Geek.Farm.Life

Comment by kim

June 23, 2008 @ 5:31 pm

Hey guys, on a previous barncast you had mentioned the cherokee trail of tears bean, I was just wondering how it has grown for you guys and how you stored it and what other types of beans you have tried and stored. I know you have talked a lot about green beans and how you put them by but just wondering about other beans. thanks so much.

Comment by misty

June 23, 2008 @ 6:45 pm

Hi Kim! We love the Cherokee Trail of Tears. They are ideal because you can use them as green beans or dried beans.

We also liked the Kentucky Wonder, but they did not dehydrate as well — they stayed pretty tough. They also seemed to have more strings. But they made really good frozen green beans.

We haven’t had great luck with other dried beans, especially the bush beans. We can’t seem to keep them weeded well enough, though we are trying again this year. One really interesting one is called Calypso, and the bean looks like a yin/yang symbol. We tried to grow those a couple years but could never keep up with the weeds and got a very poor yield.

Comment by Jeannine from Pittsburgh

June 24, 2008 @ 11:52 am

Hi Guys,

Here’s the link to the urban farm in California I was talking about:
http://pathtofreedom.com/
They are really at the extreme end of sustainable living. But it’s pretty inspiring to see what can be grown on so small a plot!

Here’s a link to my friend’s Urban farm in Pittsburgh:
http://www.growpittsburgh.org/growpittsburgh/Resources/GardenDreams

Comment by kim

June 25, 2008 @ 11:39 am

Thanks for the reply, do the cherokee trail of tears beans dry black (it looks like it in pictures I have seen)? Do they seem like a good substitute for regular store bought black beans? I was hoping to grow and dry them next year for that purpose. Thanks so much. Love the podcast!

Comment by misty

June 25, 2008 @ 11:45 am

They dry a dark purple, I believe. They are suitable as black beans. We honestly didn’t dry a lot of them because we dehydrated them as green beans. This year we planted a TON more plants so I am sure we will be letting a good number of the beans dry!

Comment by warren

June 25, 2008 @ 4:18 pm

We planted a bunch of black beans this year. I am curious if the yields between them and cherokee trail of tears beans are much different. I saw them in one of the seedsaver-like catalogs and was curious. Please keep us up to date on how your dried beans do…I love them but haven’t experimented much on varieties

Comment by kim

June 25, 2008 @ 9:19 pm

I was wondering what beans are planted that are a black bean, it seems whenever I look at seed savers catalogs there is never anything that is a “black bean”. The calypso bean you mentioned looks like a pretty good substitue, did you dry any of them and are they also good as a green bean?

Comment by kim

June 25, 2008 @ 9:32 pm

P.S. I am really new to beans if it isnt apparent, I have always been a summer tomato, basil and pepper gardener and am trying to expand my garden. Thanks so much for all the info, I love hearing about all your experiences putting food by.

Comment by misty

June 26, 2008 @ 8:13 am

We never had good success with the Calypsos and never got enough to even make one meal! That’s more a reflection on us than the bean though.

We are not bean experts either. :) Here is some info on black beans: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_beans