Beans

(P. vulgaris) 'Biruma', or 'Burma Beans' are a very small dry bean grown as a regional food in Hokkaido, presumably from Burmese origins. About the size of an adzuki bean it is well suited for soups and stews. It keeps its shape well and maintains a firm texture even with...

(P. vulgaris) Known for their distinctive black and white markings, these beauties set abundant fruit and finish even in the late and cool growing seasons we “sometimes” experience in the PNW. With 4-6 seeds per pod, you’ll be rewarded with steaming pots of chili and soup just when the weather...

(P. vulgaris) The climate of Brittany on France’s Atlantic coast is not so dissimilar from our Pacific Northwest with its wet shoulder seasons and cool summers, so when we heard there was a regionally famous white bean, (with its own AOC protection of origin status) we thought it was worth...

(P. vulgaris) On brisk Fall evenings in November, we begin to share meals with friends that we have since learned are fit for nobility! A small pot of simmering Flageolet beans, a sprinkling of sage and salt, and a generous helping of good olive oil topped with freshly picked and...

(P. vulagaris) Why is no one planting these beans?! Now, we cannot make you, but you will be happy if you sow these and then eat them. Promise! Also, we will be happy, and spreading happiness is always a win...♥ In a brief mention of this charming variety, buried within...

*Ark of Taste Heirloom* (P. vulgaris) Once believed to have been brought over from Ukraine by the Hutterites, a Christian sect, in the mid-1800s, this bean is now thought by some to be a selection from the China Yellow bean, widely grown since the early 1800s. Among the best for...

(P. vulgaris) An old English heirloom variety brought to Canada in the 1920s, they are said to be named after the Ireland Creek Farm in BC where they’ve been grown since the ’30s. Cool-season tolerant and very early maturing, they bear long pods on heavily laden bush plants. A VERY...

*Ark of Taste Heirloom* (P. vulgaris) A legendary northeast variety that has been shown for centuries to thrive in tough northern climates. Local stories claim this Prince Edward Island heirloom to have been a gift from the Passamaquoddy tribe to Joseph Clark, the first white child born in Lubec, ME....

(P. vulgaris) This beautiful bean is the product of a stabilized cross between the classic “Jacob’s Cattle” and “Paint”. Early, large, and prolific they’ve found a lasting place in our dry bean collection. The mottled, speckled gold and white beans are about the size of pintos with a rich flavor...

(P. vulgaris) As far as beans go, yellow eyes are about as quintessentially Maine as lobstah & wild blueberries. The plump, creamy white beans sport a molasses-yellow mark around the hilum and are the business for authentic New England-style baked beans. Kenearly is the variety of choice amongst a couple...

*Ark of Taste Heirloom* (P. vulgaris) A family heirloom from one of the six original members of the Seed Savers Exchange (now the largest public participation heirloom seed organization in the world). These beans are said to have been brought by Lina’s grandmother to Missouri by covered wagon in the...

(P. vulgaris) Also known as Marafax, or Marifax, This beloved New England bean has a long but difficult-to-track history, said by some to have been introduced by the federal government to “Downeast” Maine during the Depression. Medium-sized, round, buff-brown beans are rich in flavor and very well adapted to cool...

*Ark of Taste Heirloom*(P. vulgaris) Every Ash Wednesday, about 100k NW of Rome in the town of Gradoli, the townspeople gather for the Pranzo del Purgatorio or ‘Purgatory Lunch’ organized by the Confraternità del Purgatorio, a truly humble meal of fish, wine, and white beans cooked with salt, pepper, and...

*Ark of Taste Heirloom*(P. vulgaris) An heirloom from the Coupeville area of Central Whidbey Island in WA, it is named after the late 1800’s pioneer Elisha Rockwell who brought it to the area. Though it never became a commercial crop, the bean has remained popular in homestead gardens for well...

*Ark of Taste Heirloom* (P. vulgaris) Years ago, when our son was barely able to ride in a bike seat, we spent a lovely afternoon bicycling around the renaissance-era walls of the beautiful northern Tuscan city of Lucca. It is from the plains surrounding the picturesque city that these speckled...

(P. vulgaris) Also known as Pepa de Zappalo, this heirloom comes originally from Chile and Argentina. For those who value dry beans for their aesthetic beauty as well as their taste, Tiger's Eye is practically without peer. The large flat beans are mustard yellow with burgundy swirls. Worth growing for...

(P. vulgaris) This medium-sized beige bush bean comes from the town of Quarto d’Altino, about halfway between Venice and Treviso, where it is traditionally used for soups and pasta e fagioli. A gift from our friends Leila and Chandler of Hayshaker Farm, it seemed very much at home in our...

*Ark of Taste Heirloom* (P. vulgaris) During the 1999 World Trade Organization Meeting’s “Battle in Seattle,” while protests and chaos reigned in the streets, inside the proceedings, Italian Agricultural Minister Paolo de Castro stood up and waved a bag of beans in the faces of the assembled neoliberal bureaucrats. The...

(P. vulgaris) Truly a remarkable bean in growing habit, taste, and appearance. Large (6”), flat, and wonderfully tasty pods of a uniquely beautiful iridescent hot pink color that remind us quite a bit of magentaspreen. The bushy plants are very productive over a long period. You need not fret if...

(P. vulgaris) We generally regard purple beans as we do purple bell peppers or purple kale, which is, quite nice to look at, but nothing that tastes remotely as good as it looks (and often even that phrasing is too polite). Enter Blooming Prairie, passed along to us from Dan...

(P. vulgaris) Large, flat-podded, sweet, and wonderfully juicy wax beans that have both flavor and beauty! It took only one bite for our market customers to decide that these creamy white and purple striped beans were indeed great eating and not just a visual novelty. You will love them, and...

(P. vulgaris) Empress is simply our best bush green bean for both eating quality and yield. We usually grow Provider as our first succession for its strength in cool soil germination and then Empress for the rest of the season. Vigorous plants are heavy with  long, straight 6-7” pods. Crisp...

(P. vulgaris) Our dear friend and long-time employee, Rio, has been encouraging us to seek out a good yellow wax bean to sell for years, and we finally found one in the 'Gold Rush.' Plants are VERY productive, hanging heavy with beautiful, straight, slender pods. Easy to see amidst the...

(P. vulgaris) Provider is the classic early green bean variety, known to excel in cooler soil germination. Heavy yields of fleshy 5-7" pods atop compact plants were always the first of our direct-seeded green beans at market. Rich green bean taste. Maroon/purple seeded.50 days. EO Packet size: 1oz (~90 seeds)...

(P. vulgaris) In the city of Tarbes, at the foot of the Pyrenees in southwest France, a cooperative of growers produces one of the most renowned white beans in Europe. The variety is called Alaric (named for a local canal), and the purpose is singular: Cassoulet. Alaric holds the unusual...

(P. vulgaris) This beautiful pole bean takes its name from the Canadian gardener who brought it from Russia to southern Manitoba, where it has been maintained since. Vigorous, fast-growing vines produce a prolific set of large, plump, stunning half cream/half burgundy beans. Said by some to be good in its...

(P. vulgaris) Borlotto, or cranberry beans (as they are known in the US) are a staple of northern Italian cuisine, and none is prized more than the famed Borlotto Lamon of the Veneto. For years Anthony and Carol Boutard maintained the variety at Ayers Creek Farm in Gaston, Oregon from...

(P. vulgaris) Gialèt, also known as "Fasol Biso" and "Solferino," has been grown in the Val Belluna of Northern Italy since the early 20th century. This area of the Veneto, in the foothills of the Dolomites, is significant as one of the first places in Italy where beans were seriously...

(P. vulgaris) One of the most beautiful beans we've ever seen, Kaimame has impressed us for the past two seasons with its earliness and heavy sets. Hailing from Hokkaido, Japan the name means "shell bean" for its striped blue and black swirls that resemble the concentric patterning of oyster or...

(P. vulgaris) (aka “Dove’s Breast”) This Portuguese bean is one of the most beautiful in our collection: large and plump, half pure white, the other half speckled beige and burgundy. Though we list them as a pole bean, they display more of a half-running habit to about 4-5’, thus benefiting...

(P. vulgaris) Angelo Pellegrini (1904-1991) is a Seattle area legend. His recipe for basil pesto written for Sunset Magazine in 1946 was likely the first pesto recipe ever published in the US. An Italian immigrant, food writer, and Professor of English at UW, he left us with a body of...

*Ark of Taste Heirloom* (P. vulgaris) Years ago, we (read “Brian”) developed an obsession for collecting the classic regional white beans of northern Italy and France. “Sorana”, a famed pole bean of Tuscany proved difficult to find and we are thankful to Josh Volk and Lane Selman for tracking some...

(P. vulgaris) We consider ourselves true connoisseurs when it comes to appreciating the beauty of dry beans, and I have to say, I have never been quite so mesmerized by a bean as I was cracking open pods of San Bernardo Blue the first summer we grew it. Originally collected...

*Ark of Taste Heirloom* (P. vulgaris) As the title of an article in The Atlantic about the Basque black bean proclaimed a few years ago, Alubia di Tolosa is indeed “The Most Famous Bean in Spain”. Complete with its own “Brotherhood of the Bean”, a harvest festival in Tolosa, a Slow...

(P. coccineus) This is a real dandy of a runner bean, vigorously growing 8-10’ and bearing a profusion of showy bright red blossoms loved by butterflies and hummingbirds. Our son Rowan has grown many an “Emperor” shelter and they are a stunning sight to behold! Often grown just as an...

(P. vulgaris) We present you with a delicious French filet green bean that remains completely stringless, tender, and sweet while growing to over 11” in length. Wonderfully nutty and rich with the intense flavor of a filet bean. Smooth and sultry. There, I said it. If a bean can be...

(P. vulgaris) We have become very picky over the years when it comes to flavor with fresh beans and think it’s a tragically overlooked quality in modern bean breeding that focuses too much on looks and yields alone. We have tried and turned down several recommended varieties because they simply don’t...

(P. vulgaris) We started growing this bean on the recommendation of a customer who feared her favorite strain of it, from the old “Cooks Garden” catalog, would get lost after they were bought by Burpee’s several years ago. Italian for “purple triumph”, it’s a strong climber with exceptionally long, slender,...

*Ark of Taste Heirloom* (Lathyrus sativus) Sometimes it takes a while for things to come back into fashion. This unusual legume is said by some to be among the first cultivated food plants, predating even grain-based agriculture. Once a common peasant food in Central Italy, Cicerchia had fallen off the...

(Vigna unguiculata) Because cowpeas are often associated with southern warmer climes, they tend to be unknown to most northern growers as field crops. Fast Lady is a very small-seeded strain selected by Oregon breeder Carol Deppe for success in cool season, northern growing. They have a beautiful growing form with...

(Vicia faba) One of the oldest cultivated plants, fava popularity is on the rise! Wonderfully nutritious and delicious, they can be found in everything from elegant to rustic seasonal preparations on the tables of food lovers everywhere. Fall planted, they are one of the culinary harbingers of the spring harvest...

(Vicia faba) We are always appreciative of varieties that bring new color into our leguminous lives. We had seen purple and of course, green fava beans aplenty, but the pink blush of this Polish variety was enough to stop us in our tracks. Fat green pods conceal the voluptuous beauties...

(Cicer arietinum) One of our favorite discoveries of the past several years, we enjoy spending an inordinate amount of time keeping these pristine and weed-free as they are such a priority for us. Everything from their desire to be Spring planted with the peas to their delicate leaf and plant...

(Lens culinaris) We have fallen hard for growing lentils these past few years. While not as high-yielding as their leguminous dry-bean cousins, if you have a bit of space to commit, we have found them very easy, reliable, and rewarding in our cool maritime climate. Sometimes referred to as “the...

In Italy, Tuscans are sometimes referred to as mangiafagioli (the bean eaters) on account of the importance that legumes play in the day to day cuisine of the region. We’ve collected a number of the classic regional Tuscan beans over the years and this sampler represents some of our favorites....

(Lupinus albus) I am surprised by the number of people I talk to who aren't familiar with Lupine as a food crop, even those deep down the rabbit hole of unusual regional foods. We first encountered them on the coast of Portugal almost two decades ago, where the large seeds...