Bean Harvest Sutra Two: Drying Winter Food
1. A light, gentle squeeze of the dry, pale yellow pods in the garden will create a quiet crackling sound. Not too hard..
2. Cut shrub leaving roots in the soil. (See Bean Harvest Sutra One)
3. Loop cotton or hemp string around the bottom of a bundle of cut shrubs.
4. Find your best warm, dry room indoors with filtered sunlight and good air flow. (Yes, this might even be your bedroom.) Hang the bundles from the ceiling to dry.
5. Each day take a quiet moment to check the pods. Reconnect with Great Grandma’s autumn knowledge. You will feel a slight sense of moisture for a few days. Soon the crackling will be most definitely dry.
6. Carefully remove the dry pods from the shrub. Too much pull will pop them open and you will have to fight the cat for the flying beans!
7. Now, with a Mason jar ready, pop the pods and strip out the beans. Cover the Mason jar with burlap or other open-weave natural cloth to keep air flow.
8. Take dried leaves, shrubs, and empty pods back to the bean bed and lay them out to cover the soil for winter. Even in death, they carry residual nitrogen and will add organic material and microbe food to the bed.
9. Take “beans” off your shopping list.
8. Sit quietly with your morning tea or coffee and find new bean recipes for winter…and feel the joy of working with the plant to restore the soil, provide healthy plant protein and create amazing food for cold days to come.
Next: Bean Harvest Sutra Three: The Kitchen Stove…
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The Refuge Permaculture Center 