My first experience with cranberry beans was a failed attempt at a soup (see here) where dried cranberry beans were cooked for an inappropriate amount of time, leading to a texture so unpleasantly undercooked it was like eating unpopped popcorn kernels. The years have passed, but the scars took a while to heal: I wasn’t too eager to cook cranberry beans again. Not even fresh ones. That is until I saw a beautiful mound of them at the farmer’s market and, knowing I was cooking a dinner for Stella two weeks ago, I said: “What the ‘ell!” (I had a British accent.) I bought the beautiful bag of beans you see above.
[The Amateur Gourmet is on vacation and, while he’s gone, he’s asked his friends to cover for him. Our final guest poster is not only a dear friend of Adam’s, but she’s watching his cat while he’s away! Please give a warm welcome to Stella Ragsdale. Stella just got back from spending the summer on a farm in Martha’s Vineyard and the tomato you see in the picture below is a tomato Stella picked herself. (She’s eating a tomato salad that Adam made for her before he left.) Adam will be back tomorrow from his trip–woohoo!–but he thanks Stella and all his guest posters for keeping his blog (and cat) alive while he was gone. Bring us on home, Stella.]
Tomatoes are some of nature’s most luscious fruits. But what goes in to growing them? Blood, sweat, and tears. This is Mighty Tomato reporting in from Martha’s Vineyard. As a Southerner who has been living in New York City for four years now, I found myself longing for the sun on my back and the feel of the dirt under my feet. So I fled the city this summer and came to Morning Glory Farm where I worked for the Athearns.
I am a farm worker. I work in the sun. I work in the hot dirt. If you’ve never been to Martha’s Vineyard, Morning Glory Farm is the premiere farm on the island. Working on a farm is hard work but its also rewarding. And so is the food!
