2 things:

Remember those beans I had in my meager garden this spring? (http://danielaisenbrey.blogspot.com/2011/06/watersundirtfood.html) Well they've run their course, and I was able to collect a handful (metaphorical, not literal) of dried beans/seeds from the pods that I left on the vines to dry out.

Tennessee Cornfield Beans

Clearly not enough to make soup out of, but the Tennessee Cornfield bean is a semi-rare heirloom variety, so I'm glad to have these seeds to trade/plant next year to propagate tasty, non-Monsanto varieties.


In other news, I finally made it out to the Smokies Sunday morning to catch the Fall color before it slips away from me. Unfortunately everyone else was too, rendering the drive back a frustrating ordeal.

I've been wanting to shoot more water-related stuff in the park, so I opted for the Little River Trail, a stone's throw from Elkmont campground. This area was a popular vacationing destination prior to the establishment of the National Park, evidenced by a smattering of abandoned cabins and resort cottages, most of which were built in the 1920's, and some of which had been in use up until the 90's.

Leafy bacon.

I just cooked up the sweet potato greens we harvested from Beardsley before digging up the potatoes themselves.

They tasted like seaweed.

And a little bit like fish.

It was gross.

When the guy at our Farmers & Chefs event cooked them they tasted like leafy bacon...

Guess that's why I'm a farmer and not a chef.

You don't even know what's going on with this picture. Fast Break.

The endless summer.

Peppers! Guess what? They're perennials. Yup, you heard it right. If you protect them from frost, both sweet and hot peppers will grow and produce fruit for years. One local farmer and pepper guru has a 4-5 year old pepper tree that he claims produces as much fruit as 18 first-year plants!

So this winter the Noise Temple will be festooned with Doe Hill Golden Bells, Sweet Chocolate Bells, and some other Bell I don't know the name of. These plants are all coming from Beardsley, where the greenhouse also features a handful of the same. Why pull up and throw away perfectly healthy plants?

I'll try to keep you updated on the peppers's long journey through winter.

"Gentle Jesu, Mary's Son, be thine the wounds that heal our wounding. Press thy bloody scars to ours that thy dear blood may flow in us and cleanse our sin. Be thou in us and we in thee that we and thou may be a woundless one at last."

Reading Godric, by Frederick Buechner. Only 20 pages in and it's gone from ruthlessly snide to devastatingly poignant and back again. Looking forward to the next 150.

"Laugh till you weep. Weep till there's nothing left but to laugh at your weeping. In the end it's all one."

Sneedville camping trip

Tent city, first night.

What is camping without excessive amounts of bacon?

We did not eat fish.

35 degrees is better around a fiery blaze.