2025 Little Easy Bean Network - Growers Of The Future Will Be Glad We Saved

[heirloomgal]

Yes PM ME the link.

I sent it yesterday, did it not show up at your end?

 

[Blue-Jay]

all I know is she had the name 'Salome's Treasure' in the caption and that was all. Do you want me to PM you a link?

The link didn't show up in messages. Try emailing the link.

 

[heirloomgal]

The link didn't show up in messages. Try emailing the link.

I sent you an email instead.

 

[Blue-Jay]

Thank you @heirloomgal . The link didn't make me login.

 

[heirloomgal]

I found an interesting tidbit about one of my network bean returns this year @Blue-Jay; the 'Potomac' bean I grew it turns out is not the one offered at Victory Seed Company. I checked all around, and Chat GPT confirmed that there are 2 separate varieties of it. That one is actually white seeded, while network Potomac is black seeded. This is the info I turned up:

• According to growers who maintain the variety, “Potomac” dates from the Virginia side of the Potomac River sometime before 1860. Smart Gardener+1
• After the American Civil War, it is reported that the bean was carried west by the Barley family to Tehama County, California — where it continued to be grown for “over 125 years.” Smart Gardener+1
• The variety was formally “introduced” (at least in modern seed-exchange catalogues) in 1990 by Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (SESE). Smart Gardener+1

So while its roots trace back to pre-1860 Virginia, its rediscovery and formal reintroduction into the heirloom-seed market is fairly recent (1990).

ETA: The link Smart Gardener +1 goes right to the bean.

 

[flowerbug]

@Blue-Jay are you taking network seed returns yet?

i had some later network beans that had not fully dried down yet but they are probably all dried by now. so if you are taking returns again i can check them this week and get them sent back to you.

 

[Blue-Jay]

I found an interesting tidbit about one of my network bean returns this year @Blue-Jay; the 'Potomac' bean I grew it turns out is not the one offered at Victory Seed Company. I checked all around, and Chat GPT confirmed that there are 2 separate varieties of it. That one is actually white seeded, while network Potomac is black seeded. This is the info I turned up:

One time I found a website that showed Potomac as a pole snap bean being released by some seed company in the 1940's. I would bet that would be the white seeded Potomac. I will try to find that site again when I get home and post the information.

Thank you @heirloomgal for your research and discovery of information about the black seeded Potomac. Great stuff.

 

[Blue-Jay]

i had some later network beans that had not fully dried down yet but they are probably all dried by now. so if you are taking returns again i can check them this week and get them sent back to you.

I have a neighbor collecting my mail while I'm gone. The last time I texted him there were 4 packages that had arrived somtime aroundthe middle of November. If you don't feel comfortable about sending packages now then I will be leaving Florida on December 13th and should be back home by the 16th.

 

[flowerbug]

...If you don't feel comfortable about sending packages now then I will be leaving Florida on December 13th and should be back home by the 16th.

thank you.

another week drying won't hurt them and might still be a good idea. with the furnace heat on now they should be dry enough either way.

 

[ruralmamma]

Just a quick update to state that I haven't disappeared off the face of the Earth. Husband has been having some medical issues and that's been occupying my time these last few weeks. Beans are still here and though I'd hoped to have them in the mail before Christmas rush, I'll feel fortunate if I have them in the mail before @Blue-Jay returns. I know I've immensely enjoyed growing Network beans, but otherwise I'll be happy to bid 2025 farewell.