Baked Beans & Books

So I decided I wanted to grow some dry beans this year, with the goal of making baked beans on the woodstove this winter.

Agway didn't have any (plenty of greenbean varieties though!), and Putnam Co-Op was already closed. I need to plant them ASAP, so no time for mail order.

So I took a trip up to Old Sturbridge Village which sells heirloom seeds in their gift shop.

Picked up a packet of "Soldier" beans and their last packet of "Jacob's Cattle" -- two of the several varieties suggested to me on a thread I started at the organic gardening board I like to hang out at.

Those added up to $5.69.

And while I was there I picked up $65 worth of books:



*sigh*...that's going to take an awful lot of baked beans to capitalize out that expense. But I should have lots of good reading this summer.

Not sure yet were the beans will get planted, I may need to till up a strip of my lawn near the house as a new "bean patch" for this year. Next year I can plan for them inside the fence where I already planted tomatoes this year.

Just counted them up -- 100 Jacob's Cattle Beans, at 4" spacing that's 32' of row, while there's 260 Soldier Beans which will need 86' of row. Hmmm, might not be planting all of them :)

On the plus side, beans are probably the easiest of all seeds to save so you don't need to buy them in the future. They don't hybridize easily naturally like squash, and heritage varieties like these are not hybrids themselves like most tomatoes or corn. So I may add some new varieties next year, but I shouldn't need to buy more Soldiers or Jacob's Cattle.