Thirty Days of Happiness: Day 29

from the field to the market, a rainbow of colors, unimaginably fresh and delicious...

Happiness is summer time grocery shopping!

Each spring the Texas hill country is a sight to behold, ablaze with Indian Blankets, Indian Paintbrush and, of course, Bluebonnets. As a matter of fact, the site is so breathtakingly beautiful, there is an 800 number you can call to find out on which dates you can expect a more spectacular show.

In Praise of Butter Beans

If you were to stop by a true southerners home at mealtime this time of year, chances are great that you would find lima beans, better known to us as 'butter beans', gracing the table. Along with the 'butter beans' there's usually fresh sliced tomatoes (or maybe fried green tomatoes), yellow squash, sliced cucumbers, cantaloupe, fried eggplant, corn on the cob, fried okra, cornbread made from scratch with real butter and, of course, sweet iced tea. 'Round here, meat or fish is optional in the summer and even the greatest carnivores can attest to the fact that it just ain't necessary when all the wonderful summer garden vegetables are abundant.

Some folks, believe it or not, have been known to turn their noses up at lima beans. Maybe it's because they fall under the 'green category,' I don't know. But, you owe it to yourself to sample these delectable little morsels before making such a hasty decision.

The best lima beans, hands down, are those fresh from the garden to the table, and in some parts of the south-- especially Texas--they're plentiful now. But, if you aren't blessed by having a garden (or a wonderful friend with one), you can buy them frozen or dried. And they’re very versatile—for instance, you can boil them with a ham hock, fry them with sausage and peppers, puree them into a hummus, throw them into a vegetable soup, sprinkle them into a salad, or bake them with molasses and mustard. And while the bean by itself is sort of unrewarding, this quality is what makes it such a marvelous vehicle for other flavors.

So, in honor of summer and my wonderful 'God-blessed' garden, I offer you my recipe for lima beans with garlic, rosemary and bacon. Trust me, even if you think you don’t like limas, try these creamy, bacony beans and you just may change your mind. And if you’re still not convinced, think of them as butter beans because really, how could anything with the word butter in it taste bad?

Lima beans with Bacon

3 cups of fresh baby lima beans removed from the pod or 3 cups of frozen baby lima beans (1 16 oz. bag)

6 slices of bacon

1 sprig of fresh rosemary

1 tablespoon of fresh basil, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 teaspoon of lemon zest

Salt and pepper to taste

Fry the bacon in a skillet until all the fat is rendered, remove from skillet and crumble. Leave two tablespoons of bacon grease in the skillet.Add lima beans, garlic, half the crumbled bacon, basil, rosemary, salt, pepper and 1/2 cup of water to skillet and bring to a boil.Turn heat down to low and then simmer the beans (stirring occasionally), covered, for 20 minutes until beans are tender. (For soupier beans, just add more water.) When the beans are done, top with remaining crumbled bacon and lemon zest.

Juneteenth and Quilts

Before the Emancipation Proclamation, slaves seeking freedom escaped by way of the Underground Railroad, the discreet network of people who helped slaves escape to the north and to Canada. Those who went south and guided people north to freedom were known as conductors, with Harriet Tubman being the best known.

While the Emancipation Proclamation was enacted in 1863, news didn't reach Texas until June 19, 1865; and two years later the Freedmen's Bureau organized the first Juneteenth celebration in Austin.

Quilting lore says that the hefty handmade blankets played an integral role in the Underground Railroad, guiding slaves to freedom and warning them when danger was near. These 'freedom quilts' held secret messages and were typically made by conductors in Kentucky and Mississippi for slaves passing through by way of the Underground Railroad.

Specific quilts would be hung on the porches of homes along the way to relay a message to the slaves that they could visit there, get a lunch and then get on the Underground Railroad and move toward freedom. Each quilt relayed a specific and strategic message that was vitally important to the success of the journey.

There is indeed something very nostalgic about a quilt and, even today, each hand-stitched scrap of fabric tells a story, whether it's a dress remnant, a piece of dad's tie or a scrap of granddad's old trousers.

Texas artist Earline Green, whose grandmother made these handmade treasures, first learned about the stories that quilts tell after reading "Hidden in Plain View" by Jacqueline L. Tobin and Raymond G. Dobard. "There were a lot of things I discovered in the book in terms of hiding information that I used in my own work," she said. "I would give hints in the title what was going on in the quilt."

And that is precisely how conductors on the Underground Railroad were able to conceal their messages, too, thus enabling those in bondage to continue on the journey to freedom.

In Green's work titled "A Safe Place," which depicts people guarding a child in an abusive situation, she uses two of the same symbols - a log cabin and a drunken path. She said the log cabin with a yellow center was a symbol to move forward. If the center piece of fabric was red or black, it meant danger ahead.

The 'drunken path patch' was used to tell those on the Underground Railroad to take a path that zig-zags, like the gait of an alcoholic, Green explained.

Quilts, it seems, are oral histories stitched in time. They also symbolize prayers patched together and, often, a kind touch and warm embrace.