Fruits of Our Labor

Good things in life take time, and to me, the most satisfying is something I have grown. I know what's in the soil, what's on the plants, how fresh it is.


Every year we plant fava beans, not only do we love to eat them, but they put nitrogen back into the soil, so our tomato crop will be healthier that summer.

The plants grow tall and don't require any care at all really, they are watered by the winter rains. Sometimes you need to go pick snails off them and chuck em against the fence (ha ha!)

Or sometimes they get so tall, you need to stake them up as they will fall over and break. You can even play hide and seek amongst the lush foliage. I went out to the yard on Saturday and picked a basket of beans. They are labor intensive to prepare, but absolutely nothing tastes as good as fresh baby fava beans.

As I picked I kept seeing more and more, I will need to start picking every couple days now. I will take them out of the fleshy pods, then par boil them and then pop the tender insides out of the shells.


It's not too bad really, "the beauties" stopped by and they helped, so did David, it becomes sort of like a coffee clatch, you sit around sipping sparkling wine and shelling favas.


You will find that you eat more vegetables if you grow your own, or buy ones from a farmers market that taste like a vegetable instead of a plastic bag. 


Another thing that takes time but is worth all the effort? Kids. Here is my "kid" Saturday night before he was heading out to the prom. Like favas, he wasn't too demanding, once in a while I had to "straighten him out" but all in all, he was worth the effort, as all good things in life are.