Is it Worth It?

Before we raised our own meat, we ate so many beans!  Those and eggs were our biggest source of protein.  The last year has been "dreamland" for my guys as we have abundant meat in the freezer.  

I have always wanted to grow my own dried beans...because many said I couldn't!!

WRONG!!

Growing them was really easy!  I (well, Gemma) simply planted them and left them to do their thing.  Once they dried on the vine, we picked them and hervested  the already dried beans inside.

After letting them sit on the counter for two weeks to ensure they were completely dried, I had to decide whether to store them dried or can them.  Knowing how much quicker canned beans can be made into a meal, I decided NOT to pretend I will be more prepared for future meals than I usually am and decided to can them.

As you might guess, I've never done this before.  As you might also guess, it was somewhat of a fail.

The first step was easy:  rinse, sort and soak overnight in warm water.

The next step was also easy:  replace the soaking water with fresh water and put on the stove to boil.  So far, so good.

Here begins the problem.....

I decided to undertake this project on a Sunday morning at 6:30. It took MUCH longer to get it to boil than I thought. 

Once it boiled, I still had to pack the beans in the jars, seal the lids, place in my canner, seal the canner and go through all the steps to pressure can.  

Well....It was about 7:30 a.m. when I realized I was not going to be able to finish what I started AND get to my favorite kickboxing class at 8:00 a.m.

You know I'm a problem solver:

"Mary Kate, you HAVE to get out of bed. I need your help on the kitchen."

"How important is it?"

"SUPER important".

Wow!  She disagreed that my kickboxing habit was more important than her sleep early on a Sunday morning.  

#crabbyteenager

She dug in & I left with a parting....

 "Have fun.  See you at church."

Well...she didn't have enough time to finish the pressure canning before church either and it's not anything that can be interrupted once started.  She tossed the job to her sister, Gemma.

Three important inserts:

1.  Gemma had already been to church.

2.  Gemma has NEVER used the canner.

3.  Gemma doesn't pay much attention to instructions.

When we returned from church, at 11:00, the beans were still processing.  They were due to be turned off at 9:45.  

"Gemma, why are these still cooking?"

"I don't know.  I guess nobody shut them off."

"Wasn't that your job?"

"No.  Oh....wait a minute.  Mary Kate set the timer before she left and told me to shut that off when the timer beeped.  I thought she meant shut the timer off."

"So you thought Mary Kate would simply set a timer to have you shut the timer off?????"

"Yeah, I thought that was weird, but most things you guys do around here are weird."

That's how I ended up with mostly a refried bean product on my hands.  

Eighteen jars of it.