After Robert Lobitz of Paynesville, Minnesota passed away in 2006. A fellow Seed Saver Exchange member Ron Thuma of Hartford, Missouri wrote to his brother James Lobitz and acquired from James some beans that Robert had not named. They might have been in some process of grow out to try to stablize them. I had found this out when I ran into Ron at one of the Seed Saver Campout/Conferences, I think it was 2012. I had asked Ron if I could grow some of the unnamed Lobitz beans too. Ron did not want turn them over to anyone else, and I can understand that as Ron may have felt that it was his project, and it really was. Two years later in 2014 out of curiosity I tried asking Ron about those unnamed Lobitz beans again and at that time he said he had become frustrated with them and just had them in the freezer. He said he would send them to me the next spring of 2015. Ron was willing to let someone else have a try at them. So I planted most of them in 2015. I had deer eating problems but wound up getting a small amount of seed from all the ones I had planted. This season in 2017 I made 13 plantings of those Lobitz beans and for the most part grew very well. The following postings are the new seeds I harvest from this pretty much the Last of The Robert Lobitz bean legacy. Ron had all the packets he sent to me numbered starting with about #10 up to #34 with a number of skips in the number sequence.
Sometime after receiving these unnamed Robert Lobitz beans. I shared half the seed with Stephen Smith. I thought just in case disaster in my plantings there would be a duplicate set of them somewhere. It was my thought that Stephen might grow some of this seed out as well.
I had also written to James Lobitz earlier in this year 2017, and one of the things he stated in his response to me was if I named any of Robert's unnamed beans to please be cognizant of how Robert named his beans which was to name them after places, towns, creeks,rivers, valleys, lakes etc in the county and state where he lived his life.
Robert had code numbers on his unnamed beans. What they meant I have no idea. Only Robert Lobitz would know the meaning of those codes. After looking at the seed if there were different seeds in a packet I would break them out into their own seperate packets. Numbering the new packet for instance if there was a packet #34 97-97A-02 there might then be a packet 34b 97-97A-02 or 34c 97-97A-02. These packet numbers then would go along with Roberts code numbers.
This first bean and code I grew this year was #26 - 00A code none. Semi-runner in growth. The new seed wound up looking like the original, and seed I had grown in 2015. The new seed also grew with the addition of a reddish counterpart the same size and with the same markings. I have also decided to attach names to some of these beans in the tradition that Robert would have used. I think Robert Lobitz would be approving of these names. These two beans I have attached the name "Skunk River" and "Red Skunk River", for the Skunk River that flows through Stearns county where Robert lived.
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#108 - "Skunk River"
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#109 - "Red Skunk River"
