet a guy could probably find used screens at a secondhand store somewhere. We have a Habitat for Humanity store around here. Sounds like I need to go check that out sometime.
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Post by hmoosek on Oct 13, 2022 18:34:33 GMT -6
Up to 9 beans saved.
There are still a few small pods on the vines, but they haven’t filled out with beans.
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Post by hmoosek on Oct 14, 2022 17:57:48 GMT -6
I figured I’d better post a picture. They kind of resemble a pinto bean in a way. There’s a couple that are a little larger than the others. I didn’t get what I’d call a good bean pod on any of them. The most in one pod was 3. I think had they been in the ground, the results might had been better, but since I’ve recouped more than I planted, I won’t bellyache about it.
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Post by woodeye on Oct 14, 2022 18:09:44 GMT -6
They look great to me. I'd never take a point off for having similarities to Pinto Beans. I LOVE Pinto beans. You harvested more than you planted, and considering all the factors; weather, critters, insects, and disease, it's fair to say that you have done well...
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Post by chrysanthemum on Oct 14, 2022 19:42:37 GMT -6
Those look really beautiful to me, hmoosek. I think you did a great job. I love pinto beans, too, woodeye, though I love just about all sorts of beans. Pintos are a staple around here, though.
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Post by hmoosek on Oct 14, 2022 20:17:56 GMT -6
Pinto Beans are a staple for us too. I normally buy the. Casserole brand cause the always cook up nice. However when the pandemic hit I bought 2 of the 50 pound bags at Sam’s and threw them in a chest freezer. We have eaten one of those bags, in fact, I finished filling my bean jar with the last of them the other day. We didn’t notice any problems with them at all. Some of the brands in the past have taken longer to cook and some never seemed to get completely soft, but the Sam’s brand didn’t give us any problems. The next time we go, I need to grab another bag.
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Post by rdback on Oct 16, 2022 10:45:36 GMT -6
...Some of the brands in the past have taken longer to cook and some never seemed to get completely soft...
Older dry beans can be hard to get soft. Don't forget the old trick of adding a pinch or two of baking soda to the pot. Works like a charm!
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Oct 19, 2022 19:52:49 GMT -6
I used to cook for our whole crew on the GRDA powerhouse every Friday. Since we were Electricians, we sold copper to buy ourselves an old refrigerator, and a few other things to 'call' a kitchen, but it still had to look like it was a workplace. We had two retired refrigerator semi-truck trailers spaced about 16' feet apart with a temporary roof built between them. That was our office area and part of our warehouse. I had a gang box where I hid the electric coffee pots and a few cooking utensils. I'd boil fresh coffee for the crew everyday but it looked like I was cutting and threading pipe all day long. I wired a 24 hour time clock to a two gang, duplex receptacle and would fill the coffee pots before I went home each day.
At 6:00 am, the time clock would turn on the power and boil our coffee so it would be ready to go before we started to work at 7:00 am each morning. (This was about 1980-85) so Mr. Coffee and built-in timers were not really an affordable thing yet. We just had those old electric percolators. Even though we couldn't afford real coffee makers, we had $300.00, 24 hour timers laying around everywhere, so I just used what I had and made the best of it.
I'd cook something different for the crew every week. On bean days, I'd put 2 pounds of pinto beans into a big Fry Daddy on 400° at 7:00 am and keep stirring and adding water until noon. By lunchtime, on high boil, they'd be cooked down soft with thick juice, just like two-day-old beans usually are. That was a trick that I learned by accident out of necessity.
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Post by hmoosek on Oct 27, 2022 18:05:31 GMT -6
The plant is still blooming and I found another bean. My saved seed is still at 9 seeds, but hopefully will get a few more.
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Post by hmoosek on Nov 2, 2022 21:13:54 GMT -6
Photo Update Still blooming. Sure hope it kicks in to high gear. Total saved seed is still at 9.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Nov 3, 2022 20:27:14 GMT -6
How many vines are in that pot? It sure looks bushy. Quite beautiful.
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Post by hmoosek on Nov 7, 2022 19:16:12 GMT -6
The race is on. Temps will be just above freezing this week at 36. Wouldn't you know they are just beginning to put on pods. chrysanthemum I’ll have to count, but I am thinking 3 or 4.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Nov 7, 2022 22:32:07 GMT -6
It’s looking good, HMooseK. Your comment about the low temperatures made me go check my own weather forecast. We don’t have any thirties for this week, but there it was next week: 36 and other temperatures in the the 30s. We’ll see if that forecast holds.
Will you be able to protect this plant at all if the seeds are not quite ready and it looks like a freeze, or would that have to be the end of it?
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Post by hmoosek on Nov 9, 2022 19:29:20 GMT -6
This plant is going to be tough to bring inside. Maybe i can protect it with a tarp or something.
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Post by chrysanthemum on Nov 9, 2022 19:59:42 GMT -6
I don’t know if you have any large cardboard boxes lying around. We had good success using some big ones during the freeze of 2021 to protect pomegranates. We had three boxes that stayed on and one that blew off. The plant that lost its protection died to the ground, but it did come back from roots. The other plants suffered different amounts of damage, but all were protected by the cardboard box somewhat. The upcoming cold should be less extreme than that week, so if you have a big box or can make one to fit over everything, that might be easier than trying to wrangle a tarp.
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