The 2014 Little Easy Bean Network - Get New Beans On The Cheap

[baymule]

I planted collards and they didn't go to seed for 4 years. A small bed 5'x8' gave us more collards than we could eat! The chickens got greens too! Those collards grew over 5' tall, some fell over and grew all twisty, they were a snarly mess, but a good mess!

 

[Hal]

I am all set to go! My DH has plans to bow hunt this weekend, so it will just be Ava and I. She's excited too. Hopefully I can get his mom or mine to watch my toddler for the day.

@Bluejay77 -- Russ are you still looking for that black and white seeded Logan Giant? I can ask around for you while I'm there. If it turns out to be a big gathering, it may be worth your 8 hour drive next year.

I will take a notebook with me and the camera. I will keep track of who I meet and what I find. I saved a lot of seed this year and hope I have enough variety to make some good trades.

@Smart Red , we can work something out, I'm sure.

I'll also pass through the town my great-grandmother was born in. Might be fun to get out and poke around there for a bit if I have the time.

Road trip!

Sounds like it a great road trip to me. Have fun!

 

[Blue-Jay]

@Bluejay77 are you ready for a theory of why that may never stabilize? I'll use chickens to explain it. You are dealing with gene pairs.

Hi Ridge,

The seed coat color and pattern I've always tried to select to be the representative seed coat is a black and tan mottled one. A planting of these beans seems to produce maybe two thirds to three quarters of the seed. The rest is divided between a solid black and a light tan seed. You can see the bean on my website. Kishwaukee Yellow. I figured it had something to do with the genes. I thought maybe a double dominant. I didn't know if that was possible. I used to think the bean was unstable, but I don't think so anymore, and the plant characteristics are very uniform season after season.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I looked those up. E5Ranch has a photo of all three outcomes. You even get a mention as developer on their site. http://e5ranch.com/seed_list1.html

I'm an engineer, not a biologist, but it has to be in the genes. I'm sure Mother Nature has different mechanisms to cause that constantly varying effect but that partial dominance is the only one I know of that works that way.

 

[897tgigvib]

I'm tempted to name this one "By God" because I certainly planted a Black Supernova seed in that spot!

 

[journey11]

Some real beauties you have there, Marshall. Blue River, what a dreamy color! It will be interesting to see what becomes of that odd Supernova next year. It's a pretty bean anyway.

Ava and I have been furiously shelling out beans for trading this weekend. I'm going to Wally World tomorrow to look for some little manilla packets to put them in. I found Bill Best on Facebook and the SMAC page and they said they had 250-300 people come last year. It's supposed to be very cold this weekend. They set up inside a big barn. MIL will watch the little one for me. We are so excited to go.

 

[Ridgerunner]

@journey11 I got some small clear plastic bags at the crafts section in Walmart. Crafters normally put jewelry in them. Those might work for you.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Staples also carries those kind of little Ziplocs, and the tiny manila ones (as someone there for "coin envelopes")

 

[Hal]

I tend to prefer paper if the seed has been recently shelled as it may not be fully dry and can sweat in the plastic bags where as the paper tends to breathe.

 

[journey11]

I tend to prefer paper if the seed has been recently shelled as it may not be fully dry and can sweat in the plastic bags where as the paper tends to breathe.

That's what I was thinking too. Some of these haven't sat out long enough that I could be sure they were thoroughly dry. But if they were, then I like the plastic because you can see them.