Beans and the Bee Festival

Have I mentioned how tickled I am to be getting green beans from the garden...and these are not just any old green beans, these are half runners, mama's favorite.

Why, I can't grow, pick, cook, can, or eat green beans without a flood of sweet memories of mama.

Picking the beans, I can just hear mama saying, "try not to tear the vines all to pieces, and watch out for old snakes".

Cooking the beans had to be in her old pressure cooker, seasoned with fatback. Mama knew exactly how much grease and salt to add and exactly how long to cook the beans to make them delicious.

and canning green beans, I remember watching her carefully inserting a case knife blade down each side of the packed jars to get the air bubbles out then adding the one teaspoon of salt to each jar. Mama did everything carefully and precise. I tend to get in a hurry with everything. Everything!

and eating the green beans! Meals were so good back then. Usually if there was a bowl of green beans on the table, there was also new potatoes that had been cooked on top of the beans, fried chicken, fried okra, sliced tomatoes, and crispy fried cornbread patties,  and a pie for dessert. There's just something about the smell of green beans cooking on the stove and okra being fried that makes me happy.

Oh, and I did can a measly four quarts of beans yesterday. Shelby has already canned a shelf full of green beans, and probably has a couple of big cream cheese pound cakes sitting on the counter. :(

so here's what I've got to show for my hard work yesterday.

Well enough about green beans. My plan was to tell you about the Bee Festival last Saturday...

It was really fun. Shelby's jams and jellies were a big hit! Big hit! There she is, doing some kind of figuring. :) and to think, she had cases of each of the different flavors you see displayed there on the table.

I did pretty good too. Got a little spending money in my pocket which, by the way, is burning a hole. 

Next time I buy a tent, it is going to be pink. I like that pink one. It would make my aprons look prettier. My set up doesn't look all that pretty. 

Aren't these three cute. The young people there were extra nice and friendly.

and this young lady with the rings in her nose strolled by with her parents... 

I was totally shocked when she bought a bonnet and she actually wore it. She was very sweet. Later they came back and her mother bought a bonnet.

and there was a big bee that stopped buzzing around long enough for a picture.

I hung a few aprons on the wall across from our tables. Behind that wall were animals. Well, not many showed up with their animals but there were a couple of goats and a chicken for the customers to see. 

That's about it. My pictures aren't great but it gives you some idea how big this place is. It was a fine day, oh! the weather! It rained early morning on the drive there and while we were unloading our vehicles, but faired up and the rest of the day was fine. I've never noticed before how funny "faired up" sounds, but I've heard that all my life. 

Anyhow, better get busy. Poppy gets off work in 45 minutes. I've been out mowing in the hot sticky weather so you can probably imagine how I look. 

Thank you for visiting.

Love,
Henny