12 fava beans and the truth.

In late March, I was itching to get into the garden... so I planted  fava beans!  I was excited about them because they required no poles or staking, and, well I really like odd vegetables!

They made pretty flowers, and interesting plants:

So yesterday I harvested them... Lots and lots of beans!

I like to keep my hands busy while watching TV, so it took me roughly an episode of Modern Family to take the beans out of their big shells.
I got like a quart and 4 oz of beans!  Pretty fun!

... but then you are supposed to shell them again!!!  I blanched them, (but I think I should have left them in the water longer, because it took me a while to get them shelled.)

So an episode of  the Daily show later, and here is my net result:  a little  over 2 cups of beans. (the cup on the right is the outside of the beans)

In summary.
12 fava beans from territorial. ($2.15)
10 minutes to stick them in the ground.
3 and a half months of watching them grow
10 minutes to harvest the pods
20 minutes to remove outer shells from the beans
10 minutes to blanch the beans
20 minutes to remove the inner shell
= 2 1/4 cups of organic, joke inducing beans.

Is this worth it?  I don't know.  Its certainly not as easy as throwing lettuce seeds in the ground and pulling out salad 3 weeks later, or planting kale and getting more kale than one could ever possibly eat... but the color is pretty striking, and  the novelty is pretty fun.  I am not sure what I will make with these beans, but I hear so many rave reviews about them that perhaps the effort is worth it.  Well, I'm off to pick up some Chianti....