Bean Bank

One of the last items we harvested this season was beans. Not only did we pick beans for eating, canning, and freezing, but we also made dried beans. They are a good source of protein, and take up much less space than other preservation methods. Maggie has been shelling string beans for a couple of seasons, but this year I also planted several heirloom varieties of runner beans that were bred specifically for dried bean use. These included Turkey Craw, Mayflower, Old Mother Stallard, and Vera's Cranberry. I also planted Bandy, a black lima bean. Most were purchased from Seed Savers Exchange, but a couple were from a seed swap at the Madison Garden Expo in February

We had a little extra space and some extra cattle panel sections, so I built four vertical trellises in the back of the garden and planted a different variety on each one.

Other than some initial weeding, the beans were maintenance-free. We let them grow all summer and set pods. The key is to store the beans as dry as possible so they do not mold, so we left the pods to dry on the vine as long as possible before harvesting.

Over several weeks, I harvested the pods and left them to dry in the basement with a dehumidifier to draw out additional moisture. The beans were then shelled and placed into canning jars with perforated lids. Maggie accumulated all her beans in a large bowl and let them air dry in the kitchen.

Once the last of the beans were shelled, we ran them through the food dehydrator for a day, and placed them back into jars for storage.

I ended up with about six and a half pounds of heirloom dried beans, and Maggie saved an additional 5 pounds of various string beans. They ended up being a wide variety of color and size. The cranberry beans are a larger kidney bean that is white with purple specks. The Old Mother Stallard beans are smaller and a bright white and purple. The Mayflower beans are a redish small 'cut bean', while the Turkey Craw and the dried string beans are a variety of browns and tans. I like to separate then by type, whereas Maggie likes to save hers as mixed beans. They all look pretty in jars.

We have already used some of our bean bank in chili. Bean soup and refried beans are next on the menu. We will also save some for next year's garden. I recently noticed the Viroqua Library will have a seed swap next March. We plan to save a few beans and swap them to pay forward the beans we got this year.