Canesisters 2018 Garden Thread - BTE/SBG hybrid??

[baymule]

think of it from their perspective. which would you rather lick? pine shavings might also smell too strong for them. not really sure what the issue might be tho... perhaps they just want to be away from the others? dunno. just random thoughts...

With or without shavings, they go off to what they see as a secluded place to give birth. I have one, ONE, ewe that gives birth in the shelter.

 

[canesisters]

BEAN QUESTION

I've had a lot of cold, wet weather the past couple of weeks. I had left the pods on the bean plants to dry, but days of soaking followed by freezing nights has me afraid of rotting. I picked all of the pods off of one plant and brought them in to the dehydrator. Several were very green still. Will this work?
Having never raised beans to store dry before, what should I look for to know if they are no good???

eta: they are either Zuni Gold or Ojo de Caba beans

 

[Ridgerunner]

Will it work? I've never used a dehydrator on them but have picked pods before they were ready. I usually hang the plant in the dry and wait for them to dry out before I hull them. Your results will depend on how much the matured. They may shrivel up when they dry, I toss those. If they are sprouting I toss those. I don't know what color those dried beans are supposed to be but it is probable not all will not reach the right color. If they are plump when they dry out I consider them good to eat. I would not expect dehydrated beans to sprout the next year.

 

[seedcorn]

They do not allow heat on soybean seed. Hurts germ.

 

[flowerbug]

i don't throw anything away. fungal spotted, frozen or sprouted end up as worm food. malformed or immature beans but otherwise are ok i will put in the "eatin' beans" container (i eat those first when i'm done sorting as a mini-celebration/ritual ).

as for frozen on the vine outside beans. the quality of those will depend upon how green the bean was when it was frozen. some are dried enough that they'll be ok, but others won't be.

i usually go by smell and appearance. sometimes things just don't smell right and so those are worm food.

in my initial sorting i'm cutting the beans into those that are edible and those which are worm food.

2nd sort is getting malformed/potentially unviable or beans i would eat but would not want to give to someone else apart from those i will store longer term

3rd sort is seed selections for replanting and possibly segregations (varieties or traits i want to encourage or remove) apart from those i'll eat eventually

i air dry or fan dry but haven't ever used heat other than what comes from the furnace.

sometimes i've still had shells/pods in mid-winter to finish, but this year i'm about six weeks ahead. i just have sorting to finish up. it will be fun as i have 40-70 to see if i can find all the ones i planted (57) plus the new ones (i've already seen a few). final count and pictures eventually.