Anyone who knows Crescent Moon knows that this special little bean is an integral part of our daily operations...like the show will not go on without it! So after a brief wave of panic amongst the crew, Dad hit the web and the pavement looking for new avenues of potential sources.
Come to find out, even if it came to the extreme possibility of having to, oh nooo!, import beans from Central America, they would be subject to 75% duty. Thank goodness again for the governance of outrageous port tariffs! Dad pried the scene a little more and found a friend of a neighbor of a friend who might have some. On the hunt down many roads, and several stops for directions, he found them at last! A large sack of green beans. The man was thankful for the sale and needless to say we were all thankful for the find. The only catch was that they had not yet been cleaned!
So Mom and Dad hunkered down and began to peel the little paper thin shell one bean at a time with determination. Hours passed and the pile had not yet reached a pound. So as most people lay in repose, Dad was up thinking of "the better way".
By morning morning he had it. The first cup depended on it! He had converted our hand mill to include two rubber gaskets over the plates so that it would rub the beans enough to break the peal but not too much to hurt the bean.
Dad, David, and I all took turns milling and pouring until we had broken the shells of about seven pounds of beans in less than an hour. Now the next step would be to blow off the shells. David started to blow off the shells while passing the beans hand to hand the way he knew his father did it. I tried it and started to see stars after a minute! Seven pounds and plenty of oxygen to the brain later the beans had now been shelled and were ready to roast.
Next invention: the super shell blower is currently in the works.
