2022 Little Easy Bean Network - We Are Beans Without Borders

[jbosmith]

The bean forest.

I looove the birch stakes.

 

[BeanieQueen]

Just catching up on what turned out to be almost two months of messages I haven't read yet, whoops. This message caught my eye and I couldn't agree more. I expected to enjoy the new varieties I got but it went beyond that -- 'joy' wouldn't be an overstatement. I hear what you're saying @heirloomgal about the difference when you see them in person.

I work as a writer for a software company, and we're kinda close to the weird wild world of crypto (as in cryptocurrency). So I get to watch the crazy hijinks that the crypto folks are up to; the most recent craze of the past year has been 'NFTs' -- 'non-fungible tokens'. Translated into human, they're digital collectibles -- one-of-a-kind pictures and other things that you can 'buy' ownership of. I guess it's the prestige or something.

Anyhow, I just find it baffling that someone would drop $180,000 on a JPEG of an ape wearing a cowboy hat. It feels like such a small game, when you can get these little marvels for free, stick them in the ground, and get hundreds of one-of-a-kind permutations a couple months later. And the prodigal generosity too -- such a gift of artistry in the seed coat, tiny brushstrokes painted by mutations in the DNA, and their destiny is just a batch of burritos.

Here are some photos of most of the varieties I'm growing this year.

Clockwise from top:

1. Mbombo Green (network)
2. Dean Family Greasy Cutshort (network)
3. Blue Jay (freebie)
4. Fort Portal Jade (freebie)
5. Bird Egg Blue (freebie)
6. Blue Speckled Tepary (network)
7. Cranberry Flieder (network)
8. Centre: Nona Agnes (network)

View attachment 49295

1. Bush orca (from a friend)
2. Unknown pole dry/snap, gonna call it 'Il Vecchio Scontroso' after a grumpy old Italian gardener that my friend got it from
3. Nez Perce (Salt Spring Seeds)
4. Chester Skunk (Resilient Seeds)
5. Turkey Craw (from a friend)
6. Unknown brown bush kidney-style (from a friend)
7. Centre: Rockwell (Resilient Seeds)

View attachment 49296

Selections from Bantu (Salt Spring Seeds), sorted by my lovely children and me

View attachment 49297

(Not pictured: Gigantes, Sadie's Horse (both runner beans), Rattlesnake, Good Mother Stallard, Ojo de Cabra, True Cranberry, Tiger Eye, Ken Early, and a short-season peanut! And yes, I am seeking treatment for my addiction, thank you for asking.)

Also @heirloomgal that's pretty surprising weather -- snow on April 10th, 35°C a few days ago! West of you, here in BC, it's been cool and rainy, which is awfully odd for dryland interior. Not going to complain after the June heat wave and July/August fires last year; it feels so alive this year by comparison.

Oh wow.. they are all so pretty!
Can you also name the reddish one (first photo) underneath of Dean Family?

And I had to look up at once this Salt Spring Seeds shop because I nearly flipped out when I saw this Bantu mix. They are simply gorgeous! Unfortunately, they to not deliver abroad.

@Bluejay77: You do not have this Ugandan Bantu mix in your (network) collection, have you?

 

[Blue-Jay]

@Bluejay77: You do not have this Ugandan Bantu mix in your (network) collection, have you?

I don't have the Ugandan Bantu Mix. Are you wanting to get a hold of that bean?

 

[Blue-Jay]

@heirloomgal, Go to the Salt Springs website and take a look at a bean called Fiesta Dry Bean. Patterned and seed shape looks like Candy but darker maybe a little on the purple side. Dan Jason tells me it's a true bush type. You should get some of those and send me some later in the year if you send one of your special cassette packages.

 

[heirloomgal]

I looove the birch stakes.

With the price of lumber these days, you could also call them 'premium discounts'.

 

[heirloomgal]

Just catching up on what turned out to be almost two months of messages I haven't read yet, whoops. This message caught my eye and I couldn't agree more. I expected to enjoy the new varieties I got but it went beyond that -- 'joy' wouldn't be an overstatement. I hear what you're saying @heirloomgal about the difference when you see them in person.

I work as a writer for a software company, and we're kinda close to the weird wild world of crypto (as in cryptocurrency). So I get to watch the crazy hijinks that the crypto folks are up to; the most recent craze of the past year has been 'NFTs' -- 'non-fungible tokens'. Translated into human, they're digital collectibles -- one-of-a-kind pictures and other things that you can 'buy' ownership of. I guess it's the prestige or something.

Anyhow, I just find it baffling that someone would drop $180,000 on a JPEG of an ape wearing a cowboy hat. It feels like such a small game, when you can get these little marvels for free, stick them in the ground, and get hundreds of one-of-a-kind permutations a couple months later. And the prodigal generosity too -- such a gift of artistry in the seed coat, tiny brushstrokes painted by mutations in the DNA, and their destiny is just a batch of burritos.

Here are some photos of most of the varieties I'm growing this year.

Clockwise from top:

1. Mbombo Green (network)
2. Dean Family Greasy Cutshort (network)
3. Blue Jay (freebie)
4. Fort Portal Jade (freebie)
5. Bird Egg Blue (freebie)
6. Blue Speckled Tepary (network)
7. Cranberry Flieder (network)
8. Centre: Nona Agnes (network)

View attachment 49295

1. Bush orca (from a friend)
2. Unknown pole dry/snap, gonna call it 'Il Vecchio Scontroso' after a grumpy old Italian gardener that my friend got it from
3. Nez Perce (Salt Spring Seeds)
4. Chester Skunk (Resilient Seeds)
5. Turkey Craw (from a friend)
6. Unknown brown bush kidney-style (from a friend)
7. Centre: Rockwell (Resilient Seeds)

View attachment 49296

Selections from Bantu (Salt Spring Seeds), sorted by my lovely children and me

View attachment 49297

(Not pictured: Gigantes, Sadie's Horse (both runner beans), Rattlesnake, Good Mother Stallard, Ojo de Cabra, True Cranberry, Tiger Eye, Ken Early, and a short-season peanut! And yes, I am seeking treatment for my addiction, thank you for asking.)

Also @heirloomgal that's pretty surprising weather -- snow on April 10th, 35°C a few days ago! West of you, here in BC, it's been cool and rainy, which is awfully odd for dryland interior. Not going to complain after the June heat wave and July/August fires last year; it feels so alive this year by comparison.

Wow, wow, wow! Gorgeous pictures, gorgeous beans!

"...destiny is just a batch of burritos......
Oh my goodness @capsicumguy , this had me laughing. But I must concur, it just seems so undignified a fate.

I do find the present cryptocurrency trend a little riveting, if confusing. A friend who helps out occasionally with my computer has talked at length with me about 'digital wallets' and some of the principles involved. I find it all quite fascinating and mind boggling at the same time. Beans are much easier to fathom.

 

[heirloomgal]

Oh wow.. they are all so pretty!
Can you also name the reddish one (first photo) underneath of Dean Family?

And I had to look up at once this Salt Spring Seeds shop because I nearly flipped out when I saw this Bantu mix. They are simply gorgeous! Unfortunately, they to not deliver abroad.

@Bluejay77: You do not have this Ugandan Bantu mix in your (network) collection, have you?

I was curious about that bean too @BeanieQueen , looks a little like 'Wild Gonny'. But if it's a North American bean I'd guess 'Berta Telaska', 'Jesse Fisk', maybe 'Iroquois Cornbread'....

I'm growing Ugandan Bantu this year, so if I succeed I can send you some in the fall. Can you receive a package of bean seed from Canada? The purples in that mix are fabulous, just fabulous.

 

[heirloomgal]

@heirloomgal, Go to the Salt Springs website and take a look at a bean called Fiesta Dry Bean. Patterned and seed shape looks like Candy but darker maybe a little on the purple side. Dan Jason tells me it's a true bush type. You should get some of those and send me some later in the year if you send one of your special cassette packages.

Can do @Bluejay77 . That REALLY looks like Candy! I wonder if someone was growing Candy and a bush version appeared? At the same time though - and this is not to cast marbles at any seed companies, they're great and I'm grateful to have them - but I can't count how many times I've ordered 'bush' beans from Canadian seed companies and discovered how un-bush like they were once planted. The first time I ordered both Jade and Ugandan Bantu from SSS years ago they were both listed as 'bush'. I found that didn't pan out! Last year's Dr Wyche beans (bush! ha!) all turned to semi-runners, same with a 'bush' Othello pinto from HHS. My guess is some of these folks grow on so large a scale that they honestly don't notice if a bean is twiney and swirls around a bit. They seem to have two categories - 1) really, really tall pole and 2) not a really, really tall pole.

 

[flowerbug]

beautiful pictures there @capsicumguy !

 

[Blue-Jay]

Can do @Bluejay77 . That REALLY looks like Candy! I wonder if someone was growing Candy and a bush version appeared?

That is a possiblity that someone grew Candy and got an off colored true bush from it. In his description of the bean he names the person the bean came from. I wonder if that person could divulge what the seed mother of Fiesta was.