Heirloom Spotlight: The History of Beans
by William Woys Weaver
There is probably no vegetable that evokes more loyalty from its collectors than the humble bean. The array of colors, shapes, and sizes is breathtaking, and to say that the choices for collectors are numerous would be mere understatement. Seed Savers Exchange has over 4,000 varieties in its collection, and that is not all of them. This huge diversity is the result of the very nature of the bean itself, its constant transformation from generation to generation, which results in new combinations of color and a vast array of other genetic features.
The bean in early America was not so numerous, for as we move back in time, we discover that the functional uses of the bean took priority over many characteristics we look for today. With certain pole beans, for example, it was the ease of drying the pods and their storability over the winter that took priority over tenderness when fresh. For Native Americans, who tended to categorize beans quite differently from Europeans, it was usefulness as a source of bean flour or adaptability in dumplings and hearth breads that received emphasis.
Of course, for the Native American, the bean was associated with religious ritual, and its colors held sacred meaning. It is tempting to imagine that the orange-and-maroon lima bean, a bean similar to one buried in the graves of the ancient peoples of Peru, moved up the continent through Mexico and into the land of the Hopi. It is equally tempting to suggest that this distant food of the Incas came to the Hopi with similar religious trappings. But in the case of beans, nature is constantly assembling and reassembling her creation in such a way that similar things often emerge in several places at the same time. Their relationship is not always direct.
The discovery of the New World bean and its many forms revolutionized world agriculture, yet for several centuries the scientific approach to this body of plants has been chaotic at best. At the very outset, Europeans began calling them fasiolius, the name previously used for cowpeas by the Greeks and Romans. This led to heated debates about the origin of the bean and whether or not it was from the Old World or the New. As long as Europeans thought American Indians were the Lost Tribes of Israel — an idea that survived into the nineteenth century — it was logical to conclude that their foodstuffs also originated in the Middle East.
The oldest depiction of the common garden bean in a European work is thought to be a 1543 woodcut of a bush bean in the German herbal of Leonhart Fuchs. Later in the same century, in 1553, another German herbalist by the name of Georg Oelinger made a watercolor of a red pole bean that is probably related to the variety known today as frijoles rojos, or Montezuma Red. While this is a bush variety, it can also appear as a pole bean. One of the important lessons in understanding beans and their evolution is to discard the myth that pole beans and bush beans represent different species. Botanically speaking, the two are only extreme forms of the same thing. For every red pole bean there is — or can be — a corresponding bush form, not to mention a number of intermediate types. All of the common garden beans, regardless of shape, color, or size, belong to the same species and therefore will readily cross with one another when conditions are right. Scientists have designated the genus into which our garden beans are now grouped as Phaseolus,the species being vulgaris.Lima and runner beans represent a separate species.
There have been various attempts since the eighteenth century to organize beans scientifically and provide them with logical nomenclature. It has not worked. Horticulturists still rely on rather unscientific ways to define beans. A pole bean is obviously one that climbs, but it can also be a “snap” bean (eaten as a green pod), a “shelly” bean (the green seeds are cooked like fresh peas), or a “dry” bean, its dry seeds soaked and prepared in recipes like Boston baked beans — a recipe, incidentally, originally prepared by the English with field peas or with horse beans. Beans are also further categorized by pod type. Wax beans are any sort with pods that ripen yellow. This yellowness has been tinkered with by breeders to create a whole group of beans that are so tender they can be eaten raw.
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https://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/history-of-beans-zb0z11zsch/
Growing Sweet Corn 🌽 in MD.
Last year tried seeds planted directly outside - chipmunks 🐿 ate all.
This year I started indoors and transplanted 8” - 12” stalks outside in mid May.
Over Waist high already.
Beats the : “Knee high by the Fourth of July” here in Michigan! (Currently visiting family in Michigan.)
Our cool down has been shortened to two days. After that, back to mid-high 90s with Tues being 99. I’m pulling all the lettuce and brassicas today. Potato plants are just starting to go yellow and droopy.
Maters are hanging in there, likely because of my afternoon shade and fairly short sun days. I poked some 1/2” x 4’ fiberglass fence posts in the ground and tied them off but they’re getting close to being as tall as the posts so I’ll have to do something else. Most are in a straight line so I might try a wire above them with strings hanging down from it to hang them from - the lean and lower method.
Unrelated to gardening, I had a dream 2 nights ago that my pick up truck was running horribly and in the dream I said to myself this is running like the Beverly hillbilly’s truck.
This morning my truck overheated.
Vitamins for Vegetables: An Experiment in Homemade Fertilizer By Robert Williams Iii
Aspirin Therapy: Aspirin Uses In The Garden For Most Productive & Healthy Plants
Potassium and Other Factors Needed for High Quality Tomatoes
Good Morning! :-)
(Door County) I’ve got some green beans in raised beds I made out of wood crates used to haul big truck engine parts (Piled cardboard in the bottom to take up space, lined with landscape cloth, and filled with raised bed mix/topsoil/composted cow manure.) I also am experimenting with growing some outdoors in a PVC hydroponic setup I got on Amazon a couple of years ago. Looking good so far!
RoseRed Homestead on YouTube shows how to make “fast beans” for your dried beans—pressure cooked then dehyrated (or freeze-dried). You just add water to rehydrate, or put them in whatever dish that has liquid for them to rehydrate.
The Kurzer’s Calico Traveler Limas germinated well, and are coming along nicely.
The White Greasy Cutshorts I bought from a small scale seller only had about 50-60% germination. Not as bad as it could be, as I only bought them to grow for next year’s seed.
The Beefy beans*, also bought from a small vendor have had nearly 1oo% germination, and are growing well.
Kentucky Wonders, for fresh & canning, are sprouting and looking good.
The Fava, again planted to collect seed, aren’t up yet; and neither re the bush green beans, for fresh & canning.
The seeds I saved from a kabocha squash germinated, and are looking good; but, a week after they were up, the patty-pan, planted at the same time, were not to be seen. I replanted those Thursday; and Friday, the originals miraculously appeared. LOL At least the food bank will benefit.
I pre-sprouted corn, 100& germination, from saved seed; but, then the weather went south for three weeks, so couldn’t plant them out, and lost them. When I put in the limas, I also planted a block of 24 of the same batch of seed, but less than 1/2 came up. Good news is, I have volunteers to transplant, that came up where I tilled last year’s stalks under.
After a week, still no potato sprouts.
*Beefy Resilient (GREX) Bush dry: https://osseeds.org/ossi-varieties/beefy-resilient-grex/
https://search.brave.com/search?q=Beefy+Resilient+(GREX)+Bush+dry&source=desktop
We ran into a very dangerous invasive yesterday.
It’s wild parsnip. The sap can cause severe burns when skin is exposed to sunlight after contact. It’s about ready to bloom here in NH.
Here are some links to help identify it and control it. Fortunately, it seems to be one of the easier to eradicate invasives.
The Woodland Steward - Wild Parsnip Identification
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejnp1vYAUFg
Wild Parsnip
https://nyis.info/invasive_species/wild-parsnip/
Wild Parsnip - Michigan Natural Features Inventory
https://mnfi.anr.msu.edu/invasive-species/WildParsnipBCP.pdf
What can cause cabbage to lose flavor? I harvested my first (Golden Acre) cabbage of the year and it tasted slightly bland compared to last year. Could too much shade cause that? This year they got some shade from a fence while last year they got more sun. Or maybe not enough or too much fertilizer?
The pole beans are vining like crazy - a couple of them have almost reached the highest point on the supporting arbor. Cucumbers are producing steadily now - Mrs. Augie started another 3 quarts of fermented pickles over the weeknd. The tomatoes have responded nicely to the heat, sunshine, and anti-fungal treatment - the half dozen of them that were looking sick after nearly being drowned a month ago seem to have snapped out of their funk and are starting to take off. The rest are growing like mad and keeping me busy training branches. I bought some little spring-loaded clippy things off of amazon a few weeks ago. Those things are the bomb - way easier and way faster than tying off the branches with twine.
I planted all of the okra seedlings on Wednesday. They were starting to suffer in the greenhouse. It took them a couple days to get happy after the transplant, but they're looking good now.
The cabbage plants look decent, but I was a couple weeks late getting them out, and it looks like the heat is going to shut down their growth before they form the kind of heads that you want to see. I'll try again in the fall and see if that works out better.
Yesterday I cut the last of the dead trees below the pond dam. I need to finish chopping that one up and haul off the brush. Once that is cleaned up I'll be able to get started on the final round of landscaping on the pond dam.
Good neighbor Dave got my hay mowed and baled last week. Had to do a quick tune-up on Pops' old Minneapolis-Moline before he could pick the bales up and put them away. It hadn't been used since hay season last year.
I think some shade cloth in the greenhouse might be a good thing:
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I have a question for all, but especially anyone living southeast… I am looking for a good heirloom seed company since SeedSavers no longer ships to GA. I tried Annie’s last year but was not happy with the yield. Most of my seeds I have saved for years, but I want to introduce some new vegetables to my garden.
Any recommendations?