bits and bobs: A random assortment of things; small remaining pieces and things
PSA: Clean out your dryer vents.
Speaking of clogged vents… Has anyone tried this?
My Mother In Law sent me a gift card to Amazon for my birthday and I blew spent $50 of it on 6 bars of Scharffen Berger 70% Bittersweet Dark Chocolate.
I think I may have mentioned that I’m not a big YouTube person {on any given year I probably watch a whopping 30 minutes in total of videos} but the one channel I do like to check every now and then is Einfache Rezepte.
She has the most wonderful cooking videos and the best part is she doesn’t talk which to me makes the videos very calming and a joy to watch.
Anyway, I fell in love with the video of her making the Original Sacher-Torte and decided I needed to make one. And now I have the chocolate to make one {and then some!}.
Location Location Location
I’m currently in love with Morely’s Cottage. It’s just 2 doors up from Mrs. Tishell’s Pharmacy. You can have a look HERE.
And last but not least… I thought I was done buying seeds for the year but then I came across these Black Knight Runner Beans and may have to rethink that plan. At $4.50 a packet for only 15 seeds they seem like a bit of an investment.
Have you grown runner beans before? If so, how did they do? Were they worth the space needed to grow them? I’d love to know.
Well, that’s all I’ve got. Have a great day everyone,
Peace Out.
~Mavis
Linda from upstate NY says
I’ve never grown the type you’re talking about but grow two cattle panel arches of Lazy Housewife. I plant three plants per side for a total of 12 bean plants. From those 12 plants, in a good weather season, I harvest 1+ gallon of dried beans after I’ve canned 16 pints of green beans.
I stuff the dried lint in empty toilet paper tubes , place them in a container with an inch of kerosene and use for fire starters in the woodstove.
Donna says
We don’t do the kerosene part, but we stuff paper tubes full of lint for our firepit. 🙂
Karen says
We don’t have a dryer.
Mary says
I save dryer lint in toilet paper tubes for the fire pit too!!
Tiffany F says
Same here!
Rosemary Calhoun says
Re: Bacon grease
I have not seen it packaged like that. I do save the grease from when I make bacon (and store it in the refrigerator). When I make cabbage or collards, I add the bacon grease which gives it a great flavor. My grandmother always saved the bacon grease and I guess that’s why I have always done it.
Mavis Butterfield says
I save mine too! It does make me wonder though what the store bought stuff tastes like.
Brianna says
Costco sold huge tubs of the bacon grease last year. It made me wonder how they incorporated it into a sample to get members to buy it. I haven’t seen it back.
Tiffany F says
I also save it and keep it in the frig. I use it to saute my onions for baked beans or potato soup.
Mel says
I haven’t grown that variety, but I grew runner beans before. They did well, and the hummingbirds liked the flowers. I accidentally ripped them out at the end of the season because I didn’t realize they are actually perennial, which might explain the price if that variety is as well.
Mavis Butterfield says
I had no idea they were perennial! Thanks Mel.
Kathy says
Why buy rendered bacon fat when you can make your own? It’s not hard to do and worth it if you want that nice flavor when sauteing vegetables and those crisp bits to garnish salads, soup and the one I adore, eggs.
As for growing runner beans, not a fan but love the flavor . The putting in pole or trellis for them to climb can be tedious. Used to harvest when small, they just taste better. We would snap the ends off then remove the string and cut into small pieces; toss in salted, boiling water until al dente. What wasn’t used in soup, chicken stew, sauted in rendered bacon fat (tastes great!) or a salad we vacuum sealed and froze.
Lana says
Why buy bacon grease when you can just save it in a jar in the fridge. It is wonderful flavor for so many foods.
Jeanine says
I use the drier lint to make fire starters with cardboard egg cartons and leftover candle wax.
Karen says
I use my leftover candle wax, too. Nothing goes to waste!
Kimberly says
Buy the seeds. $4.50 isn’t much of an investment if it makes you happy to try them. That’s less than a pastry at a bakery, or a coffee at a coffeeshop. Someday you might lack the physical strength to garden as much or at all. Enjoy it while you can. Just my two cents.
Karen says
Exactly, and it is easy to save more seeds to plant next year.
Sue S. says
Sounds good to me and I agree especially now because I AM older and don’t have the energy to garden except in container pots. I’d rather be HOOKING. And I don’t buy regular bacon anymore now that I too have a new kitchen
Too much generated grease. I prefer to use the precooked stuff and it tastes just the same. Buy the seeds and do the cost-benefit analysis after harvest.
Elise in the SF Bay Area says
I read that runner beans can be perennial, but not in very cold climates, so maybe for you? But you now have me DEFINITELY thinking about these! We grew some purple string beans and were so disappointed when they turned green when steamed!!
Angelia says
I bought runner beans and if you have them in a container garden or above ground planter you can have them as a perennial. I have three versions and I am hoping to make the perennial. I am transitioning to more of a perenNial garden. I have mushrooms, multiplier onions both green style and bulbs, garlic,beans,herbs,rhubarb,berries,leeks,and elephant garlic, and a few more that I have installed. It will make things easier in the years to come. It is exciting to see what you will grow in your big garden plot. If I had the space I would grow artichokes, they are beautiful…I love the gardens beauty. Last year I convinced the husband to buy above ground planters for the front yard and this weekend we install the last ones. It has added 60 feet of planting..I am so giddy with excitement!
Vy says
We just this last week took our dryer apart and were shocked and horrified by how much link was all up inside it and all around the guts … including a pile of ask around the heat mechanism. And we clean our vents regularly too! There’s a reason dryer fires are a trope 🙁
Vy says
Pile of ash! Not ask 🙂
Ashley Bananas says
I tried to be motivated and save my dryer lint years ago but since we never have fires it just seems like a weird type of hoarding…. I’ve seen bacon grease at stores and advertised lately. I would have to do an analysis but imagine it’s cheaper than butter for quantity cost and maybe that’s attractive to some buyers. I also cook bacon less than I used to because of price, so we dont have any bacon fat in the fridge.
Lien backwards says
Runner beans are great and widely grown here in the UK and can produce a heavy crop but Berlotti beans are even better and look beautiful. They have read/cream pods and beans and hail from Italy. When they are young you use just as would runner beans but if you let them keep growing you can use as dried beans. An alternative to runners are climbing French beans with thinner pods as the shorter varieties.