2023 Little Easy Bean Network - Beans Beyond The Colors Of A Rainbow

[Ladyreneer]

I tried my best to capture the gorgeousness of these big ol' seeds; my device struggles with both dark seeds and certain fabrics bounce the light differently than others (and in some cases absorp up all the light and drain the photo). If I had spent more time fussing I could have gotten some better pictures but I was pressed for time. I'm just gonna do a big photo dump and hope some of these evoke the bean in the flesh.

From farther away, looks much smaller than it isView attachment 54815

A bit closer - river pebbles!
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I put Bluejay's 'Passage to India' beside to show how similar they look, and how different the sizes are! If they were both P.vulgaris you'd think they're related! View attachment 54817

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Along with the Tekomari runner beans, he sent his Ugandan Bantu pole beans and Horst pole beans as well. I was struck by how much Horst looks like Ram's Horn, and it's a late variety just like Ram's. He says this bean is very similar to a bean that the Mennonites (who settled the area in the early 1800's) in the Waterloo region of Ontario grow.

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Such gorgeous beans! I didn't catch the name of the big Stone looking beans and I can't find the Ugandan Bantu for sale in the USA. Any tips on locating either of these?

 

[heirloomgal]

Looks like another strain of Sulphur bean. I would to grow this one eventually.

I'll send you some in the fall if they make into the garden this year!

 

[heirloomgal]

Such gorgeous beans! I didn't catch the name of the big Stone looking beans and I can't find the Ugandan Bantu for sale in the USA. Any tips on locating either of these?

They're a runner bean called Tarahumara Tekomari, they're SO big! I'm growing them this summer!

I'm not sure about the Ugandan Bantu beans in the US, but they were quite popular in Canada a few years ago. I guess they never got popular across the border. I would suggest ordering from a Canadian seed company, I know of a few that carry them, but the US is no longer allowing seeds in without the receiver having a Small Lots Seed Permit.

 

[Branching Out]

Looks like Solstice Seeds in Vermont is offering the Ugandan Bantu bean seeds. I am not familiar with this seed company, but it looks like an intriguing seed shop. https://solsticeseeds.org/product/bean-pole-dry-ugandan-bantu/

The Ugandan Bantus were my favourite bean to grow last year. So productive, and so much fun to play with once they were harvested. I gave each one a raspberry cane pruning to climb up on, and while they were ultimately a few feet taller than the raspberry canes it still worked pretty well. And if you are not able to purchase these seeds I could certainly send you some. I had a bumper crop.

 

[Branching Out]

Before I knew it, I had put a seed order in with Solstice Seeds. They have several European varieties that sound too good to pass up, including Herrenbohnli beans, Red Verona cabbage, and many more.

 

[Blue-Jay]

I was shocked to open a packet called 'Early Vermillion' and find this! Looks like Jacob's Cattle to me.

What I should have added to my last post about your Early Vermillion comment was that in some soils Early Vermillion will look just like Jacob's Cattle. However it matures earlier than JC.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Hello @Ladyreneer,

Welcome to our bean group ! i don't think I ever noticed any posts by you before this year. I'm sure you will have a wonderful experience with this bean family.

 

[Blue-Jay]

@heirloomgal,

When does your website debut on the internet? Will you have a name for it?

 

[heirloomgal]

@heirloomgal,

When does your website debut on the internet? Will you have a name for it?

We are SO close! It has been some work to put it together, especially since I wanted to include several hundred pictures. There has been a few 'structural' bumps along the way! But we've got all those figured out now. There are a few small, last things that still need to be done - like my writing a 'hello' blurb for the homepage. There are a few listings that seem to be missing as well so we're going through the tables today comparing, looking for what got missed. My guess is it'll be done this month. My designer tells me there will still be improvements & sophistication upgrades as we go along, for now the priority is publishing the site as soon as possible since we are in seed season. I was hoping to be able to provide multiple pictures for each bean listing, but until he teaches me how to set up a collage format and insert the photos, it'll have to be a single photo for now. I'm hoping we can at least shunt all the extra pics into a separate gallery. I have learned so much helping with this site! I really like the platform he used to design it and especially the photo platform he used. Easy to navigate even for someone like me who doesn't know much about the tech world. He even designed for me the neatest little business cards that I can pin up around town on the bulletin boards. I did the original mock up myself, using Staples online 'design a business card' template and I sent him a screenshot of my design using the logo he created for me. He e-mailed me back a compassionately worded message that basically said 'uh..... let me help you with that please' No doubt his version was much more slick!

 

[heirloomgal]

Welcome @Ladyreneer !

I hope you stick around! The more beany people the better!