Legumes For Self-Sufficiency

If you were having to grow enough to feed yourself then I think one of the most important crops would be legumes. There are certainly others that are just as important, but these would be pretty high up the list.

Start them young - few jobs make me happier than sowing beans with little people!

Basically you can always find either peas or beans that will grow well in your climate and location. Some are better for drought, some over winter providing cover, some crop early, some are great in pots and containers, some good for storage, some good for fresh use, etc.

They are also a plant that provides a reliable and predictable harvest. Very important when working out the quantities that you'd need to feed you and your family. They also require less in the way of inputs than some other crops.

Preserving Runner Bean - Salting

More experiments with preserving due to a too full freezer. This time it's the runner beans that are having a go.

Mum always says never to bother salting runner beans as they taste bloody horrible. Well never one to be scared away from an idea I thought I might as well give it a go as they were going to go to waste otherwise. 

It's fairly simple to do according to the books. Just cut your beans up and fill a jar with them. Every couple of inches of beans (50mm) add half an inch of salt (12mm) pressing them down as you go. 

They then produce they're own brine that they sit in and the level of beans in the jar seems to go down after a few hours as the moisture gets drawn out of them. When the level had dropped I then added more beans to top it up.

We will try these in a few months time. I've been told not to leave them to soak for too long when we're trying to get the slat off as it will make them tough. I'm sure it will take a few attempts to get it right - I'll keep you posted on how we get on with it!

Anyone else preserve veg by salting it?