2024 Little Easy Bean Network - Growing Heirloom Beans Of Today And Tomorrow

[Neen5MI]

My new drying system arrived yesterday! Increased capacity and effectiveness with decreased footprint! I got the trays at the university surplus store for a song, and I've been brainstorming a homemade rack, but decided I have neither the skills nor the time. Voila! Harvest is 75% (or more) finished. This represents everything, and there's still space for 19 more trays!

 

[Blue-Jay]

My new drying system arrived yesterday!

That is very neat. You got all your bean drying in one small space. You use more vertical space instead of horizonal space.

 

[flowerbug]

My new drying system arrived yesterday! Increased capacity and effectiveness with decreased footprint! I got the trays at the university surplus store for a song, and I've been brainstorming a homemade rack, but decided I have neither the skills nor the time. Voila! Harvest is 75% (or more) finished. This represents everything, and there's still space for 19 more trays!
View attachment 69276

very nice! i'm envious for sure.

i cross-stack the flats and boxes to get my vertical lift for those. when i'm done for the season the flats and boxes fit inside each other and gets stacked up in the corner up on top of the bookshelves so they don't take up any floor space at all (which is critical when most of what you own is in the same room ).

the brown paper bags i use for bulk beans aren't very stackable especially if for some reason i want to get in them to check on how they are doing. they aren't full but they are full enough that i don't put them in boxes or flats. when i'm done shelling those out (there's nine left to go) they fold up and go back in the closet (which is jam packed full of stuff but we'll not talk about that haha!) so they don't take up any floor space until i need them again next fall. at the moment i'll probably need to get some more out as the Purple Dove bean patches need to get picked through over the next several days.

 

[Neen5MI]

the brown paper bags

This has been the heart of my drying system in the past, and has worked brilliantly. This year has been so rainy, and it's my first year growing network beans, so I'm a little paranoid about losing varieties to mold. What feel like crispy dry pods on the plant become soft after picking and storing in bags, even over night. I don't know if the moisture is coming from the seeds or ambient humidity, but this was the impetus to get everything in shallow layers, open to the air.

 

[flowerbug]

This has been the heart of my drying system in the past, and has worked brilliantly. This year has been so rainy, and it's my first year growing network beans, so I'm a little paranoid about losing varieties to mold. What feel like crispy dry pods on the plant become soft after picking and storing in bags, even over night. I don't know if the moisture is coming from the seeds or ambient humidity, but this was the impetus to get everything in shallow layers, open to the air.

i pick most pods when they are dry and leave them out to dry further in the sun for a while before i put them in paper bags, so i know they are completely dry. i sort through everything i pick because at times i do pick pods that aren't fully dried so i have to separate those pods out on flats in one layer and keep an eye on them (i rotate them or move them about once or twice a day to check for mold and to get them dried).

 

[Blue-Jay]

Summer Bean Show 2024 Vol. #28

I like bean wheel #114. Somebody had the patience to do that with seeds and pods. They even have the names of the beans printed on strips of paper. The Brazilian Purple Moor is pretty. It was interesting that someone grew probably in Europe Koronis Purple and like to spell the beans name starting with a C instead of a K. Dalmatiner a bush dry bean like Jacob's Cattle in Germany. All beautiful specimens of seed.


Bean #113.............................................................Beans #114


Bean #116 - Flambo




Bean #117 - Brazilian Purple Moor....................Coronis Purple


Dalmatiner - Bush