It's all coming down to the harvest. You plan, you plant, you pray. And now the moment of truth.
Things are looking very good.
This afternoon we harvested a new bean, Hutterite Soup. It's a pale yellow and supposedly has a very thin skin making it ideal for soups and chowder. The plant responded well to California.
The harvester is somewhat of a Rube Goldberg-type machine. The machine rolls over aisles of podded beans and after some rough massaging, beans come out almost clean. The pods are ejected out the back but before they make their way down, they're cut up by a circular blade that helps them to decompose, making them a sort of green manure.
There are some dirt clods and debris but most of the cleaning is actually done here in the field.
The whole operation is very loud and the machinery shakes like the '06 quake, but the result is glorious beans!
After we finished this field, we wondered over to another and I want to show you your future:
This photo is me in the fields holding a huge mound of, sit down, Good Mother Stallard, everyone's favorite bean.
I'm sorry to say the harvest won't be anywhere near enough to last the year. but it's a start!
It’s very cool to see how this works, and that you put the plant material back into the soil
I just hope the Good Mother Stallard last long enough to let me buy some!
I bought some Good Mother Stallard seeds to plant this year, but we ended up moving in the middle of planting season. We are going to try them next year. However, could you give me a description of the flavor and texture? Any beans they resemble?
I’ve been meaning to ask about a black bean that isn’t related to kidney beans that still have the good, rich, earthy black bean taste, too. Thank you so much!
When I was a kid, I drove a peaviner one summer (I always worked in the fields or the cannery during the summers) It looks very similar to that harvester. Brings back memories!
LOVED that peek at harvesting! Kind of reassuring in some strange way.