Harvest Season - corn and beans

The corn and beans that we planted in the fall were ready to harvest, just in time for Tarryn's visit! After a good 5 or so months of rich volcanic soil, and equatorial rain and sun, the corn was up over 12 ft and the beans were heavy on the stalks of corn. As mentioned before, we planted the beans along with the corn, and the beans climbed up the stalks. After some heavy rains, the beans would drag down some of the stalks, necessitating an early harvest for some beans. As we started harvesting, we would eat the food as it came in, and what we couldn't eat, we would put away for later. It was very interesting to learn how this all worked.

Once the beans were big enough, we would eat them green. These were not the green string beans that we are used to in the US. These beans are what would eventually end up being the hard green or black beans that most Americans eat from a can. We would pick them while they were still green, putting them into soups to add protein and fiber. As we could not keep up with the beans coming on, the excess would eventually get dried out under the hot Ecuadorian sun.  These beans, with the husk dried and crackling, would get picked and put out on a blanket to dry the rest of the way.

Here are the harvesters, with Susana teaching which beans and corn cobs (choclo) are ready.
















Here is Jorie, studiously determining if the cob is ripe enough to pick. You can see the back of the house from this angle, so we are right behind the house. There is no room for grass or lawn, which would take up valuable growing space. Even though the family cannot support itself just on the stuff that they grow, their harvest makes up a crucial portion of their food intake, and a bad harvest would make life difficult.




















Audrey pretty much sums up our excitement at getting to harvest fresh vegetables from behind our house, after planting them and then pretty much just leaving them alone. In Quichinche, there is no irrigating or spraying of fertilizer or pesticides. Just put the seeds in the ground and come back a few months later. Actually, I think Carlos did hoe up some weeds once.
















The corn on the cob comes out big and round, and is a different variety than in the US. The kernels are larger, denser and more starchy than the US sweet corn we are used to. This corn would be boiled for a good 3 hours at least (more than that if its old), to make it nice and soft to eat. Bentz sure liked it.