Heirloom beans Anticipating Fall September 4, 2015

 Today I am linking with-

Good Fences hosted by Theresa

Orange You Glad It's Friday hosted by Maria

Floral Friday Fotos hosted by Nick V.

Today's Flowers hosted by Denise

Saturday's Critters hosted by Eileen

Macro Monday 2 hosted by Gemma and Mystical Magical Teacher

I Heart Macro hosted by Laura

In a Vase on Monday hosted by Cathy

The weather cooled down markedly here and we have had some rain.  A feeling of the approach of fall is in the air.   One daily activity is picking beans and checking for brown pods, since once the bean pod loses its waxy green waterproof covering it can mold in the rain.   My Bean Fence-

Here are some of my heirloom beans, they were handed down by farming families in the E USA for more than 100 years, or by Native American tribes, and perpetuated by enthusiasts.  These are regular beans, Phaseolus vulgaris, a few heirloom varieties are Grandma Robert's Purple Pole, Tennessee Cutshort, Zelma Zesta, and Yer Fasulyasi-

And here are some picked when the pods are still green but the beans are fat, known as "Shellies" which cook fast not having been dried-

The pink and purple ones are runner beans, Phaseolus coccineus.  They can be perennial in tropical climates, or come back from the roots in spring in some warmer zones.  They differ from regular beans in needing insect pollination, and they leave the seed leaves in the ground when they sprout.  The beans shown have red flowers as well, which hummingbirds love.   Runner beans have been developed for  many varieties in England, but not many are available in the USA.  I obtained some heirloom ones, named Insuk's Wang Kong, from a Gardenweb friend, beans from Korea named after his wife.  They excel in ability to set beans in hot weather.  I also have some English varieties that make much longer beans.  The pods can get rather fibrous unless picked before the beans have fattened, or I leave them to fatten and make shellies, or let the pods dry and and they make wonderful very large meaty soup beans.  There are also several white-seeded (and flowered) varieties that seem a little milder in soup, once you have tasted them you may become addicted, rather like large fat Lima beans I ate in the South USA.

Another current harvesting chore is Aronia berries.  Aronia is a dream to harvest, the berries all ripen at the same time, and hang from a single stem easily snapped off, so much easier than blueberries, where ripe berries must be picked carefully so the green ones are not disturbed.  While blueberries are touted as a healthy berry, they have an ORAC value (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity), derived from the oxidative properties of their pigments, of 4633 units, here.  But Aronia has the highest value of any native North American fruit, (listed as Chokecherries in that website) 15,820 units, and while seemingly lower than Acai on some charts, raw fruit is being compared with powdered (concentrated) Acai.  There are numerous websites about the extensive health benefits of Aronia.  They are super easy to grow, and bushes range from dwarf to tall.  Mine are Viking, 9' / 3m tall.   I have to protect them from the deer with a welded wire fence, and try to pick them in fall before the birds come and strip the branches.

Aronia berries-

The double Gaillardias are still blooming, though the plants are small and weak-

Another Alstroemeria from the fair-

 My entry for In a Vase on Monday this week uses another of the pinched vases I made during my pottery phase, from slab, and the seam is decorated with a piecrust ripple.  For flowers I used the irrepressible Betty Boop rose, which usually blooms continually, and a sprig of tropical milkweed, Asclepias curassavica.  To go with the hot colors I used foliage with mostly yellow variegation- bamboo Sasa Masa, Sasa masamuneana albostriata; Zebra grass, Miscanthus sinensis 'Zebrinus'; Variegated Jasmine, Jasminum officinale 'Aureovariegatum'; Elaeagnus x ebbingei 'Gilt Edge'; and Vinca major 'Wojo's Gem'.

Close-up of the flowers-

Edges-

Back of vase, with flowers rotated to back-

and decked up in a pendant made from a Mt. St. Helens glass ball fragment-

Pendant made from broken piece of Mt St. Helen's ash glass ball, I smoothed the edges and used a stained glass technique called copper foiling.

Critter of the week is this moth, perhaps Noctua pronuba, the Large Yellow Underwing, whose caterpillar would feed on various wild and cultivated plants and could be a pest caterpillar.

Being a gardener, my way of celebrating fall is heavily involved in harvesting vegetables and fruits.  Rain and cold weather also give me a break from gardening and I can get involved in sewing projects, perhaps this year I will even try some quilting I have been putting off.   What do you do to celebrate Fall?     -Hannah

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