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For the year 2009 we have forty-one heirloom bean seed varieties for sale and ten varieties of heirloom tomato seeds. We also have one heirloom field pea and are offering a "bean medley" packet. Not all beans from years past are available, but several varieties not offered before are offered this year. As with the past two summers, we encountered weather problems with some varieties and deer problems with others. Our total number of heirloom bean varieties continues to grow, now totaling over 400 which is up from only thirty varieties eleven years ago. The total now includes over thirty greasy bean varieties. This is due to an increasing interest in heirloom varieties and the desire of many people who have heirloom varieties in their possession to preserve them and have them made available to a larger number of people. Publicity from television shows, newspaper and magazine articles and radio news stories has led many people to share their family heirlooms with us. The internet has also been very important in making contact with those who have heirlooms in their possession. We specialize in Southern Appalachian heirlooms, but many of our best and purest seeds have come from many states where Appalachian people have migrated to for work. Many individuals living far from where they were raised held on to their family beans and regional beans as well and are often anxious to share them. Some states from which we have received beans include Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Oregon, Idaho and Washington. We now have about thirty Appalachian heirloom tomato varieties and are also getting more each year. There are not nearly as many heirloom tomato varieties as there are bean varieties, but some of the best tomato varieties in existence are from the Southern Appalachians, usually the product of dedicated individuals who, for decades, saved seeds from their most tender, flavorful and disease resistant plants. An heirloom tomato improved over a period of fifty years by one person usually has much more going for it that a hybrid tomato bred for three or four years, largely for shipping and shelf life purposes which is now the case with most hybrids. It has come to our attention that the Dade Bean, which has a long history of being grown both as a garden bean and as a commercial bean, is no longer available from commercial sources. We had a near crop failure with our Dade beans during the summer of 2008 and are unable to ship any seeds during 2009. However, we will make every effort to produce a good quantity of these beans during the summer of 2009. Any person wishing to help us bring back the Dade should contact me by phone or email, and we might be able to work together to increase the supply. It is one of the few commercial varieties that has not been toughened and could again become an important bean in the future. Our seeds are listed and described in alphabetical order. Many are limited to one pack per order since we want to spread the beans as widely as possible and we have few beans of some varieties. Some varieties, marked with an asterisk*, can be seen in photos in an article on our website under the title: "Heirloom Beans" which was written eleven years ago.
*Anna Robe-Terry Bean: From Anna Robe-Terry, this white cornfield bean from West Virginia is very tender and comes in two variants, one slightly longer than the other. * Barnes Mountain Bean: From Barnes Mountain in Estill County, Kentucky. Large white beans with very tender hulls. A favorite of farmers' market customers * Big John: This white-seeded bean is from the Harlan/Letcher county area in Southeastern Kentucky. It is well known in that area as an excellent fresh bean, canning bean, and shuck bean. Big Laurel: From the Big Laurel area of Madison County, North Carolina. This bean is a mixture of two or three white-seeded greasy beans ranging from three to six inches long. One packet per customer Bill Stumbo Half-Runner: This is an heirloom white half runner from Floyd County, Kentucky. Runners are from three to five feet long. Very tender unlike commercial half runners. One packet per customer Brown Tobacco Worm Bean: This light brown bean was originally given to me by Sam Baker from Dry Branch in Estill County, Kentucky. One packet per customer Case Knife Bean: White seeded variant of very old heirloom
bean. Cherokee Greasy: Excellent white greasy bean from the Cherokee in Western North Carolina. One packet per customer Cherokee Long Greasy: Another excellent white greasy from
the Cherokee. * Doyce Chambers Greasy Cut-Short: Long white-seeded greasy bean grown for years by Doyce Chambers. * Edwards Bean: From the Edwards Family in Jackson County, KY Flavorful and tender, this is a light brown bean with darker brown stripes. * Goose Bean: A deep beige bean grown throughout the Southern Appalachians, the original seeds were supposedly taken from the craw of a wild goose shot by a hunter. This large and tender bean is one of the most popular Appalachian beans. * Grady Bailly Greasy Cut-Short: This white-seeded greasy bean is from the Polk County area of North Carolina and one of our best sellers. One packet per customer Grandma Barnett Bean: From Frank Barnett of Georgetown,
Kentucky this large mottled bean was grown by his grandmother
in Floyd County, Kentucky. Hill Family Bean: From the Upper Crabtree community of
Haywood County, NC, this bean was given to me by Ben and Clarine
Best to grow during the summer of 2008. Grown for well over a
hundred years by the Hill family, it is also the first bean I
remember as a child, over 70 years ago, because of its many colored
beans which I picked from the bottoms of corn stalks while my
mother picked the ones higher up. The seeds contain 8 distinctive
shapes or colors. A very flavorful and colorful greasy bean. Jack Kelly Butterbean: A white seeded butterbean from
Eastern Kentucky. Lazy Daisy: This is one of the most striking of the greasy beans being very uniform in size with white beans evenly spaced. It was given to my mother by our cousin, Luther Best, when both were in their eighties. One packet per customer * Lazy Wife Greasy: This is one of many heirloom greasy beans from Madison County, North Carolina. It is the largest greasy bean I know about. One packet per customer Logan Giant:SOLD OUT for 2009 This is one of the best of the large cornfield beans and is from Logan County, West Virginia. Light blue/gray with brown streaks One packet per customer Margaret Best Greasy: This short greasy is from the Upper Crabtree community in Haywood County, NC. Full and tender with white seeds. One packet per customer Myers Family Bean: A slender white cornfield bean from Greene County, Tennessee. * Nickell Bean: A slender white cornfield bean from Morgan County, Kentucky. This is one of the first twenty beans of my collection. Excellent texture and flavor * North Carolina Long Greasy: This white-seeded bean is from Madison and Buncombe Counties in North Carolina and the top selling bean at the Western Carolina Farmers Market. One packet per customer North Carolina Market Greasy Cut-Short: This white-seeded bean is from the Western Carolina Farmers Market and thought by the vendor to be from Madison County, NC. It contains two variants of greasy beans. One packet per customer North Carolina Speckled Long Greasy Cut-Short: This is one of the favorite greasy beans at the Western Carolina Farmers Market. It is also one of the longest greasy beans and is tan colored with darker brown specks. One packet per customer NT (non-tough) Half-Runner: Stabilized over several years by Bill Best, this white-seeded half-runner is one of the most tender and flavorful beans available. This is our best selling heirloom bean and an excellent choice for eating fresh and canning. Excellent for making shuck beans because of its tender hull and large seeds, it is also a heavy yielding bean. Old Joe Clark Bean: This bean is sometimes known as the Pink Half Runner and as the Peanut Bean. It is an early bean with short runners and is more productive if supported in some fashion. Some people do grow it as a bush bean, but it is less productive that way. Ora's Speckled Bean: This is a small greasy bean from Jackson County, KY. It is a cut-short speckled bean with a high ratio of bean to hull. Exceptionally tender and flavorful. One packet per customer Partridge Head Bean: This bean is widely grown in South-Central
Kentucky and in the Cumberland Plateau area of Tennessee. This
bean has a high ratio of bean to hull and makes an excellent shelly
bean. The light brown seed has dark brown stripes as well. Pete Ingram Fall Bean: This is a deep red fall or October bean from the Knott County area of Eastern Kentucky. Seed is from Pete Ingram. One packet per customer Pink Tip Greasy: One of many pink tip varieties of beans, this is the only pink tip greasy bean that I know of. From the Bethel area of Haywood County, NC, this white-seeded bean is excellent for many uses. One packet per customer. Ram's Horn Bean: Striking in appearance with its distinctive
hook on the end, this slender white-seeded bean is very tender.
Seed is canoe shaped. Robe Mountain Bean: A large white-seeded cornfield bean, this bean originated over twenty-five years ago as a mutant which bred true in an isolated row of small brown greasy beans. One packet per customer * Rose Bean: A very large blue-speckled cornfield bean, this bean comes from the Rose family in Panola, Madison County, KY. One packet per customer * Seay Cut-Short: An heirloom white-seeded cut-short from Buncombe County, NC. It was given to me by Mary Ellen McLaughlin whose husband's family developed the bean. Small Lazy Wife: This white bean is from the same area in Madison County, NC where the Lazy Wife bean is found but is smaller and less curved. One packet per customer Small Speckled Greasy Cut-Short: From West Virginia, this bean is a small brown-speckled greasy cut-short with seeds packed tightly. Given to me by Lothar Baumann whose brother obtained it while working in West Virginia. One packet per customer * Striped Hull Greasy Cut-Short: From Jackson County, KY, this is a small tightly packed greasy cut-short with white seeds. Many hulls have light green streaks on them. This is one of the first beans in our collection and one of our customer favorites. * Tennessee Cornfield Bean: From the Putnam County area of Tennessee, seeds of this bean were given to me by Harold and Bernease Wallace of Lexington, KY. over twenty years ago. This brown seeded bean is quite good for eating fresh, canning, or making into shuck beans. * Tobacco Worm Bean: From the Estill and Lee county area of Kentucky, this white-seeded bean gets its name from its large beans and thin hull. When fully mature its shape is often distorted and it begins to resemble a large tobacco worm. It has been long a favorite bean in areas where it has been raised. Turkey Craw Bean: This bean is the dominant heirloom bean in an area within a hundred mile radius of Cumberland Gap where the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia join. Brown on one end and buff on the other, it is often sold at farmers' markets and roadside stands. One packet per customer Whippoorwill Pea: This was our first summer growing this pea, and we have a limited number of seeds to share. The plants were very productive and were still bearing when the first frost arrived. Seeds are speckled. One packet per customer
Boyd Smith Yellow German: An excellent Yellow German variant from Boyd Smith in Western North Carolina. We have grown this tomato for a number of years, but this is our first year to make seeds available to others. Black Pear: One of the best of the black tomatoes, this tomato is pear shaped with a complex flavor and six to eight ounces in size. Claude Brown's Yellow Giant: Seeds of this tomato were given to me more than twenty years ago by Claude Brown of Pike County, Kentucky. He had worked on improving it for decades. An excellent tasting large, deep-yellow, tomato, this is our first year to offer seeds. John Allen Yellow German: This small Yellow German tomato has the yellow color and red stripes of its larger cousins but weighs only five to six ounces on average. It has the sweet flavor of the other Yellow German types but is small enough to eat without having to keep part of it for another meal. It is thought to be an Amish heirloom. Margaret Best Yellow Tommy Toe: Grown for many years by Margaret Best of Haywood County, North Carolina, this yellow cherry type tomato is more acid than most modern hybrid yellow cherry tomatoes. It will dominate a salad and is also good for snacks. Pink Plum: This is an excellent plum type tomato from Western North Carolina. Tasty with good yields. Willard Wynn Tomato: Grown in Rockcastle County, KY for many years by Willard Wynn, this Yellow German variant is well adapted to the Southern Appalachians and a high yielding tomato. Fruits are smooth but rarely completely round. Worley Red: This is a red oxheart-shaped paste tomato that also has good flavor. It is the only red tomato that we offer. Vinson Watts Tomato: Offered the first time two years ago, this tomato has proven to be quite popular with many people. Prior to his death in March, 2008, Vinson Watts improved his namesake tomato for fifty-two summers. The original seed was from Lee County, Virginia and given to him by his work supervisor, Wilson Evans, at Berea College. Those interested in the story of his tomato can look it up on the internet since several articles in newspapers and magazines have been written about Watts and his tomato. The tomato is a large pink tomato flavored with an excellent balance of sugars and acids. It is the most disease resistant tomato that I know of-the result of 52 summers of careful selection for flavor, texture, and disease resistance. Yellow Pear: This is one of the old-time favorites for preserving (canning or pickling) and has a good flavor in salads or when eaten raw. SPECIAL BEAN SEED OFFERING Each winter and spring we do numerous germination tests to make sure that the beans we are sending to growers are still germinating well. For the past two summers, we have planted the resultant plants in rows and sell the beans grown that way at farmers' markets. This "medley" of beans is very appealing to a lot of customers. This year, we are also going to sell a medley of seeds from the seeds that matured from the mixture of beans in various germination tests. These packages contain 125 to 150 seeds and are priced the same as the other beans. The bean medley package might be appealing to gardeners new to heirlooms to give them some idea of some of the diversity of bean varieties. Those ordering seven packets of beans will be given a free packet of bean medley beans while those ordering 12 or more packets will receive two free packets. Ordering Instructions: Send us a list of the varieties of bean and tomato seeds you wish to purchase along with your return address. We require payment before the seeds are shipped so please enclose a check or money order made out to SMAC. (Sorry, we don't accept credit card orders.) Mail your order to the following address: SMAC Beans are $7.00 if only one packet is ordered but $6.00 per packet for two or more packets. This includes packaging, postage, and handling. Packets of most varieties of bean will contain approximately 100 seeds while packets of Goose beans will contain at least 50 beans and packets of the Rose Bean will contain at least 75. Packets of the "Bean Medley" will contain 125 to150 seeds. Tomato seeds are $4.00 per packet of 30+ seeds which includes packaging and postage. In case we are out of a particular variety of bean or tomato, please include a phone number or email address so that we may contact you to see if you want a refund or a substitution. Please note that we are a not-for-profit organization and all of the money made from our seed distribution goes to help pay for college student interns working for us each summer. If you have questions or comments, please email me at bill_best@heirlooms.org or call me at 859-986-3204 after 8:00 p.m. Eastern time. My mailing address is: Bill Best IMPORTANT NOTE: We have been collecting heirloom beans for over thirty years. Many of them are regional beans, but the vast majority are family beans which have been in families for generations. We don't always acquire them in a pure state so you might find some beans in your garden that do not appear to be true to form When you are saving seeds to plant the following summer (and we hope you do), try to keep those plants isolated and save those that are most true to form. On the other hand, if you have a plant that is notably different from the others, you might wish to save it separately since it may be a true breeding cross or a mutation. Such is the way new varieties come about. We have found it best to store seeds in a refrigerator or freezer in an airtight container. If allowed to become too warm, they might become infested with bean weevils and this can become a serious problem. Beans are not supposed to cross since pollination occurs prior
to the bloom opening. And bumblebees are not supposed to be able
to fly because of the way their bodies are constructed. However,
bumblebees do fly and can rip open bean blossoms while pollination
is taking place and cross pollination can and does occur. We have
found that Goose Beans in particular are prone to cross, and we
would recommend that they be grown in isolation as much as possible
if you intend to save seeds of this bean. |