Check out this before & after picture of Hidatsa Shield Figure beans! They really plump when you cook them, and taste great. Hidatsa is the name of the tribe that originally grew these beans, and the dark part of the bean is supposed to resemble they way they painted their shields. I haven't seen any Hidatsa shields, so I can't verify that ;) These beans were recently boarded on Slow Food USA's Ark of Taste. (Be sure to check their site out for all kinds of amazing foods in danger of disappearing.) We've grown Hidatsa beans for 2 years, and will keep them in rotation as a house favorite. Dry beans take up a fair bit of garden space, and take a long time to mature, but it's worth the trouble to find out for yourself just how tasty heirloom beans can be. You can buy your own Hidatsa bean seed here, or check out Local Harvest to see who's growing them near you.
Finally! Paychecks, days off, and end of road restrictions all aligned so we could have a load of gravel delivered. It was a fun day of being local. The gravel came from the pit nearly next door, then we drove 3.5 miles to our local Breckenridge Dairy for milk (check out this picture of the dairy drive-thru during our recent floods), ran into a neighbor who had just seen a friend/coworker/neighbor coming down the Pole Rd. on his tractor to spread the gravel for us. He brought his cute little dog, Roxie, with him, and took some of our homemade goodies back with him. We had to leave for grocery shopping and traded our hard earned cash for more local delights - fresh oysters from Taylor Shellfish farms. We grilled the oysters on the BBQ and ate them with lime wedges, hot sauce & melted butter.
Stewart, doing his lapdog impression. He's going on 3, but still a puppy at heart.
And as usual, Magnus, demonstrating how stressful his life is. ..................................................................................
We also attended a day of classes in assorted farm & livestock management called the Cattlemen's Winterschool. Here's this year's class schedule, so you can get an idea of what is offered. It is a program of the Washington State University extension, and they have an incredible amount of useful information on their website alone, not to mention all the classes and publications available through them. More about our day of agricultural fun later this week!
7 comments:
So you did the Ren Fair thing? Anyways, I like the fotos on your blog. Except now I am hungry...
nova
Yeah, used to dress up like a Celt or Viking or sometimes 13th C French woman. And tell sheep jokes while drinking mead with other geeks. Good times!
-Joanna
You ever read Stirling, the Sci-Fi writer. He loves the SCA people.
My daughter dressed for the Ren Fair for the first time this year. I was kind of disapointed in it. Turning metal head meets goth girls...
Nova
Sharon Astyk was doing a post-apocalyptic book club thread that was enlightening - Casaubon's Book
I've read Dies the Fire once. I liked it a lot for a dystopian novel. Some of the more "new-agey" ones aren't as realistic about violence and aggression.
The ren faire thing works in stages. The younger a female is, the more likely chain mail or rabbit fur will be involved. If you stick it out long enough to get authentic, it gets classier.
I did the whole barbarian warrior thing before I knew any better....Now I know the difference between z-twist and s-twist yarns, twill vs. herringbone. Terribly geeky fun.
Are yo uin our area Nova?
Thanks for the link to that LocalHarvest site!
I've never heard of those beans. They do look good tho. Stewart looks like a big baby. So cute.
No, I am in No. Virginia.
Nova
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