I met Ken and Lisa Abraham in 2012. Since that day, they’ve invited me to every Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and birthday dinner at their home.
Lisa is an extraordinary cook. My favorite dish is her poppyseed chicken. No matter what the entrée, there was always a side of green beans.
On December 25, 2020, Lisa announced, “these are my dad’s last batch of green beans.“ Lisa’s dad, Mr. Harold Bailey passed away three months prior on September 22, 2020.
Mr. Bailey was a gardener. He planted, nurtured and harvested green beans by hand. He’d give Lisa a stock pile of green beans when she visited him in West Virginia. Lisa shared those green beans with her family and friends at every meal.
Lisa always gave me a to-go plate. When I returned home that Christmas night and was getting ready to store the plate of food in the refrigerator for the following day, I decided to scoot the green beans off the plate, into a plastic container and store them in the freezer.
I wanted to do something very special with those green beans. Something to commemorate Mr. Bailey. Something that required thought, time and patience.
The green beans remained in my freezer three years. In November 2023 Ken asked if I was coming to Lisa’s birthday party on December 9th.
I pondered what to get Lisa for her birthday and then I had an idea. I made a trip to Hobby Lobby and purchased a candle holder mold, four electric candles, stir sticks, mixing cups and resin mix.
I ordered a food dehydrator and practiced on it several weeks with apples, bananas, strawberries and canned green beans. I only had a few of Mr. Bailey’s green beans and I had to make absolutely sure I dehydrated them correctly.
I dehydrated all of Mr. Bailey’s green beans one hour on the lowest temperature. I removed the smaller green beans and dehydrated the larger green beans 30 more minutes.
I allowed the green beans to sit for several days just to make sure they were completely dehydrated. I then sprayed each green bean with mod podge. A waterproof sealant. I allowed the green beans to dry 24 hrs.
I trimmed some of the green bean pods and made petals. I placed the petals around a green bean seed and created a flower and stem. I did this before pouring the resin so I would know exactly what I wanted to place in the resin and how big or small it should be.
After I leveled the candle mold, I slowly mixed and poured the first layer of resin. If you mix and or pour the resin too fast, it will create bubbles. I covered the candle mold with a cardboard box (to keep dust and debris out) and allowed the resin to sit 24 hours.
Once the first layer of resin jelled I carefully placed Mr. Bailey’s green beans on top the resin and allowed them to set for approximately seven hours.
I carefully touched the green beans and checked for stability to make sure the first layer of resin was sturdy enough to hold the green beans and the second layer of resin.
I slowly mixed and poured the second layer of resin and allowed it to sit for approximately seven days. This time frame allowed both layers of resin to mend and set.
I gifted those candleholders to Lisa for her birthday. She absolutely loved them.
Re-planting Mr. Bailey’s green beans was a real honor. I’m glad they’ll be a part of every meal — once again.
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