Fin de Bagnols

Bagnols is a sweet little town in the heart of the Beaujolais grape growing and wine producting region of France, and I can't imagine a finer place to enjoy those delicious, sweet and tender green beans the French are famous for. But preferring to avoid airplanes, we now grow our own Fin de Bagnols from heirloom seed.

We don't know exactly why these beans were named Fin de Bagnols. It's a delicious little enigma since, in French, the word "fin" has about 50 different meanings.  It could mean "the end of the town of Bagnols," although the town still exists.  Or perhaps "at the edge of the town of Bagnols." Or "fin" could be taken to mean "thin, slender, or very fine."  Pas de quoi.  They're French beans and that's all we are ever likely to know.

Fin de Bagnols - delicious French beans

But wait!  Green beens were first domesticated in Peru, close to 10,000 years ago, as far as we know. Columbus introduced them to Europe, and varieties still grown around the Mediterranean are from the same bean stock he brought back from the Americas.  But leave it to the French to take a rather ordinary food and create a signature delicacy.

We had our first taste of these beans last night, alongside a serving of cheesy, garlicky red potatoes (also from the garden) and Bruce's soon-to-be-famous orange-sage pork chops.

And for dessert, Bumbleberry Gallette, another Bufflehead Pond specialty, composed of everything left over in the freezer from last year's pickings, including strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, rhubarb, and an apple thrown in for good measure.  To die for, trust me.

A Raspberry Tease

Proclaiming our independence from our Trader Joe's addiction (the best frozen peas, edamame and French beans available), this year we have a couple experimental patches of soybeans.  If we can grow them, we can freeze them, and we can enjoy them all year.  This week the soybeans are starting to produce tiny baby bean pods, which I can't wait to steam, lightly salt and then devour like some wild ravenous animal.  Bruce will have to put newspapers down.

Look closely for fuzzy soybean pods forming!

We haven't had any rain for at least two months, and watering the garden is now the biggest daily time-suck on the farm, but I love being out there, inspecting and talking to all my plants, asking them what they need, when are they going to be ready for us, and are there any volunteers today?  They know they would never have had a life at all if it weren't for me, and their little lives have been very good indeed. "Hey, Mom!  Pick me!  Pick ME!!!"

And so it goes at Bufflehead Pond Farm, where the woman is blond and gorgeous, the man is tall and handsome, and the vegetables are all above average...

:D