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

[heirloomgal]

Had a great time talking with Erin Anderssen today! We talked a lot about you @Bluejay77 ! She was very interested in the story that went with Armenian Giant Black, and how you rescued and replenished the seed for that variety.

 

[Branching Out]

The Globe and Mail-- wow. You two have hit the big leagues. Well done. Please be sure to keep us in the loop if an article results from the interview.

 

[Zeedman]

Soybean PI 507487

"Tsuru no ko shirohana". Maturity Group III... adapted one zone too far South for me, but might make it for you @Bluejay77 - or for anyone further South (or with a longer season) than you. Very large seeds (probably make a good edamame) on a 24-25" plant. A relatively high protein content too. Might be well worth growing for someone with a slightly longer season than mine (Maturity Group II usually matures here, but is a race with frost).

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Had a great time talking with Erin Anderssen today! We talked a lot about you @Bluejay77 ! She was very interested in the story that went with Armenian Giant Black, and how you rescued and replenished the seed for that variety.

I can tell you at least my part of the story. I got it from Joe Simcox, via the seed zoo in Richter's herbs. It didn't do well for me, so I only wound up with three very low quality seeds. I sent those to someone who was looking for very large seeded beans, and he sent them to Russ. Russ can take up the story from there.

 

[heirloomgal]

I can tell you at least my part of the story. I got it from Joe Simcox, via the seed zoo in Richter's herbs. It didn't do well for me, so I only wound up with three very low quality seeds. I sent those to someone who was looking for very large seeded beans, and he sent them to Russ. Russ can take up the story from there.

Thanks @Pulsegleaner , I passed this extra bit of the story on to her. I had no idea that AGB was collected by Joseph Simcox, and that @Bluejay77 's beans were so close to the source. That's kinda neat!

 

[Pulsegleaner]

I'm just sorry I had such a poor start of it. I originally got 13 or so beans, but only kept 2 for myself, sending the rest to someone else on another site (who I no longer am in contact with, so cannot check on how hers did). And I only kept those two because, at the time, I thought there were TWO versions of the bean, one that was pure black and one that had a sprinkling of small white spots (thanks to Russ, I have now figured out the spots are just pod residue that occasionally sticks to the seed coat.)

 

[heirloomgal]

@Bluejay77 Erin Anderssen liked the Armenian Giant Black story, and got back to me about it today after I shared @Pulsegleaner's details as well. She said she will circle back to you next week about it. Maybe you'll run out of AGB seeds if she prints the story! 🤣

@Zeedman @Pulsegleaner I was sure I had read about a bean in the last year, which I think was an Italian romano variety, that had been grown by a certain family for many years in their backyard, in a state that I can't recall. New Jersey maybe. I thought that the grandkids had kept the bean going or something to that effect. Any ideas what bean I might be remembering? I though it might be 'Grandma Gina's' or 'Sylvano's' but I don't see those specific details in the descriptions of those beans. Maybe I got confused; usually I remember the bean name and forget the story, this time I'm doing it backwards.

 

[Zeedman]

Hard to say. Maybe Grandma Gina or Uncle Steve's Italian?

 

[flowerbug]

there are a lot of the horticultural ones (cranberry aka striped red and pale to tan colored background) that have this story line and so i think it could be many possible ones.

 

[flowerbug]

at the garden club meeting the other day i got to hear about the Purple Dove seeds i gave to a person who's a resident at a local place that has a lot of contacts with other people, but they also wanted them because they wanted to grow some fresh eating beans. they've already had a crop and had a hard time not eating them all or being able to let some go to seeds. they were very happy with the plants and so was everyone else.

plus the new person who showed up this week took a sample of Purple Dove beans to try out. he wasn't interested in dry bean production but for fresh eating he was all in. yay! got to show him the Purple Dove potential cross breeds i'll be working with this coming season. always fun for me to be able to do that.