green bean respite

I made more soup with green beans today. I am warming up to them, particularly after last Saturday when I was allowed to exchange my green beans for an eggplant. Shhhh. I was told explicitly not to tell the owner- they can't have CSA subscribers just changing up the baskets every week, willy nilly. There is a rhyme and a reason to what is in each basket. I totally get that. And I was so appreciative! I jokingly asked if I could barter the green beans for an eggplant and then without thinking any more about it, I went to buy an eggplant and the man working there sort of whispered to me- {Do you really not want your green beans?} And I said- very excitedly, seeing where this might be going- {No, I really don't want them.} And he weighed the two, compared the weights, asked if I was OK with the eggplant costing less than the green beans (Was I OK with that?!!) Yes! Sure! No problem! He took the bag of beans and I skipped off with my eggplant- vowing to not mention it and to certainly not make a habit of it and wishing him a lovely eggplant-filled day!

Today's soup-
green beans
potatoes
red beans
peas (put in at the last minute when everything was already cooked- nothing like over cooked peas!)
garlic
basil
chicken broth (any kind of broth will do)

Make as you do soup! Delicious! Samuel had two bowls of broth with crackers for dinner.

We have had some amazingly dreamy weather complete with rain and warm air, a real summer rain. I feel very satisfied weather-wise and spent a good bit of the day outside in the garden cleaning out spring plants, helping the beans (not green beans) find a place to climb and planting lots of seeds for the fall and winter (lettuce, mesclun, radish, carrots, kale!, spinach ). Eva came out for a while and used the old dump-the-bag-of-seeds-in-one-place method with the spinach and carrots. It should be fun watching them come up. I marked them this time. Last time I am convinced the seedlings got pulled by accident, which is can what happens when I am too tidy. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, I notice. I also planted a pepper plant I found at the store while buying pickling supplies- so healthy and big I thought he deserved a chance in my garden- and some more flowers for the hummingbirds who are loving the hyssop, by the way.

OK and tonight I am planning on pickling some green beans. We shall see how it goes!



The roses and Jack enjoying the rain.