2021 Little Easy Bean Network - Bean Lovers Come Discover Something New !

[Blue-Jay]

Today was in interesting mail day. @Artorius what did you mail to me. There was no indication that there was any customs label where you could describe the contents. I guess you sent seeds in a first class bubble pack envelope. Your package came into the country in New York. Customs opened your white envelope and took out your seeds. They inserted a form that is called Mail Interception Notice. The form stated that customs destroyed your seeds. Reason ! Phyto Sanitary certificate was missing.

@heirloomgal will be interested in reading this too.

I don't know if I have mentioned this here before, but In January a Network grower in Canada was sending beans to me and we followed all the USDA rules which are a part of my Small Seeds Lots program for importing seed into the U.S. Each packet had a seed label that complied with the USDA rules and a package inventory list that had the same information on it as the seed packet labels. The grower included in the package a sheet that identified my USDA import account, and afixed on the outside of the package the Green And Yellow USDA shipping label that I had sent to them along with all the other paperwork. One day in January I got a Mail Interception Form in the mail stating that the package was being sent back to the grower in Canada. So I thought that the USDA was making it harder to comply with importing small amounts of seed. However I had written an email about a week ago to the USDA about this problem and today I got a phone call from a USDA person who told me that with a Small Lots Permit that a Phyto Sanitary Certificate does not have to be included in the seed shipment. This USDA person told me today that the person who had the package returned to the Canadian grower was probably a customs person at one of the places where packages enter the U.S. from Canada. He told me that as long as the Green And Yellow Label is taped to the outside of the package. The customs people are suposed to let the package through in the mail and to be delivered to the USDA examing station that I chose when I applied for this permit. There they inspect the package to see if there is not more seed being sent than what their rules allow. Then the package gets resealed and sent to my address. However that is not what probably happened.

 

[Blue-Jay]

I also got another bean package of 7 lima seeds from a fellow in Switzerland. I had sent him the package inventory list. A ziploc baggie with a printed label that complies with my Small Seed Lots permit, a package inventory list, the sheet that indentifies my USDA import account, and the Green And Yellow Label that is supposed to be sealed in packaging tape on the outside of his package. His package arrived here. No problem. I will take a photo of his beans and post it here later.

 

[heirloomgal]

@Bluejay77 This sounds like good news; someone did make a mistake in the process somewhere. I looked over that USDA site several times and it just seemed to me that someone must have made a mistake somewhere. You had done everything right and the permit was your exemption for the phyto. Those packages, according to what I read, should never have been prevented from reaching you. So the question is, why are they being prevented from reaching you even though you're following all the necessary protocols...

 

[Artorius]

@Bluejay77
So if you send me the required documents, I will be able to send you the seeds without any problem? Did I understand correctly?

I have a broken day. This is my first seed shipment to the USA that has not reached the addressee. I always shipped them the same way. I thought it could be done this time too.
Fortunately, I only sent half the seeds. Just in case it did happen.

 

[Blue-Jay]

So if you send me the required documents, I will be able to send you the seeds without any problem? Did I understand correctly?

Artorius you understood what I said perfectly 100%.

Yesterday this USDA person also gave me the phone number of the USDA examing station in San Fransisco that I had chosen on my permit. Later today I will call them and tell them what happened. Got to find out if this is a problem that is going to continue or if this is just an occassional inconvenience.

I did get the seed from the Canadian grower in February. They repackaged the seed with enough packing material that was left over from the package I had sent them the previous winter. Their new package was very tight and didn't rattle. I couldn't hear any seeds shifting around when I shook the package when it arrived. They also declared the contents of the package as six used cassette tapes with a small monetary value of 18 dollars. The package arrived and went through customs apparently without any problem. It didn't appear to have been opened.

Just in case this turns out to be a constant problem with my Small Seed Lots Permit. We also have an experiment currently going with another Canadian grower with a package of beans that has been sent to me from them. It hasn't arrived yet, but the difference in this package besides being packaged tight with enough filler material to take up the extra space in the box. I say box not bubble envelopes. They have wrapped the box in plain brown wrapping paper. At the end of the box where your paper folds over into triangle shapes. All those seams get taped over. The idea is that customs will not want unwrap and rewrap a package if the contents are allowable. Of course this packages contents is also declared as something other than beans or seeds. No description of the contents having anything to suggest seeds or beans.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Here is the Pole Lima I got in the mail yesterday from a fellow in Switzerland. I believe the bean is Spanish in origin. It's name is Garrofon Valenciano Pintado. The bean likely is from the area around Valencia, Spain located on the Mediterranean coast on the eastern side of Spain. The name interprets as Valencian Painted Butterbean.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Today is the first day I've had any beans sprout out in the garden. They were direct seeded about ten days ago. Yesterday the earth wasn't even cracking, trust me I've been watching closely every day. Then today these showed up plus some in my bed of Blue Jay bush beans that I'm growing as my production snap beans.

This first one is TTA 2A. It's a brand new segregation I got last year. Two plants coming through.

I'll show what the bean itself looked like. I'd be happy if this one would stabilize like this. Russ, it's from the Will Bonsall #27's from four generations ago. Each generation has segregated.

This one is another first year segregation code name AH B1. Only one breaking through so far.

And what AH B1 looks like. It's closer to black than this photo appears, a blackish brown. This one's heritage is from the outcrosses I found in Blue Jay a few years back, three generations ago. Also segregated each generation.

It has begun.

 

[Artorius]

@Bluejay77
I received network beans today. As I wrote, Polish customs officers do not fight with gardeners.
Although I almost had a heart attack when I first took out the empty returnable zip bags

Thank you very much!

 

[Artorius]

Here is the Pole Lima I got in the mail yesterday from a fellow in Switzerland. I believe the bean is Spanish in origin. It's name is Garrofon Valenciano Pintado. The bean likely is from the area around Valencia, Spain located on the Mediterranean coast on the eastern side of Spain. The name interprets as Valencian Painted Butterbean.

View attachment 39527

This is a colorful variant of the traditional lima from this region - Garrofon de Valencia. Large, thick, white seeds. Somewhat similar to Dr. Martin, but slightly different seed shape. Tomorrow I will add a photo.

 

[Blue-Jay]

@Bluejay77
I received network beans today. As I wrote, Polish customs officers do not fight with gardeners.
Although I almost had a heart attack when I first took out the empty returnable zip bags

Thank you very much!

@Artorius, I will have to send you different labels if we are going to do a proper return using my Small Seed Lots account with the USDA.