Texas Spring/Summer Thread

[bindian]

That is a lot of green Jim,, I know what you mean about the row rage,, my peppers and tomatoes are fighting for that open lane I call the walkway.:shocked:. can't they just get along,, they will be sharing the same jar before long..:laughing:

I live 40 miles southwest of Houston and go there twice a year,, all the way to Hobby airport,, Lou

Lou,
If your ever at Hobby on a week day before 7am, wave towards the Southwest hangar. I'll return your wave.:laughing:
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

I hear ya, bindian! I hate crowds AND hate shopping! San Marcos was a nice town, 20 years ago, but I hear it has really changed, and not for the better. Sad, really.

We ate at Alvin Ord's, on campus. Campus life looks like it hasn't changed, just every thing around the campus. Friends of our family have moved there and live 15 minutes NW of town and love it, but not the Outlet Mall.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

Jim,
Your garden looks like Eden.:licking: Guess those miles and miles of water hose are doing their job.:thumbsup: Did I hear someone say your local fire department is missing some fire hoses?:confused2:
hugs, Brandi

 

[jinman]

Have you ever grown the purple green beans?
Ron

Ron, I have not grown purple beans. Do you know the name of that variety? I've grown Bush Blue Lake beans, Kentucky Wonders, and pinto beans. When I was a kid, we grew butter beans, but I have not grown any since then. We do grow purple hull peas from time-to-time. They look a lot like blackeyes, but the hull of the pea turns bright purple when they are mature and ready to pick.

I was in my garden by 6:30 AM this morning and a neighbor came over to help. I filled her buckets with beans, cucumbers, squash, and zucchini. Tomorrow, I'll take her about 5-8 lb of tomatoes. After the garden, I cut my acre yard and my road ROW. I just sat down at 11:10 for my breakfast (brunch) of tomatoes, cantaloupe, and coffee. I have over 50 lb of veggies all packed up to take to my brother. He won't have to worry about buying groceries for a few days.

 

[Lou66]

Lou,
If your ever at Hobby on a week day before 7am, wave towards the Southwest hangar. I'll return your wave.:laughing:
hugs, Brandi

Brandi I always take the 2:30pm non stop to Vegas on Thursday,, and come back on Monday at 11am Vegas time get back at four o'clock Houston time,, but will wave anyway in case you are working over.. Lou

 

[Western]

Jim, if you would just mow every other row!!!:shocked: then you can get the gator around in there again:laughing: Not the beans fault, it's the "highway" manager Looks good though:thumbsup: I'm not sure what I will find when I get back in town ,my
beans me be "pre-cooked"!!

 

[pacerron]

Ron, I have not grown purple beans. Do you know the name of that variety? I've grown Bush Blue Lake beans, Kentucky Wonders, and pinto beans. When I was a kid, we grew butter beans, but I have not grown any since then. We do grow purple hull peas from time-to-time. They look a lot like blackeyes, but the hull of the pea turns bright purple when they are mature and ready to pick.

I was in my garden by 6:30 AM this morning and a neighbor came over to help. I filled her buckets with beans, cucumbers, squash, and zucchini. Tomorrow, I'll take her about 5-8 lb of tomatoes. After the garden, I cut my acre yard and my road ROW. I just sat down at 11:10 for my breakfast (brunch) of tomatoes, cantaloupe, and coffee. I have over 50 lb of veggies all packed up to take to my brother. He won't have to worry about buying groceries for a few days.

Jim,
I'm not sure if you are interested in purple green beans that turn green when you cook them or purple cow peas?
Both are available, but the variety you choose would be better if it were climatized for your region.
We are not into growing shelled beans as such. We like to eat and can the entire bean and hulls. Raw fresh and cooked with Bacon.
Blue Lake Bush beans are what we normally grow up here but they are not purple.
Do you eat your cow peas when they are young, hulls and all, or do you dry them on the vine and hull them?
Ron

 

[jinman]

Ron, when the blackeyed pea's hull turns from green to yellow and leathery, it's time to shell the peas. They are not dry at all. However, not everyone can control the urge to pick only ripe peas and we always have plenty of 'almost ripe' peas picked. Those shell fine too, but aren't nearly as easy to shell as the mature pea pod. We refer to the young peas as "snaps" and many people (including me) like plenty of snaps in with the shelled peas to give them a nice flavor of the young and tender hull along with shelled peas. We rarely let the peas dry. They taste so much better when they are fresh and shelled or frozen after a quick parboil. Purple hull peas are very similar in taste, but they can be much bigger and the "eye" of the pea is not dark black, but brown instead.

 

[Bird]

Lots of personal preference with the blackeyed peas. I had one neighbor who I allowed to pick his own when I had a big garden and he only wanted those that had turned yellow. And one of my brothers and his wife only want the dried ones. And while I'll eat any of them, I actually prefer picking them before the hull turns yellow, and I do like plenty of snaps in mine. And while we buy canned ones, I cannot find any that meet my preferences.

 

[Western]

Lots of personal preference with the blackeyed peas. I had one neighbor who I allowed to pick his own when I had a big garden and he only wanted those that had turned yellow. And one of my brothers and his wife only want the dried ones. And while I'll eat any of them, I actually prefer picking them before the hull turns yellow, and I do like plenty of snaps in mine. And while we buy canned ones, I cannot find any that meet my preferences.

Bird, if you grow a garden again, I'd take some!! let me know when the canned ones are done

I think I will have to grow more beans next year. Jim's, make me jealous, but I wouldn't tell him that. I want to give Lima beans a go, probably my favorite along with peas.

 

[jinman]

Dennis, it's starting to to be way too hot for my beans. I may try to put a shade over them because they are still blooming pretty good. The problem is everything else is coming on strong, and I just don't have time to get to the shade. Maybe I'll squeeze it in between watering the garden and the yard. I'll string some of my extra garden hose up between t-posts to hold the shade cloth.:laughing:

 

[jinman]

And while I'll eat any of them, I actually prefer picking them before the hull turns yellow, and I do like plenty of snaps in mine. And while we buy canned ones, I cannot find any that meet my preferences.

As soon as the hull becomes leathery, they shell really easily. The greener ones seem to have thick hulls and the peas are small. I think once before we discussed snaps, and I said I like to go back and pick snaps after picking shelling peas. That way I know how many snaps I have compared to shelling peas. Have you ever seen canned blackeyes with snaps?

 

[Lou66]

I can remember when I was a child setting around on the front porch,, shelling pea/beans or shaking a quart of spoiled cream..:laughing: .. Now either had its merits,, one would turn yellow and the other would fill a small basket,, But both came with the same result.. Good job Lou

 

[Bird]

As soon as the hull becomes leathery, they shell really easily. The greener ones seem to have thick hulls and the peas are small. I think once before we discussed snaps, and I said I like to go back and pick snaps after picking shelling peas. That way I know how many snaps I have compared to shelling peas. Have you ever seen canned blackeyes with snaps?

Of course you're right, but even though the green ones are a bit harder to shell, I think they're the best tasting. But I never worried about the ratio of snaps to shelled so I just picked them all at the same time. I've looked for blackeyed peas with snaps in hopes of finding younger peas. But we buy Bush's Best Field Peas with Snaps; keep some on hand and they're pretty good; not as good as fresh, but the best canned ones I've found.

 

[Bird]

shaking a quart of spoiled cream.

Lou, I started to school before they had school lunches, so we all carried our lunch, and mine included a pint of milk. Of course we had our own milk cow so my milk was pretty "rich"; i.e., had a bit of cream in it. And since we also had no refrigerator at school for our lunches, occasionally my milk would be soured by lunch time. And when that happened, I'd shake the jar walking home that afternoon and have just a little butter when I got home.:laughing:

 

[farmgirl19]

I think it was a "right of passage" to sit under the big tree in the front yard, with bushel baskets of peas, and shell, for what seemed like hours. Usually had lots of stories to share and jokes to tell, when there was a small group shelling. While I am sure some don't miss it, I think today's kids miss more than just the work, they miss part of life too! I still think of the people that I used to shell peas or snap beans with, whenever I am doing it by myself on the porch! Great memories!

 

[Bird]

I think it was a "right of passage" to sit under the big tree in the front yard, with bushel baskets of peas, and shell

Or shucking corn or peeling little new potatoes for canning. And yep, we did those things outside because we had no air-conditioning.:laughing: I was 19 years old, bought a little house trailer, worked nights, so slept in the daytime, and installed a Fedders window unit air-conditioner in that trailer. That was the first time I lived or slept in a home with air-conditioning.

 

[jinman]

In the early and mid-60s, I remember picking hundreds of bushels of blackeyes and selling them for $2.50 to $2.75 a bushel. Our watermelons sold for $0.50 to $1.00 each and that was good money because picking watermelons was so much easier than picking peas. I used to hate the itch from picking okra, but I loved the money we made selling it. We picked and sold wild blackberries for $1 a gallon and wild plums at 2 gallons for $1. What we couldn't sell by putting an ad in the newspaper classifieds, we'd take to the local Piggly Wiggly and sell to the produce manager. I can never remember having produce that we could not sell. All those prices seem cheap today, but I'd save my money until the Craven's Drygoods Store or Beall's put print cotton shirts on sale for $1 each. I thought I was living good because I had a dozen new shirts.

 

[Bird]

My first money crop was my okra and I only sold it to the local grocery store. Early in the year, I'd get 35 cents a pound and later in the year it would gradually go down to a nickel a pound. And then we had more of the big red plums than we knew what to do with, so I'd take about half a gallon and go door to door to sell the plums. I'd have that half gallon to show and tell customers it was 50 cents a gallon and I'd pick them fresh and deliver them in the morning. I think both of those were easier than picking up the pecans in the Fall to sell, and I can't remember what kind of prices we got for the pecans.

We had a well and a windmill for our water and the well was good enough that you couldn't pump it dry, so we could do all the watering we wanted to.

But my mother made my shirts, except for white ones that were things like birthday gifts to wear to church. I still remember the first time I went to a store and bought a shirt; bought 3 of them when I was 14 or 15 years old to come to Dallas for the Stamps Quartet School of Music.

 

[farmgirl19]

Yes, we sold our peaches, plums and okra to the local store. We'd take a fresh picking every other day. The goods sold well, since was truly fresh, and we got rid of any surplus, without it going to waste. Of course, we filled freezer and pantry by freezing and canning too!