Beans
Thoreau tried to “make the earth say beans instead of grass,” by growing beans during his experiment living in the woods near Walden, Massachusetts. He proved a better philosopher than farmer. He detested the drudgery of hoeing his large, unfenced bean field and eventually traded most of his bean harvest away and gave the rest over to the “pests” snatching his beans. “Do they not grow for woodchucks partly?” Before his first bean harvest, Thoreau decided not to grow them again, although he grew wiser from the experience. Like him I ask “what shall I learn of beans and beans of me?” Beans prove their worth for the gardener or homesteader, making them well worth the effort to cultivate them, with a little know-how. Thoreau might not have had much success but at least he picked the proper crop on which to focus an entire chapter of Walden, giving him plenty of food for thought. Pole beans grow very fast and tall. To wit: Jack and the Beanstalk. They offer very balanced, jam-packed nutrition, and they plant and store well. They so tasty too! 2+ years of a vegetarian diet have proven that beans hold their own as a crucial form of nutrition, and one of our main sources of protein, iron, and fiber. Without black beans or lentils I would die, or at least suffer malnutrition. A meatless diet must find ways to fill the (perceived) lack of protein that animal carcasses provide. Truthfully, western diets obsess over protein more than necessary. You know that feeling after eating a huge burger or steak when you don’t want to move or do anything? That might be protein overdose. Beans are super good for you, hitting you with reasonably high amounts of protein , as well as offering iron, fiber, and flexibility, since they can be prepared so many different ways. Look to the diets of traditional peasant societies across the globe and you will find millions if not billions of people living well off of rice and beans in various forms.
Beans in the supermarket aisles means dried or canned beans of only a few varieties. Black beans, red kidney beans, lima beans, garbanzo or chick peas, white beans…not too much variety. The produce section will offer green or “string” beans and maybe even the yellow variety of wax beans, very similar to green beans. The aisles of a farmers field will display countless more varieties of beans, more flavorful, more nutritious, more colorful and just more beautiful than the supermarket. Small scale farmers have the freedom to grow and eat whichever kind of beans suits their climate, soil, and taste. All major supermarkets, on the other hand, stock varieties that have been bred specifically for appearance, or the ability to look good after traveling thousands of miles from producer to consumer in cans. The same holds for all other fruits and vegetables. The concern of the large, commercial farmer, middlemen distributers, and markets is dependability, NOT flavor or nutritional value. Leaving the average grocery store consumer with few if any options for fresh beans. I happily buy canned black beans or those waxy string beans because that is what the grocery store sells. Farmers markets offer one way to buy beans directly and freshly. Now on the farm I am interested to grow and eat a glorious plethora of different beans, including the featured food, scarlet runner beans. The spotlight shines on scarlet runners, as we explore their entire lifecycle, from seed to plant, harvest, meal, and back again to seed.
Scarlet runner beans, Phaseolus coccineus, native to the mountains of Central America, hooked me with their attractive color and luster. The stalks grow up to 9 ft high, so they need a pole for their mighty beanstalk. Driftwood from the beach, in our case. The red flowers attract hummingbirds and other beneficial pollinators to the garden. Scarlet runners can be eaten as a whole pod like a string bean, or individual beans can be gathered and enjoyed fresh or dried and cooked later. And soooo pretty! Beans clearly evolved to look attractive so that we might cultivate and eat them. Now we breed for traits that we want such as color or flavor, but the otherwordly purple, magenta, and black hues of scarlet runners remind me of our ancestors, when humans lived off the land and used our senses and intelligence to find the best foods suitable for consumption. We still carry these innate behaviors, only now we use our senses to sort through the best produce on the supermarket or farmers market shelves.
This spring we planted 24 scarlet runner bean plants around 6 poles in our garden, where each pole has 4 plants crawling up it in search of heaven, sunlight and air. When Thoreau grew beans he grew frustrated from the constant ability of weeds and woodchucks to undermine his attempts to control nature. How will we fare?
Stay tuned for updates as the scarlet runner beans grow!
