Green Beans are indigenous to Central America and the Andean regions of South America. Bean seeds from archaeological sites in Peru and Mexico have been radiocarbon dated to 3000 B.C. and 5000 B.C., respectively. Long before the arrival of the Europeans to North America, the bean had established itself as a staple in the native American diet, along with corn and squash. After having already spread to Asia and Africa through various trade routes, the bean came to Europe for cultivation in the 16th century.
Nutritionally, the fresh green bean is not as exceedingly high in protein as the mature, dry shell bean. However, generous amounts of vitamins A, B1, B2, calcium, and potassium characterize the green beans’s addition to the summer’s wealth of health.
Beans are easily frozen for long term storage. Blanch in boiling water for two minutes, rinse in cold water to stop cooking process, drain, and pack into an airtight container such as a zip-lock freezer bag.

Silverskin Garlic is sort of a common catch all name for this kind of garlic with a soft neck and silvery white skin. The name describes a lot of separate garlics that are thought to be silverskin types. This is our longest keeping garlic, because each clove is so well wrapped. But these are not your storage bulbs, as they are not yet cured. They need to hang and dry up a bit more before they are ready to store for winter. So enjoy these this week.
Softneck Garlics are the most commonly grown garlics in the world, and Garlic ranks as the second most important crop in the world, second only to onions. I don’t know who ranks them or how, but I bet it has something to do with pounds.

Remember all that kitty cat love story I was telling last week? I think that I was tempting fate, or calling the great spirit of kitty cat or something because a few nights ago some kittens appeared at the farm. We suspect a dumping as they are sort of biggish for kittens, they didn’t just get born here for sure. We think that there are between four and six new kittens and we think that we are going to be taking them all to the vet to get fixed up to be barn cats. They already seem to be making themselves at home out there, and we have plenty of critters for them to eat. I’m looking into claiming kitten expenses on my taxes as pest control. If you need a sweet new kitten for a pet at your house we could probably part with a few. We don’t really need or want new pets, but will tolerate the kind who will earn their keep.