Citizen Science Project: Raise Heirloom Beans

Tarbais Beans

By now, everyone has heard about heirloom vegetables, seed banking and the future of life on this planet, right?

So this spring I stumbled across a website - A Bean Collector's Window - and discovered an amazing world of beans, beans and more beans. Better still, for a very nominal price, you could buy these rare, unique and possibly soon-to-be-lost bean varieties that your or somebody else's grandmother grew. Grow them yourself and you can become your own little seedbank - a truly unique item for the resume.

Or even better than better still, you could sign up to grow a variety (or more) for free. And in return, all you have to do just that - return a handful of bean seeds. You get to keep the rest of the crop and eat and grow them again and again and, and, and...

What's the catch? I'm not sure there is one. You get beans, the beans get grown and then preserved for another 4 - 6 years, and the Postal Service gets a little bit of business. Heck, if you choose to grow two or more varieties, you may select an extra packet of beans, also for free.

Luckily for those of us with small yards, beans need very little isolation to maintain seed purity. In my case, I grew our favorite Fortex pole beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) in the front yard along with the tepary beans (Phaseolus acutifolius). Different species, so no hanky-panky.

Something to consider for next year - the beans, I mean.

Orange Tepary Beans