Today Stephen returns to introduce a few specific heirloom bean varieties and offer us insight into their personalities and the folklore behind them.

Mostoller Goose Bean

There are several varieties of beans that have stories of being found in the craw of geese or turkeys, and preserved on a local basis for a long time. The Mostoller Goose Bean is one of the better known ones. This is a gorgeous and tasty bean from Somerset County, PA in 1865.

The story first appeared in the Somerset Democrat on December 9, 1925 and was reprinted by Seed Savers Exchange Fall Harvest Edition in 1984. The story goes that John Mostoller shot a Canadian goose and found beans in the craw during cleaning. They planted the beans and saved the seeds over the next 140 years.

The plants have white flowers and produce 5 inch long pods with 4 to 5 beans per pod. The beans are large and white, speckled with brown and maroon with an orange patch over the eye. The colors disappear during cooking.

This a tall vining bean, often topping 10 feet tall! These beans can be grown just about anywhere because they are a short season bean. They can be direct-sown from seed when the soil is warm (day temperatures around 60 degrees Fahrenheit), in full sun and loose, well drained soil. 60 days to production.

Black Valentine Bean

This is a New York heirloom first commercially introduced around 1897 by Henderson and Co, but well known prior to 1850. Black Valentine is best known for its hardiness, dependability under adverse conditions, and resistance to bean mosaic virus.

It germinates well in cool soil, so can be planted early and in 2-4 week successions for longer production. They turn from dusty black to purple when cooked and have a rich nutty flavor with a crisp meaty texture.

These are often described in seed catalogs as the best tasting black beans. Bush plants produce 6 inch long string less pods. 50 days to production.

Lazy Housewife Bean

Known in Germany as the Sophia Bean in the mid 1800’s, this bean was introduced by the Pennsylvania Dutch and was well known in the early 1800’s in Bucks County, PA. It was commercially sold by 1890 by William Henry Maule Seed Company from Philadelphia.

It got its unusual name from the fact that housewives did not have to string the bean prior to cooking, and that the beans set in clusters and are easy to pick. First listed by Burpee in 1888, this was the third most popular bean in the US in 1907.

This is a great snap bean, but is most well known as a shelling bean; and is considered by many to have no equal. When dried this is also an excellent soup bean, and is often pureed after cooking.

The vines are strong climbers and will tolerate some shade, often being grown among corn by the Pennsylvania Dutch. The vines will grow to 4-5 feet tall, with white flowers and 6 inch long pods marked by a glossy green, having 5 to 7 beans per pod. 75-80 days to production.

Cindy Scott has a degree in greenhouse management, and is the resident grower in the family. She has been collecting articles on soils, seed saving, and general growing for over 10 years. She developed a Grow Native! Plant Sale and Educational Festival that educates gardeners in the Central Arizona Highlands, that is now in its fourth year.

Stephen Scott has a business background and is an acknowledged chili-head who loves the hotter side of things and loves to cook. The appeal of the garden and growing is to supply the freshest ingredients for the meals! He has a large interest in self sustainability- being able to do and produce most of what one needs. They have built a greenhouse from recycled materials that provides year round produce and plants for the garden.

First I’ll admit to planting a hybrid variety or two in my garden, but there have to be pretty compelling reasons and an exceptional plant involved to cause me to go against my better judgment like that. And while open pollinated plants aren’t perfect, I prefer to grow them for a number of very good reasons:

Top Ten Reasons for Planting Heirlooms in the Veggie Garden

1. Never met a GMO that I liked – GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organisms and that really doesn’t sound like something I want showing up on the dinner table. I simply don’t trust GMO’s or the motives behind them, and I’m curious to see the arguments that will be used to try and convince us that GMO’s are better for us.

2. Too thrifty to pay for seeds every year – It’s bad enough to get hit with debit card transaction fees and cable bills, but do you want to be suckered into paying each year for something else that we used to be able to get for free? Heirlooms provide the convenient and cost-free option of saving your own seeds if you’d like.

3. No fine print or disclaimers required – The new hybrids will draw you in with features such as modern blossoms, designer colors, and other surprises, but will they also advertise if it just so happens that the new improvements are a trade off for less in the way of flavor, aroma, hardiness, or nutritional content? Hmmm.

4. Seed competition is a good thing – If a monopoly is such a bad thing, consider the thought of giant seed conglomerates making all the decisions about what seeds should be grown, which ones should be discontinued or eliminated altogether, and whether you should have the right or ability to save seeds from the plants that grow in your own garden.

5. Our great grandparents had excellent taste – They never had to listen to someone reminiscing about good, old-fashioned flavor in a tomato… all of their tomatoes were good, old-fashioned tomatoes with that true tomato flavor!!! The need for such comparisons were basically admissions that the breeders had ruined a good thing when it came to tomato taste.

6. New and Improved is overrated – Yeah, I saw that list of incredible new hybrids coming to market this year, it just didn’t excite me all that much since I always get to choose from a long list of “new” and interesting vegetable varieties thanks to the unique offerings from the heirloom suppliers and seed exchanges.

7. I’m a gardener, not a farmer – Maybe I’d be more concerned with thick skins, uniformity, and the shipping capabilities if I was a farmer, but I’m a backyard gardener. I prefer varieties that ripen over a long season rather than all at once, and my tender produce doesn’t need to travel any further than from the garden to the kitchen counter. I’m much more interested in gourmet quality, vine ripened harvests, and freshness than I am with the important commercial qualities.

8. Purple carrots are so cool – Not only purple carrots, but red, white, yellow, and orange ones too. And these colorful carrots (along with other unusual vegetables) have all been around for ages, but try explaining that to your local grocer the next time your want something a little different for dinner.

9. Seeds and strings build strong muscles – So what if I have to spit out a melon seed or expend a little effort to peel strings from a bean pod the way I remember doing as a child? I can always chalk it up as exercise. And explain to me again how a plant that is bred to be sterile and is too weak and unnatural to produce even a single seed is going to be viable and potent when it comes to nutritional content?

10. Giving credit where credit is due – Then there are the patented plant varieties with their labels warning that you will turn into a criminal the second you attempt to propagate or share a cutting or two. I have no problem with a breeder being compensated for their labor, but how do you take something that the Almighty created, alter it to some degree, and then tell gardeners that it’s your property and they can no longer do what they’ve always had the liberty to do with their plants?

Thanks, but no thanks, I think I’ll pass… I’m actually quite content and happy with my open pollinated heirlooms.

I’ve been a member of the organization off and on over the past twenty-five years and in the past listed a cold-hardy winter lettuce. I continue to use their commercial seed catalog as a source of heirloom vegetables to plant in my organic garden.

On an Important Mission to Maintain Seed Diversity

Seed Savers is based out of Decorah Iowa where they operate the 890 acre Heritage Farm with  twenty-five acres of gardens under cultivation that are used in their seed production and research activities. They also maintain a seed bank of over 25,000 rare and endangered vegetable varieties.

The organization was established in 1975 and since that time has shared an estimated total of one million seed samples that have kept many rare varieties in circulation and allowed them to be adopted by gardeners, farmers, and heirloom seed companies throughout the world.

Seed Savers is supported by membership fees, donations, seed sales from their commercial seed catalog, farm tours, and other special events, but the foundation of the organization has always been its large and devoted following of gardeners and the vegetable varieties that they have cherished and passed along.

The Growing and Rewarding Benefits of Membership

The Seed Exchange has over 8,000 members reaping the benefits of discounts from the commercial seed catalog and four annual publications. These seasonal editions include the Seed Savers Yearbook, a mammoth listing of over 13,000 seed varieties that are currently offered by members and shared through the exchange.

SSE members have access to the rare seeds maintained in the inventory. If you’re interested in heirloom varieties the Seed Savers Exchange offers an incredible opportunity to explore and sample the amazing world of heirlooms. There is also a separate Flower and Herb Exchange Membership for those interested in rare flowers and herbs.

There are around 700 “listed” members who are actively growing and maintaining heirloom seed varieties and making them available to other members who are interested in helping to preserve and spread these uncommon seed varieties. Under development is an online database of member offerings that will make it easier to browse through the thousands of listings.

Commercial Seed Offerings Available from the SSE

The final branch of the Seed Savers Exchange consists of a commercial heirloom seed supply that operates much like the other heirloom seed companies that sell seed. SSE members receive a 10 % discount on heirloom seeds purchased through the on-line store, but membership is not required to purchase seeds listed in the commercial catalog. About 500 heirloom seed varieties are offered for sale, with new additions to the catalog this growing season including:

• Trucker’s Favorite Pink Tomato
• Petit Gris de Rennes Melons
• Smoke Signals Ornamental Corn
• Hartman’s Yellow Gooseberry Tomato
• and McMahon’s Bird Peppers

Among other intriguing selections that you’ll find for sale in the Seed Saver Exchange commercial heirloom seed catalog are:

• Moon & Stars Watermelon
• Feher Ozon Paprika Peppers
• Blue Solaize Leeks
• Armenian Cucumbers
• Austrian Crescent Potatoes
• and Chet’s Italian Red Garlic

No matter whether you are a backyard gardener, seed saver, or just concerned with preserving the diversity and heritage of our seed supply, a Seed Saver’s Exchange membership is a worthwhile investment in the past that will yield benefits in the future.

They offer a limited number of vegetable seed varieties compared to many of the other heirloom seed companies, but their offerings are rather unique and include many farm-original varieties that are developed and produced right on their Pacific Northwest organic farm.

Special Reselected Strains for Your Gardening Enjoyment

Wild Garden Seed seeds are open-pollinated, untreated, and subject to a reselection program in order to yield vigorous strains that will grow well under organic growing conditions. The reselection results are apparent in the names of some lettuces such as the “Really Red Deer Tongue,” “Hyper Red Rumple Waved,” and “Redder Ruffled Oak!”

With fifty-three varieties listed, lettuces make up the bulk of the seeds produced and listed in the Wild Garden Seed catalog. Their lettuce is divided into five categories: Butterhead, Cos/Romaine, Crispleaf/Head, Leaf, and Mixed. Some of the most beautiful lettuces that I’ve run across are found among their; Blushed Icy Oak, Speckled Amish Butterhead, Flashy Trout Back, Red Iceberg, and Blushed Butter Cos.

For a little mystery and intrigue, Wild Garden Seed offers a Wild Garden Lettuce Mix that is made up of every lettuce listed in their catalog. Then there’s the very hush-hush, Morton’s Secret Lettuce Mix that contains an assortment of their newest and unreleased lettuce varieties.

Rare Seeds to Transport You Way Back in Time

If you want to get totally medieval with your garden this spring then Wild Garden Seed can help by supplying you with Alexanders, an ancient, edible relative of celery and Angelica that was named after Alexander the Great because it was rumored to be a staple of his diet.

Follow the Alexanders with a little Sacred Basil, Quinoa from the Andeas, or even Huauzontle (goosefoot) by way of the Aztec tribes of Central America, and you have added quite a bit of history and diversity to your back yard. Wild Garden Seed also has a large number of Japonica and Indian type mustards that will spice things up and add color to the vegetable garden.

Then there are unusual red celery varieties such as the strong flavored Giant Red Reselection, Orach (aka Mountain Spinach), colorful Amaranths, and a variety of kales including my favorite veggie gene pool; the Wild Garden Kale Mix.

A Little Something Extra for Gardeners and Their Friends

Would you like to increase the interest that your garden raises with the neighboring beneficial insects and have them flocking to your back yard? Try planting Wild Garden Seed’s special insectary mix containing; Fennel, Korean Mint, Sorrel, Angelica, Alexanders, Chervil, Survivor Parsley, Chicories, Belle Isle Cress, Scarlet Ohno Turnip,  Calendulas, Amaranth, and Aurora Orach.

You want flowers? Well take a look at the Flashback Calendula Mixes and let me know what you think. Just what the doctor ordered for old-fashioned color, edible uses, crafting medicinals, and inviting even more beneficials into the garden. Wild Garden Seed sells a few traditional vegetable seeds like Chard, Broccoli, Muskmelon, and Peppers, but it’s the unique offerings and cultivated weeds that I am especially attracted to.

The bigger heirloom seed companies like Baker Creek or the more established ones like Bountiful Gardens are great to do business with, but there are also many smaller gems like Wild Garden Seed, Turtle Tree Seed Initiative, Sustainable Seed, and Amishland Heirloom Seeds that are doing great work and waiting to be discovered and enjoyed by the home gardener.

Bountiful Gardens was started by John Jeavons, author of “How to Grow More Vegetables,” and a pioneer of the French Intensive Biodynamic Gardening method that incorporates raised beds, composting and sustainability into an organic gardening program that will “grow more vegetables than you ever thought possible on less land than you can imagine!”

Along with Ecology Action, its sister organization, Bountiful Gardens has worked to promote the concepts and practices of growing heirloom vegetable varieties, producing food in a sustainable manner, organic techniques, and conserving resources. They are a source of not just heirloom seeds, but also an incredible amount of information and instruction related to mini-farming and intensive food production.

Open Pollinated Vegetable Seed Selections

All of the seeds sold by Bountiful Gardens are untreated, open pollinated varieties and include the following interesting heirlooms:

• Heat and drought tolerant Moth Beans
• Several types of Sprouting Broccoli
• Sweet French Charentais Melons
• White Lisbon Bunching Scallions
• Jimmy Nardello’s Sweet Italian Frying Pepper
• Rat’s Tail Podding Radish
• Orange Jelly Turnips
• Perennial Alpine Strawberries
• Lebanese Light Green Summer Squash
• and Huge Monster of Viroflay Spinach

You’ll also find a selection of flowers, herbs, and even edible fruit bearing varieties of wild trees and shrubs that can be grown from seed.

Bountiful Garden’s Unique and Special Offerings

Their specialties include grains for the backyard grower, green manures, and crops that can be raised to produce large quantities of carbon and compostable matter. The compost and green manure seeds include various clovers, fodder radish, vetches, bell beans, field peas, other legumes, and even a few edible greens that also serve as cover crops.

Phacelia tanacetifolia is a special green manure offered by Bountiful and described as a crop that will attract beneficial insects, improve the soil structure, and reduce nematodes in addition to producing material for the compost pile. They also offer a compost mix formula that contains a combination of various green manure seeds.

If you’re ready to try your hand at raising grains in the home garden, Bountiful Gardens has plenty of choices to get you started. You’ll find a number of different sorghums, hulless oats, Japanese millet, triticale, spelt, quinoa, and an assortment of ancient wheat varieties.

Other Gardening Resources Available

Bountiful Gardens is a great source for gardening books, research papers, and videos. Many of their book listings go beyond the basic “how to grow” topics and delve into more advanced subjects with titles such as:

• Roots Demystified
• Weeds and What They Tell
• Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties
• How to Make a Forest Garden
• Deerproofing Your Yard & Garden

Finally, there is also a range of organic gardening supplies available from Bountiful Gardens including; inoculants, an assortment of high quality and durable tools, plant protection devices, seed starting supplies, and organic insect controls.

Baker Creek always does things in a big way and touts themselves as the “Largest Heirloom Gardening Resource,” carrying an inventory of over 1200 different heirloom seed varieties. Even their seed catalog has more in common with a coffee table book than the typical seed catalog.

With 115 different types of squash seeds, over 140 varieties of heirloom melons, and close to two hundred tomatoes in an array of colors, sizes, shapes, and flavors, it isn’t difficult to be impressed with the diversity and selections offered by Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.

The Man Behind the Seeds

Baker Creek is based out of the Ozark Mountain area of Southern Missouri. The company is the brainchild and dream come true of Jere Gettle who grew up with a passion for seed collecting that often leads him to the remote locations of foreign countries in search of “new” heirlooms to add to the collection.

I’ve been a customer for close to ten years and during that time it has been a pleasure to deal with Jere and everyone that I’ve spoken with at Baker Creek. They are definitely towards the top of my list when it’s time to go shopping for heirloom vegetable seeds.

Despite the huge inventory of different seed varieties, there’s no need to worry about becoming lost or overwhelmed as you sort through them because their catalog and website at www.rareseeds.com is very well laid out, and easy to browse or order from. There are detailed descriptions for every heirloom variety along with gorgeous color photos of many of their offerings.

Baker Creek Heirloom Specialties

There isn’t much that you can’t find at Baker Creek, but I’m especially partial to their selections of heirloom eggplants (about 50 varieties), okras (over 20 listed), and the assortment of peas and beans. New crops that I’ve been exploring in recent years include cowpeas, long beans, bitter melons, and some of their exotic leafy greens.

If your thing is oddities, Baker Creek won’t disappoint with such rare and unusual seeds as Melocoton, Pepino Melons, Jaltomato, Dwarf Pomegranates, Strawberry Spinach, Thai Red Roselle, Snake Melons, African Horned Cucumbers, Wax Melons, and other curious plants that you won’t find growing in the average backyard garden.

If your tastes aren’t as exotic there are many different but more familiar sounding heirloom vegetable seeds to choose from including:

• Purple Podded Pole Beans
• Thai Long Green Eggplants
• Old-Time Tennessee Melons
• Black Aztec Sweet Corn
• Southern Giant Curled Mustard
• Japanese Climbing Cucumbers
• Blue Podded Garden Peas
• Amish Deer Tongue Lettuce
• Golden Marconi Peppers
• and Paul Robeson Tomatoes

Baker Creek rounds out their listings with a selection of herbs, flowers, seed collections, and gardening books. On their website you will also find a garden forum, schedule of upcoming events in “Bakersville,” a photo gallery, and more. If you decide to request just one heirloom seed catalog, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds would be a great choice!

I typically review what’s new and interesting from the veggie seed catalogs, or share the special heirloom varieties that will be finding their way into my garden for the first time during the upcoming season, but this year I thought I’d change up and provide a little information regarding some of my favorite heirloom seed companies.

For the Love of Heirloom Vegetables and Antique Fruits!

If you’re wondering why I make such a big deal over heirloom seeds check out a few of my previous articles introducing many of the heirlooms that have caught my eye and inspired me in the past:

• Heirloom Eggplants from Around the Globe
• Antique Apples for the Fruit Connoisseur
• Fish Peppers; an African-American Heirloom
• The Joy of Growing Heirloom Vegetables
• Attractive and Tasty Fingerling Potatoes
• Growing Heirloom Tomatoes for a Change of Pace

Yes I love heirloom seeds for the unique qualities and diversity that they bring to garden, and I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to be deprived of these priceless treasures.

The Precarious World of Open-Pollinated Seeds

I’m not the only gardener that is captivated by heirlooms or concerned by the unpleasant prospects of loosing even one of these cherished plants. Here are what a few others have shared about these extraordinary seeds, where they come from, and the importance of safeguarding and preserving them for future generations:

• The Case for Heirloom Bulbs: Heirlooms aren’t exclusive to the vegetable gardening world; you’ll find them seducing flower enthusiasts as well.

• Heirloom Gardening Defined: Patrick always offers an informative and interesting take on things pertaining to the state of seeds and “saving” them.

• Seed Snobs United: Anyone stuck on the belief that hybrid vegetable seeds offer the backyard gardeners’ best opportunity for a successful harvest?

• Roots of the Seed Industry: A lesson on the history of the commercial seed industry and some of the significant events that brought us to where we are today.

• Simple Pleasures of Seed Saving: Christa shares her thoughts and some really cool photos regarding the significance of saving seeds in her backyard garden.

• It’s a Seedy Business: Vanity Fair delves into the murky dealings that farmers are facing in those behind the scenes battles against the corporate seed giants.

Ready to add some excitement and variety/diversity to your own garden next season? Well consider adopting a few heirloom vegetables of your own, or take it a step further when you are ready by learning how to save your own seeds for old time’s sake.

Giving the Business to Heirloom Seed Growers

A recent inquiry from a visitor looking for a source to obtain Green Glaze Collard seeds made it clear that many gardeners are unaware of the dedicated seed suppliers that are devoted to distributing uncommon vegetable varieties to the home gardener. Over the next couple of weeks I’ll feature a number of articles about these intriguing heirloom seed companies and offer reviews of some of my favorites such as:

• Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
• Bountiful Garden Seeds
• Wild Garden Seed Company
  
• Seed Savers Exchange
  
• Filaree Farms

If you’ve never experienced the delights of heirloom vegetable gardening now’s the time to order a catalog and check out the “new” and interesting seed varieties that are perfect for the backyard gardener. Your support of these heirloom seed suppliers will help ensure that they are able to continue their missions of preserving these seeds from our past. These heirloom seed companies have my support and appreciation for the service they all provide!

Previous articles on this veggie gardening site covered tips for growing eggplants and discussed the exotic international roots of heirloom eggplant varieties.

Now there’s a new harvest maturing to provide additional images and examples of how colorful and interesting heirloom eggplants can be in the garden or the kitchen.

Tired and bored of the same old, dark purple eggplants that you’ve been purchasing from the local grocer? There are more choices and variety than you may have imagined, but the catch is that you’ll have to grow these babies yourself.

Here’s a collection of eggplants that are anything but normal or routine. The long and slender green fruits are “Thai Long Green”. The sweet and tender, long lavender eggplants are fruits from the “Ping Tung” variety.

“Listada De Gandia” is the purple and white stripped Italian beauty. Then there are three different purple fruited eggplants including “Black Champion” and “Gitana.” And finally, there’s one of my personal favorites, the huge radiant green, oval-shaped fruit of the variety called “Green Giant.”

That’s just the beginning, there are more fruits of other heirloom eggplant varieties in additional sizes, shapes, and colors that I’ll be sharing as the season progresses.