‘Tis the season that it’s too cold to be outside to plant or harvest. But with spring peeking its head around the corner, we’re reminiscing about the days that we could spend all day with our raised beds and canning equipment!
The process of canning your own green beans is SO FUN. Especially when you have your own garden to pick your very own green beans from!
Though Darryl lives in a rural community, he uses the same raised beds like a lot of gardeners that live closer to the city–or maybe where the dirt isn’t as gorgeous and gardenable. It’s not hard to build your own raised beds! Check out our downloadable garden planner that is something you can do with the whole family!
(click here to download your guide)
Darryl waters his raised beds with a watering system that he built that pulls water from GIANT tanks on his property that he has collected rainwater in (talk about cool)!
He showed us just how to pick the perfect green bean and even let us get our hands in the dirt with him!
Darryl uses raised beds because kneeling next to your garden to harvest is WAY easier on your back than hovering over a garden planted straight into the ground.
Just look at how gorgeous this harvest was!
Darryl has three beds in his garden that he plants anything he wishes to plant in! Luckily for us, we came at green bean time!
In addition to harvesting on his own property, Darryl to us to see the community raised bed closer to the center of town. This is a place that you can garden with your community and watch the town get more sustainable together!
This was our harvest! Snapping the ends off of fresh green beans is one of the BEST sounds on the planet.
Naturally, cleaning the green beans is a must.
And then, the canning commenced!
The last step was to set the jars of beans in the pressure cooker.
If you ever get a chance to taste a Darryl Birkenfeld green bean DON’T PASS IT UP. They’re the best beans in West Texas, and lucky-you got to see their process!
Share your favorite canned veggies in the Llano Estacado with us as we look forward to next season!
As much as we miss the harvesting season, it’s itching to come back! Stay patient, Locavores. And stay tuned for more from Local Llano.
