Staff Photo by Andrew Alexander

Eighty-four-year-old Rachel Kirk shows off part of this year’s crop of Yardlong beans, some of which measured up to 26 inches long. According to Kirk, they are prepared like any other bean, and the taste is similar to a green bean. Kirk said that she has been gardening for most of her life, and she has had some crops of Yardlong beans yield 35-inchers. The stunted growth of this year’s crop, if you can call it stunted, is due in part to the drought and birds taking advantage of any easy meal that happens to resemble a worm or snake. In fact, Yardlong beans are also known as snake beans. To those that have never seen a yard long bean in person, they are quite an impressive produce...and don’t worry, they won’t bite back.