Harvest-elujah!

Life cycles continue, rolling within each other.
Here I am, becoming my own mother.
I remember those hot summer days, sitting in the shade of our huge front porch,
snapping green beans. Although I am sure I participated in picking the beans, I have been blessed with no memories of it; only sitting, and snapping. Us kids, sitting there chattering and bickering over a lap full of bush beans.
I hated green beans.
I vividly remember sneaking handfuls of green beans off of my dinner plate, and would hold them in my hand under the table, and release them, in a half circle, as if spreading seeds... in hopes that the doberman would eat them. If not, surely no one would ever notice. This was a bullet proof plan, see... being the youngest of five, I realized that kids are messy. There was no way my parents would ever catch on. A few green beans here, a few green beans there. I was also willing to torture myself and swallow couple, of course, only when they were looking. Another brilliant plan involved hauling the green beans to the trash can when no one was looking. Surely, no one would ever catch on to that!! I was always the last one to finish eating. Always. By the time I was done pushing around the cold food on my plate, everyone had gone from the kitchen, except for the unlucky ones on dish duty. Sneaking past the eyes of a sibling, and reaching the trash can took far less guts than sneaking under parental watch.
My Mother and Father weren't today's laid back, easy going, tell you umpteen times kind of parents. They didn't threaten empty promises of "If you do it again... " They were nothing like today's parents. We knew, that if they said NO, they meant NO. We knew, that when Mama says "I'm not asking you again- if you're room isn't clean in 3o minutes, everything that's out of place is going to be burned" (for the record, burning was NOT a sick parenting ritual of sorts, we burned our trash instead of sitting it on the curb...) When this threat was released, we KNEW it was real. Why? Because it had been released, ignored, and the consequences had indeed been paid. No empty promises there.
Looking back, I am not sure how convincing my schemes really were... but I do recall the time my Mother discovered my serving of green beans had made their way to the trash can. She threatened that if I EVER did that again- I would have to eat every single edible thing that was in the trash. This disciplinary incident ended my smuggling of green beans - for good.
~
Now, my family story begins, cycling within that of my parents.
Through the helping hands of family and heirlooms of advice passed down, we have successfully grown our first vegetable garden. Now that I'm all grown up, green beans have become a staple in my diet. Mainly because I've spent the last seven years eating with a man who claims green beans as a favorite vegetable- and also because, well, taste changes- I have recently decided that I like watermelon and carrots. The success of our garden has prompted me to learn a new trade. Canning. My oldest sister Nellie, passed on a few boxes of Mason jars and lids, as well as a pressure canner. After talking around the idea, harvest time has arrived, and the first picking happened while we were away on vacation. Nellie was kind enough to watch over my garden, and she canned the first 15 or so quarts of beans while we were away. We came home to the second picking, and my first time canning. So I stayed up late one night while little Vincent slept, and snapped beans. Through the advice of my Mama, and my sister, I canned two batches of green beans.
Although it took multiple phone calls to both Mama and Nellie- I got the first batch through without any troubles. It was an amazingly easy process, and I did the second batch like a pro.The process of canning has multiple steps, allowing for me to switch between my two new trades: canning and Mothering.

Here I am, becoming my own mother.