Pickled String Beans

 
 
8/6/98 
At my current jobsite a telephone wire is hanging 
across the exact spot where I need to build the stairs 
and it attaches to the house right where the balcony 
needs to be lagged to the building. The phone 
company was supposed to change it today and there 
is nothing I can do but wait for them. 

Of course I pray for rain, snow and other excuses to 
take the day off. Especially during the harvest 
season. Today was the answer to such a prayer. My 
midweek break began at four-thirty with a cup of 
coffee while standing at the kitchen counter slicing a 
beef roast for another batch of jerky. I hadn't finished 
when the artificial insemination technician knocked 
on the door. He'd brought a bull in a tube for Rosita. 
We're breaking a tradition of Angus for a Hereford 
calf this time. 

After the technician left, I finished up the jerky then 
did my chores. I would have liked to bring up 
another gallon of milk to the cabin for cheesemaking 
but the fridge was full and besides, I had other things 
planned. I just washed out the equipment then went 
to the garden with a basket in each hand, beans were 
ready for canning. 

I filled the canner half-full of water, added seven jars 
to sterilize, and turned on the fire before cleaning the 
green beans and trimming them to fit a pint jar. Any 
that were too short went back in a basket for 
freezing. When they were prepared I took a break 
from that chore to make the pickling juice. Five cups 
of white vinegar, the same of water, and a half cup of 
canning salt. I turned on another fire to bring it to a 
boil. I was beginning to get warm, I opened the back 
door before resuming my food prep with the yellow 
beans. The pots were both boiling, I quickly went 
back to the garden for garlic cloves and dill heads. 
One of each went into the jars before adding a 1/2 
teaspoon of mustard seed and a 1/4 teaspoon of 
crushed red peppers. I packed as many beans as I 
could into the jars then poured the juice over them, 
put on the lids and put them into the canner. I turned 
the fire back on and put a fan in the window. 

While waiting for the water in the canner to boil, I 
put another pot on the stove for blanching the 
remainder of the morning's harvest and cut those 
beans into one inch sections. As luck would have it, 
both pots began to boil at the same time, I dumped 
the cut beans in and punched the timer for five 
minutes, a bit long for blanching but it was a full pot. 
I took the short recess to remove my sweat-stained 
shirt and lable some quart sized ziplocks. 

The clean-up of the morning's mess was barely 
finished when Gin came home from work, one of the 
jars popped to prove a good seal as she set down her 
purse. I kissed her hello and said, "I'm taking a nap."