March is a good time to figure out the garden. It’s too cold and windy to do much else. There are several garden catalogs that arrive in the mail every winter. So much to choose from!

Garden Preparation

Here’s a list of what we like to put in our garden;  summer squash, cucumbers, bay leaf, rosemary, basil, tomato, sweet corn, spinach and eggplant.

Price is one thing to compare. But it’s not the only thing to consider. Going through the process of preparing the garden, planting, hoeing and mulching is a lot of work. If quality of your seed is lacking, it’s a waste of your good work.

Don’t plant outdated garden seed! It just won’t produce. We are always late putting in our garden as the farm crop must be put in the field first. One particular time I realized I hadn’t purchased sweet corn seed from a garden catalog. There was one forlorn bag of sweet corn seed available at the Farm and Fleet store. It produced some of the saddest sweet corn our garden has ever seen. The chickens were happy. We couldn’t eat it. They did.

This episode kind of reminds me of a statement I use to say to my girls when they were in high school. “If you have to step down to step out, don’t step at all!” This was in reference to dating and dances. My girls didn’t choose to go much…

Be careful in choosing boyfriends and garden seed.

Be Blessed!

Randall Bean Bake

Today’s recipe is a Randall Bean Bake. You could choose another brand, but again, don’t step down! This recipe is unlike most bean recipes and was given to me by my daughter’s mother-in-law via her children’s babysitter. Huh? Just take my word. It’s good!

You can serve this any time of year. This Randall Bean Bake goes well with brats, hot dogs, hamburgers; you get it! It will make you think you’re at a summer picnic instead of chattering your teeth in the middle of March. Of course, you can lower the brown sugar and butter without affecting the taste. I do recommend though that you use the best beans you can find.

Randall Bean Bake

Tools You’ll Need:

• Bowl
• Wooden spoon

Ingredients:

• 1 large jar (48 oz) Randall Navy Beans (I use Northern as I can’t find Navy where I live)
• 1 C brown sugar
• 1 ½ t Lawry’s seasoning salt
• 1 t dried thyme
• 1 stick butter, melted
• ½ # bacon, cooked
• 1 large onion, chopped

Throw it all together. Bake 3 hours at 300 degrees. Stir often.

Throw a package of all-beef hot dogs in there too. And don’t buy cheap hot dogs! (Refer to the boyfriend statement above.) Come home after work to goodness!

Baking the beans in the oven is by far the most recommended cooking method. But you could also throw this in a Crock-pot/Instant Pot for 8 hours on low. I prefer a Crock-pot to an Instant Pot, as the Crock-pot cooks more thoroughly.