What you want to do is to allow the beans to ripen on the bush. Below, you can see the ripening black beans on the left side of the photo below. On the right side of the photo you can see sweet potato vines.
Here is an up-close photo of black beans that are ready to pick. The only thing I can tell you to clue you in that they are ready is that the bean pods will be brown and "crinkly" when you touch them. You don't want to harvest before they are dried. On the other hand, if they get close and you get a lot of rain, you run the risk of your beans sprouting in the pod.
I used an old #10 can to walk the rows and pick all the dried pods off the black bean bushes. Then I brought them inside and spread them out on a platter.
They don't look appetizing at all. In fact, they look dry, dead, ugly and inedible.
However, when you crack open the pod to expose what's inside, you can see beautiful, shiny black beans.
Normally, I'd sit outside and shell them. However, this weekend, the humidity was so high, it felt like I was drinking in air instead of breathing it. I opted to sit in the kitchen and make a big mess while I shelled the black beans. I turned on some old country music and sang along with Merle Haggard as I shelled them. I had quite a pile of empty pods when I was done.
I also had a big bowl of black beans, too!
I have a lot of black beans left to pick. Many of the pods were not quite dried. Next weekend, weather permitting, I'll go out and pick some more black beans. I'll be sure to save about 50 of the prettiest beans to use as seed for next year. Speaking of next year, I plan on doing the same thing with Red Kidney Beans so that we can grow our own Red Beans for Red Beans & Rice & Sausage.
No comments:
Post a Comment