You know it doesn’t take much to make me happy. This evening, I was sitting out on the porch shelling beans, the outside speakers had satellite radio playing, the chickens were finishing up their evening activities in the orchard and I was able to watch them as I as getting the beans done.
Saturday Evening
The sun was setting and my mind wandered back to shelling beans on my grandma’s porch many years ago.
Shelling Beans
This little guy hadn’t quite finished his evening meal and my shelling beans was interfering with his munching!
Worm in Beans
Here’s a funny story about shelling beans. I think my sister and I learned to shell beans before we learned to walk! Summers were spent at my grandparents and many evenings (and days) we sat out on the porch shelling beans. If friends stopped by and there were beans to shell, everyone grabbed a bowl and the job was done in no time.
There were a couple of times during high school or college days when my sister and I would be getting ready for a date. We’d be all dressed, hair fixed, smelling good. My dad wouldn’t say a word. The boys would arrive to pick us up and my dad would say “no one is leaving til the beans are shelled” and he would hand everyone a bowl. Sometimes we just had to be good sports and shell a few beans and he’d dismiss us to go on our way but there were a few times when we all shelled beans for a long time and our date plans went off in a different direction.
Vince has never helped me shell beans and the other day he offered to help. We were sitting at the table shelling and he said “Some of mine are smashed.” I asked why and he showed me. He was pinching the shell at each bean and squeezing individual beans out of the shell. Oh, my goodness! I said “Have you never shelled beans?” Nope, he had never shelled beans. I never thought about someone having not shelled beans but I’m sure there are plenty of people who haven’t. I gave him a quick lesson . . break the end “tail”, pull the string down, and that kinda “unzips” the pod and you can just pull it apart easily. He couldn’t believe how easy it was. We’re never to old to learn new things.
I’m so happy to spend my Saturday night home on my porch shelling beans from my garden, watching my chickens and listening to my favorite music on the radio. Life is good . . and better now that my husband knows how to shell beans! 🙂
Dottie N. says
Your post is a reminder of my childhood – spent a lot of hours on the front porch at my Grandmother’s shelling peas and when friends came to visit the farm, they were initiated into shelling peas/beans as well.
Last summer, my cousin had us over to pick black-eyed peas and all 4 of us spent the afternoon shelling peas. Good times!
Diana in RR, TX says
Quite often who ever came to the house ended up shelling beans, peas or pitting cherries. It was a given.
Pat says
You mean not everyone sat on the porch during childhood shelling beans and peas. Boy did people miss out on good time. Loved it when I was a kid and older family members and friend would come sit,shell and talk about when they were kids Great memories. Kid don’t know what they are missing with there cell phone stuck in there face.