nancyjane: well, at least she knew it smelled like COW poop- that City gal!!ha Now pig & chicken poop smell entirely different but 'poop' never- the- less! The manure x the dairies around here smells awful ... those cows do not belong in a dirt enclosure & fed heaven- knows- what from bins... they belong in a green pasture to eat normal 'cow food'-grass! The cow manure x a pasture smells different & when dry & dug in the garden actually smells good & makes me homesick for the 'country'which cracks my husband (city slicker) up! Thanks for all the help everyone!! : I put the cut beans in boiling water for about 2 minutes, drained them & fill the kettle with cold water and ice cubes. I then drained the cooled beans & filled gallon zip-loc bags half full, squeezed the air out & froze them. I did not dry them first so wonder what that will do to the texture when I thaw them? Yes, I like to add onion, garlic & crumbled bacon in them & for me I add some vinegar like the Germans back home did but hubby wants none of that vinegar! It has been a long time since I grew beans so I had forgotten how to freeze them correctly as earlier I later just boiled the beans I froze with out blanching them first before freezing & they were TOUGH when thawed & cooked! I had forgotten how many beans a 10 ft. single row would keep producing! The yellow bush wax beans are not quite ready yet & I do like the too!

Well, you know, we've only had the beans three times so far in the last 10 days or so. We can keep up with them at that pace, but I was just looking ahead in case I do have extras that I can keep till later in the year. I had heard of blanching, but I didn't quite remember. Let's see if I have it right. Throw the beans in boiling water for 1 1/2 minutes, take out and immerse in ice water, dry, and then put them in a ziplock bag. Try to take as much of the air out of the bag (Mary, interesting idea about the straw). Alternatively, I might try 'blanching' them in the microwave and then the rest as above. Is that right? Now I almost hope I have extras just to try this procedure out! Thank-you, everyone. P.S.- Carol, how do you make oven-roasted beans? Anna

I have been growing pole beans for 30 years (10 in California & 20 in Missouri) and this is the first year that I have beautiful plants, lots of flowers and no beans. It was very hot (over 99) for over 15 days, but I've seen hot weather before and still got beans. The plants get regular water (from sprinklers) daily. the weather is back to normal and I am waiting patiently or results. I think maybe the seed (gurney's) is sterile. You just don't know with commercial seed anymore and their genetic engereening. i try to watch this and avoid buying GES. Beans for me usually come in in August with slow start in Late july, here it is middle of Aug and NO sign of even starting to produce. /is anyone else having the same results this summer?

My answer of bacon fond was kind of a tongue in cheek answer because of the thread we had on foods we eat when no one is looking. To cook green beans I much prefer fresh, will use canned and frozen when I must. There really is no comparison to the fresh. I first brown some bacon in a pan until crispy, then remove the bacon and set aside. I deglaze the pan with mostly chicken broth and add a little water and salt. Sometimes I'll crush a few cloves of garlic and add, fishing them out later. Then I add a whole onion to the top of the beans and simmer away. I sometimes fish the onion out when they are finished and sometimes leave it in. When beans are cooked the crispy bacon can be broken up and added to the top of the beans. I love new potatoes cooked in the beans toward the end of cooking time. I don't mean what the grocery stores call new potatoes, but the real thing which you can rarely find.