Stir-Fry Runner Beans with sesame oil and toss with toasted almonds..
On the weekends, we often wander over to our local farm to pick up free range eggs. Cartons of eggs are placed inside a cool box and left at the back door of the farmhouse. It's a trust based system so we drop £2.50 into the coin jar, and help ourselves to two cardboard trays of eggs. A dozen in total of unevenly shaped, different sized eggs laid by very happy hens that race towards us, clucking as we walk past the green pasture on which they graze.
Today, a large box filled with long, green beans sits beside the egg cartons. Longer than the average green bean, and with a coarse outer skin that feels rough to touch, they are unfamiliar to me. They look like wild beans that have originated from a lush, tropical rainforest, I think to myself, except that a handwritten sign on the box clearly says "homegrown runner beans - please take". That's the beauty of living in the country, so many people grow their own vegetables and when they have a surplus, it is generously shared with anyone who wants them. Eager to taste them, we take a few handfuls of beans and bring them home with us.