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

[heirloomgal]

Seneca Bird Egg - Pole Dry. Left photo. Native American variety. Given to me by a native man from Pittsburgh, Pennsylavania in 2014. I think there is a pretty good amount of interest in native beans. I get fairly regular requests for Seneca Bird Egg.

Small Red - Pole dry. Photo right. Very productive bean. Produces lots of 4.5 inch (11.40 cm) long pods and easy to hand shell. New bean to me this year. It comes from an Iowa grower.

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Seneca Bird Egg - Pole dry....................................Small Red - Pole dry

I did a seed trade with a lady this spring, and she sent a lot of seed because some of it was older. One of the packets was Seneca Bird Egg and I was SO excited because I've always wanted to grow that bean and didn't know she was going to send it. It was dated to 2014 but I know beans can really hold viability so I had a lot of hope....but it never sprouted. I was sad about that! Reminds me a lot of Buxton Buckshot but maybe with less speckles..

 

[ducks4you]

SO much is user error--the seller didn't take care of the seeds like You do.
I have bought a number of packages of "samples" from SeedsNow and they come packaged in very small ziploc bags. I keep them when empty so as to hold some other kind of seeds and slap a new label on the plastic bag.
YOU know, cheap gardening, and all.
I think you may have mentioned on another thread about the volume of seeds in packages.
Really, do you NEED 30+ tomato seeds for one season?
I know that THIS year I am treating my seeds like I can't get any more, start fewer and really babysit them.
I took a crack at saving some bean seeds 3 years ago. I was surprised to end up with over 20 beans without a lot of effort and they all germinated next season for me.

 

[Blue-Jay]

I did a seed trade with a lady this spring, and she sent a lot of seed because some of it was older. One of the packets was Seneca Bird Egg and I was SO excited because I've always wanted to grow that bean and didn't know she was going to send it. It was dated to 2014 but I know beans can really hold viability so I had a lot of hope....but it never sprouted. I was sad about that! Reminds me a lot of Buxton Buckshot but maybe with less speckles..

Ask me for the Seneca Bird Egg. I'll send it, so you can grow it out this coming year. I know mine will grow. I just added another page today to my website. Page seven Se-Z. Whatever you want on those pages it's your for the asking. There are new beans mixed into all the other six pages. Have fun browsing.

I asked you to send something you posted this year but I don't remember what it was.

 

[heirloomgal]

I was surprised to end up with over 20 beans without a lot of effort and they all germinated next season for me.

Awesome ducks!

 

[heirloomgal]

Ask me for the Seneca Bird Egg. I'll send it, so you can grow it out this coming year. I know mine will grow. I just added another page today to my website. Page seven Se-Z. Whatever you want on those pages it's your for the asking. There are new beans mixed into all the other six pages. Have fun browsing.

I asked you to send something you posted this year but I don't remember what it was.

I think you said there was a couple @Blue-Jay , and I thought Paulchen was one of them?

 

[Blue-Jay]

Tonawanda Strawberry - Pole Dry. Left photo. Native North American bean. I got this from Eleanor Hucker in 2019. Eleanor has Michigan Staple Seeds. I grew this in 2019 and it didn't do well that year. This year I got a small amount of seed again but it was nice quality seed.

True Red Cranberry - Pole Dry. I've grown it before with mixed results and it did much better this year. This is the rare heirloom bean that was rediscovered by celebrated bean collector, John Withee of his "Wanigan Associates" bean network fame. He searched for 11 years for this bean after reading about a "Red Cranberry" bean in a 1700's gardening encyclopedia. He finally discovered it growing on a Mr. Taylor's farm in Steep Falls, Maine.


Tonawanda Strawberry.........................................True Red Cranberry

 

[Blue-Jay]

Turkey Craw - Pole/Dry/Snap - Photo Left. I think we all know the story of the original bean being found by a hunter in the craw of a turkey. This bean alawys seems to be a reliable grower. This year was no exception. I have never tried them as a snap bean. Has anyone tried eating Turkey Craw in the snap stage

Tuvagliedda - Pole/Dry. This is a productive bean to grow. I've never put enough of them together to make a pot of bean soup or stew. I'm sure they are good. I received this bean from the collection of Guy Dirix in 2015.


Turkey Craw...........................................................Tuvagliedda

 

[Blue-Jay]

Vermont Mohawk - Pole Dry. Left Photo. The last two grow outs I had trouble getting any volume of seed out it, but the seed that was produced was excellent in quality, just a very small amount. This year the big harvest happened. It again produed nice quality beans. Native American bean given to me by a native man from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 2014.

Zuni Shalako - Half Runner Dry. Photo Right. A bean native to the southwest of the USA. This years seed crop was large and it was grown from seed stored in my freezer since 2014. This was my third grow out of this bean. I acquired this bean from a woman who grew this bean in Calhan, Colorado at 6,500 feet elevation (1,981 meters).


Vermont Mohawk.......................................................Zuni Shalako

 

[heirloomgal]

Vermont Mohawk - Pole Dry. Left Photo. The last two grow outs I had trouble getting any volume of seed out it, but the seed that was produced was excellent in quality, just a very small amount. This year the big harvest happened. It again produed nice quality beans. Native American bean given to me by a native man from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 2014.

Zuni Shalako - Half Runner Dry. Photo Right. A bean native to the southwest of the USA. This years seed crop was large and it was grown from seed stored in my freezer since 2014. This was my third grow out of this bean. I acquired this bean from a woman who grew this bean in Calhan, Colorado at 6,500 feet elevation (1,981 meters).

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Vermont Mohawk.......................................................Zuni Shalako

Zuni Shalako is one of the A-Z beans I got this year but never found room for it in the end, but I am planning to grow it in 2025. That is another bean I've wanted to try for awhile and am looking forward to. I see the seeds in your photo have lots of gold, and it seems that varies. Probably a soil sensitive variety? I wonder if some beans respond to high fertility with more color on white, and others get less color with the white? My Eden Valley beans from this year are not nearly as colored as the ones in the Bean Collector's Window, and that was high fertility soil I planted them in. I know when I grew Vaquero in 2021 the seeds were very black and white like cows, but the seeds I harvested were very very white with only minimal black patterning.

 

[Artorius]

@Blue-Jay, great beans, as usual.

I don't have time to take care of my beans now. I'll start taking photos over the Christmas break, there will be two weeks off. All seeds have already been shelled, dried and, just in case, frozen to kill weevils.