Pea Pods and Butter Beans

Sunday’s garden challenge was clearing off a neglected plot for a fall planting of spinach, lettuce and butter beans. Butterbeans are baby version of limas before they mature into fat, tasteless, white. dry, older versions of themselves.  Butter beans are succulent and sweet and mixed with corn (which one really must do- in Virginia they call this butter bean-corn concoction succotash) rival the finest dish in the ritziest restaurant. It should be noted approximately 50 pods of butter beans will only yield maybe a half cup (if you’re really lucky) of these little jewels. Necessitating the invention of the aforementioned succotash.

The clearing off went well and I successfully battled mosquitoes and gnats by coating myself in Picardian bug spray. Why do mosquitoes find me so tasty? It is indeed a mystery.  Planting commenced Monday according to the Witch’s Daybook which coincides with The Farmers Almanac. Must be the advent of the Full Moon which encourages little seeds to seedlings to succulent butter beans….