2023 Little Easy Bean Network - Beans Beyond The Colors Of A Rainbow

[ZoeV]

Oh Welcome @ZoeV ! So glad you come to visit and hope you stay. You don't have to wish for a bean network where you live. You can be a part of this. We have bean lovers from places scattered around the world. We connect the world through beans. This belongs to you too.

Thanks! It's getting harder to find new varieties to try for me here. But will share what I have... Does cowpeas count too?

 

[Blue-Jay]

Thanks! It's getting harder to find new varieties to try for me here. But will share what I have... Does cowpeas count too?

Yes cowpeas are part of the family of beans and peas. They do count. I think you will have an enjoyable time with this group.

 

[flowerbug]

This time of every year, i am coming to check what's bean addicts are growing
And tell myself I wish we had this kind of network in here - far away from rest of the world...

Amazing efforts guys!

hello again and welcome back. could you please update your profile to give an indication of where you're at? even just a general location is helpful. i had to go back and search to find out where you are located.

i can't wait to see what people have grown this season and also to get my camera back out and try again to get some reasonably decent pictures. i have a few beans this year that are going to be hard to capture because their colors are subtle variations and the see coat is shiny.

 

[flowerbug]

the most difficult pod i have to open is Venda and that is not because it is super hard to open but because it breaks into pieces so you have to sometimes pry the seeds out of bits of pod. i have been collecting a small pile of those pods as i'm going through the bags of beans to keep them together for when i feel like doing them again.

today i'll start on a bag of Yellow Eye to break up the pattern because i've just finished two bags of Purple Dove. YE are not a particularly easy pod to open but i enjoy shelling them anyways because i consider the plump beans as fairly cheerful when i see them. i have no idea of how many other beans i might have mixed in with them. sometimes i was sorting them to be just Yellow Eye pods and other times i had a few other pods mixed in from the neighboring bean rows so there could be some surprises in there. also i keep a container of seed selections from whatever variety it is i'm shelling so as i'm going along i can pick out the seeds for the coming planting season. this way i can select some seeds from specific pods for traits seen during shelling (like being slightly easier to shell) - this is not possible to do if you bulk process pods.

 

[Zeedman]

Thanks! It's getting harder to find new varieties to try for me here. But will share what I have... Does cowpeas count too?

Absolutely! I'll be posting photos of the ones I've grown this year soon, it would be great to see others. All bean species are welcome here (if not, I have been seriously & energetically violating protocol )

 

[flowerbug]

1 bag of Yellow Eye beans shelled, but not fully sorted yet. still i'm surprised i could get it done as well as it went. resting up now. may have to go back later and look more at my little pretties...

 

[flowerbug]

Absolutely! I'll be posting photos of the ones I've grown this year soon,

yay! *bouncing up and down*

it would be great to see others.

i'm hoping to get some pictures posted sometime. just am not sure when...

All bean species are welcome here (if not, I have been seriously & energetically violating protocol )

awww, shucks...

 

[heirloomgal]

In most cases, if the soybeans were dried on the plants, you should be able to just thrash the plants & pods against the side of a very tall container (such as a trash can or deep tub). The pods should shatter, releasing the seeds. Expect a few to be expelled violently. You could also wrap the plants (or loose pods) in a sheet or pillow case, and either step on them, or beat them lightly against the floor. Unless you go full Rambo crazy beating them, the seeds should be undamaged. Threshing is best done in an open area, unless you like playing hide & seek with energetic escapees.

Most of my surviving soybeans were harvested by cutting the plants off at the ground. They are drying in tubs on my screened patio, until all stems & pods have dried. Before shelling them, I bring the tub indoors & place the soybeans under a ceiling fan for a day or two to dry down further. Depending upon my mood, I then either shell the pods by hand, or thresh them by beating the whole plant against the side of the tub. More often than not, I choose to hand shell.

The toughest soybean pods (or for that matter, almost any tough bean pod) can usually be opened more easily if given a slight twist. I've got a couple varieties that are very hard to shell; those I'll probably walk on to either break the beans free, or loosen them for hand shelling. When hand shelling, it is usually easier to squeeze the stem end on the seams while putting pressure on the blossom end. Practice makes perfect.

So if I whack the stems against the side of a big bucket and the seeds don't all, or mostly, release I should probably wait right? Is it just me, or might soybeans take longer to get really dry because they have a higher oil content than others?

Yes, the twist! That is my standard test to see if a bean pod is ready to be shelled - if I twist it and hear 'crick' it's probably good to be opened. If I twist and don't here that noise, I wait.

 

[Zeedman]

So if I whack the stems against the side of a big bucket and the seeds don't all, or mostly, release I should probably wait right? Is it just me, or might soybeans take longer to get really dry because they have a higher oil content than others?

They do take quite awhile to dry, even if they are picked like bean pods (as I do if rain approaches during ripening). There are always some pods that are less mature than the majority; all but a few of those will be dry when the plant's stem has turned brown & dry. The brown stem usually indicates the best time to thresh the pods - but if the plants dried outside (as on my patio) the pods might still be damp enough not to shatter. 2-3 days in drier indoor air is usually enough to dry them completely.

You can accelerate the drying process under a fan indoors. I had to do that during the big rain storm which just passed (about 3" ) to save the remaining pods of my last & latest soybean, "Gardensoy 12". Yes, I was that crazy person mucking through the garden in the rain, with an armful of tall wet soybeans. Most of the pods were dry enough to open after 2 days, and very little was spoiled.

"Gardensoy 12" is TALL, the living room was a little cluttered for a few days.

"Gardensoy 12" 2023. (Ooops, looks like I footo-bombed myself. )

 

[Zeedman]

awww, shucks...

Although I usually think of 'shucking' in reference to corn, I guess it still applies to beans. It certainly beats 'awww, hull'.