The Last of Our String Beans, and Canning Limas:

Good morning, and how are you all today? We hope all is well for each and every one of you, and welcome back!

First off this morning, it was brought to my attention by a reader of our column about bread and butter pickles. I had listed 5 cups of sugar twice. This was in the ingredients section of the recipe. This was an error on my part…you only use 5 cups, sorry for any confusion.

I guess you could use ten cups of sugar, but I imagine that they’d have to be called…”Really SWEET Bread and Butter Pickles!” LOL!

The Last of Our String Beans, and Canning Limas:

Well, ole’ Deb and I had contemplated going back to the ranch this week, as her next appointment is this coming Monday. At this time we should find out the type of treatment she’ll be given.

With this in mind, we were going to go back to the ranch for another small getaway, because we’re not sure exactly what these next few weeks will bring. Also we were kinda’ hoping that the bucks might start showing up in velvet, but it still might be a little early for that.
What stopped us from heading down there was…the garden. Man alive, it is turning out some vegetables now! We worked our tails off out there yesterday!

I started picking butter beans (limas) about 8:00 in the morning, and Deb joined me about 8:30. Dale got in the garden to help us at 9:00, and then Red messed up big time! He showed up with Corey, a boy that works with him, about 9:30.

They had been to check on a job, were close, so they decided to run in where Red could see his Mama. Well, he got to see her…every time he stood up to straighten out his back a minute, because bending over and picking them beans would “stove his back up.”

Deb stayed with us until about 10:00, then she went to start snappin’ green beans for me to can. Dale and I had finished picking them yesterday.

After we picked them, we went back, pulled the bushes up, stripped the leaves and dropped them right back where we’d pulled them. We took the stalks and roots to the cows and let them eat these. We also pulled up our cucumber plants and fed them to the cows too.
We picked 3-1/2 five gallon buckets of Ford Hook limas. We started in the Henderson limas, and picked 2-1/2 five gallon buckets of these. We then picked the speckled butter beans and got ¾ of a five gallon bucket of these as well.

We only had two piece of rows of this type as this was all the seeds I’d put up from last year’s garden.

We picked beans until 12:30 before we finished them up. I started watering the garden immediately after picking them, as first of all it’s really, really dry at the moment, plus I like to give the garden a drink after picking things such as beans and peas. This I do mainly, just to rejuvenate the plants.

Guess what Deb and I did late yesterday afternoon, until about 10:20 last night? You give up yet? We shelled beans, and canned the 5 quarts of string beans we had from the last picking, and got 7 quarts of the Ford Hooks canned too.

If you remember, we canned 42 quarts of string beans from our first picking, and ate about 3 messes from them as well. So from 2-1/2 rows of string beans 100’ long, we’ve eaten three messes, and canned 47 quarts.

I thought this was a pretty decent yield. Plus, “those mother’s” will be tasting good during the winter months when we won’t have any!
While ole’ Deb was in bed this morning, and the thought of even “turning over” hadn’t entered her mind, I canned another 7 quarts of the Ford Hooks. That’s 14 so far, and I’m guessing there’s another 3-4, but we’ll cook those for supper tonight and eat the rest over the next couple days.

I started shelling the Henderson’s this morning while the others were in the pressure cooker, so I’ve gotten a little jump on them too.
Deb and Dale have gone to Tractor Supply to pick up another couple cases of jars, and then she has to run by the grocery store on the way back home. I let Dale make these runs with her for me, to give her a hand, plus she’s picking up some scratch feed for the turkeys, and some mineral for the cows.

Since her biopsy last week, I don’t let her lift a lot if I’ve got somebody to send with her. If not, then I go. About the only thing I’ll allow her to lift that’s pretty heavy, is…a cast iron skillet full of cornbread! Sometimes they gotta’ do, what they gotta’ do!

In regards to canning lima beans, it’s simple, as is canning in general…just pay attention to what’s going on, while canning.

For example, DON’T try to take the lid off your pressure cooker, UNTIL the stem has fell back down into the lid! This can save you the possibility of the lid blowing off under pressure, and maybe hurting you or a member of your family, plus some ceiling damage to your home!

This seems simply good common sense, but you’d be amazed I’m sure at the number of times this has actually happened!

Also, use a thick cloth, or jar tongs to take your jars out of the pressure cooker! These jars are very, very hot when taken out. You know what still amazes me about this part of the process…is actually how hot these jars are!

I still go back from time to time and look at them after taking them from the pot. For several minutes they are boiling and cooking. Don’t ask me why, but this does hold my attention, I think mainly this is so, because it intrigues me that the jars are so well made to stand up under such heat!

To can fresh limas, this is all there is to it.

Scald or sterilize your jars, I use quarts on the Ford Hooks, and pints for the Hendersons and the Speckled Butter Beans. This is only because the last two are smaller beans, and a pint per meal is plenty for Deb and I.

Have your lids in a pot of hot water, again don’t boil your lids as you might compromise your seal.

I have my pressure cooker water heating, and I bring another pot of water to almost a boil, then turn the burner off. I then put my limas in this hot water for a minute or two, then start filling my jars with beans.

I fill the jar halfway, **then add ½ a slice of bacon for a little bit of seasoning, then finish filling the jar with beans. I fill all my jars, our cooker holds 7 quarts, then I add a teaspoon of salt to each jar. I then fill the jars with the hot water the beans were in, wipe the rims, then put the lids on.

**Kunoichi, you asked about this one time, and I most always add bacon to the vegetables I’m canning. If I don’t, then that means I’m out of bacon. LOL! This is just for flavor, and I always figured that if we put them in beans in the pot, why not beans being canned? It’s just how I do it.

Bacon drippings are good for most anything you’re cooking in my book, and people who don’t use it for seasoning greens, or most any peas and beans are missing out on a good addition.

Okay, after you fill your jar, be sure to leave a one inch headspace in the jar.

By now the water is boiling in the pressure cooker, and I add the jars. You then put the lid on, and wait till steam is flowing from the spout where the jiggler sits. Once this takes place, I put on the jiggler, and wait for it to start…jiggling!

This whole time I have the burner on high the pressure cooker is on. Once it starts jiggling real good, then I turn the heat down to about 4-4-1/2 and cook for 50 minutes.

Take them off the burner, let the stem drop, maybe 30-40 minutes later, then take off the lid, and take the processed beans out. You’re done!

Well, I hope this may have helped you guys out some today, and possibly get a few people involved in canning your own vegetables.
Thank you all for stopping by to visit with us once more, and as Deb likes to say…”Keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!”

God Bless.
Dub and Deb

Here’s a few pictures of the beans to be shelled, and then the finished product. All these we’ve done the last couple days…

Hendersons are nearest, Ford Hooks in back, and the Speckled are in a bucket

7 Quarts of Tomatoes

6 Pints Speckled Butter Beans (That’s all we had till next picking)

18 Pints Henderson Limas

16 Quarts Ford Hook Limas (A bigger bean than the Henderson variety)