Hello from south western B.C.!

[ninnymary]

Well I haven't caught the bean bug yet! Haha, actually I don't know if I can grow dry beans in my cool weather area. But even if I could I don't have the room for it. Would need to plant a lot of beans in order to get just one pot of beans!

I cram as much as I can into my tiny yard and am please how much I can produce. But alas I don't see any space to plant beans.

Oh welcome!

Mary

 

[Branching Out]

Well I haven't caught the bean bug yet! Haha, actually I don't know if I can grow dry beans in my cool weather area. But even if I could I don't have the room for it. Would need to plant a lot of beans in order to get just one pot of beans!

I cram as much as I can into my tiny yard and am please how much I can produce. But alas I don't see any space to plant beans.

Oh welcome!

Mary

I am surprised that I have caught the bean bug. Who knew that it could be so compelling? They take up very little space, need almost no tending once they are well rooted, and in the end you get a bowl full of beautifully coloured beads that remind you of playing with marbles as a child. And any extra seed can be cooked and eaten. Win win.

 

[Branching Out]

worms are the easiest livestock ever.

You are so right. I keep telling people that you can add whatever soil amendment you want to your garden, but in the end it is all about the worms.

 

[flowerbug]

I am surprised that I have caught the bean bug. Who knew that it could be so compelling? They take up very little space, need almost no tending once they are well rooted, and in the end you get a bowl full of beautifully coloured beads that remind you of playing with marbles as a child. And any extra seed can be cooked and eaten. Win win.

for the OCD types among us (me included) i've sometimes in the middle of winter taken beans of different types and mixed them together so i could sort them out all over again.

Mom really enjoys picking rocks off beaches and so one time when she was asking me why i like them so much and i told her that it was the same sort of fun that she had picking rocks, the colors, texture, tactile feedback. she licks rocks if they're not wet to see what colors they are, so i did have to tell her that i don't lick them.

 

[Branching Out]

for the OCD types among us (me included) i've sometimes in the middle of winter taken beans of different types and mixed them together so i could sort them out all over again.

Mom really enjoys picking rocks off beaches and so one time when she was asking me why i like them so much and i told her that it was the same sort of fun that she had picking rocks, the colors, texture, tactile feedback. she licks rocks if they're not wet to see what colors they are, so i did have to tell her that i don't lick them.

LOL. Handling the beans is like playing Mancala, or marbles, and while I do not intentionally combine them (and am very frustrated with myself when I unintentionally combine them) I love handling them and hearing the noise that they make when then fall against each other.

Picking stones from a pebbly beach is definitely a similar compulsion. For my own protection I make an effort to not bring a bucket, or even wear pants with pockets when I visit my favourite stretch of beach. That way I can only drag home what fits in my hands.

By the way I noticed an old post of yours from April 2018 regarding organizing seeds. I have put this task off for almost three years, but today is the day that the seed packages get placed in to some kind of system of organization. Not exactly sure what the end result will look like, but placing all of the arugula packs together and all of the carrot packs together will be a good starting point.

 

[flowerbug]

LOL. Handling the beans is like playing Mancala, or marbles, and while I do not intentionally combine them (and am very frustrated with myself when I unintentionally combine them) I love handling them and hearing the noise that they make when then fall against each other.

i stick my hands in piles of beans and love the feel of them and the sound too but overall it is more visual and tactile for me than sound.

Picking stones from a pebbly beach is definitely a similar compulsion. For my own protection I make an effort to not bring a bucket, or even wear pants with pockets when I visit my favourite stretch of beach. That way I can only drag home what fits in my hands.

we've come back from beach expeditions with the trunk full of bags of beach stones. at one time Mom was making stepping stones and she was using the beach stones in those so she was always looking for ones to fit her ideas. we now have a few piles of beach stones here that are great to look at and always interesting to poke through, but i don't do that as i'd not get anything else done...

By the way I noticed an old post of yours from April 2018 regarding organizing seeds.

i've had to do it multiple times. every time i go through i need to winnow things down because i really don't want to get rid of a single one of them, but i also don't really need 200 kinds of brown beans i won't ever grow again. i do still have small containers of beans where i've taken a few of each kind and then gotten rid of the rest so i consolidated that ways, but i'm still not too likely to grow them again so i kept them only for my own reference and sillyness...

I have put this task off for almost three years, but today is the day that the seed packages get placed in to some kind of system of organization. Not exactly sure what the end result will look like, but placing all of the arugula packs together and all of the carrot packs together will be a good starting point.

good luck and i hope you make some progress!

 

[digitS']

Hi Branching Out

Do you know where Hope, BC is?

My maternal grandfather was Canadian, born in Quebec. He and his family lived for a time in London, Ontario - if I understand right. They moved to Vancouver area sometime about 1900. Most of his life was spent in the states but he returned to Canada in his retirement years and lived in Hope. I didn't have a chance to meet him but after he died, his widow returned to live in the US and I "became aware of the world" in her California garden, when we lived with my grandmother for a year.

About 15 years after Grandfather's death, I visited Hope and the Fraser River homesite where they lived. It was still possible to see the outline of my Grandmother's garden there .

Steve

 

[Branching Out]

Hi Branching Out

Do you know where Hope, BC is?

My maternal grandfather was Canadian, born in Quebec. He and his family lived for a time in London, Ontario - if I understand right. They moved to Vancouver area sometime about 1900. Most of his life was spent in the states but he returned to Canada in his retirement years and lived in Hope. I didn't have a chance to meet him but after he died, his widow returned to live in the US and I "became aware of the world" in her California garden, when we lived with my grandmother for a year.

About 15 years after Grandfather's death, I visited Hope and the Fraser River homesite where they lived. It was still possible to see the outline of my Grandmother's garden there .

Steve

That is so interesting Steve--- and yes, I am very familiar with Hope. It is known as 'The Gateway to Holiday Land' for all of us in the Greater Vancouver area, as it is the last town on the highway before you enter the mountains when crossing over to our Okanagan region. We always stop there for breakfast when we are passing through, and it is a charming little community. Friends moved their recently, and it is my understanding that Hope has a garden club that is still active. That's too bad that you didn't have a chance to meet your grandfather, but so cool that you were able to locate their former home and to find traces of their garden.