I am embarrassed by the relatively meager looking size of the harvest,
but in my defense, like half the early crop got swept into a slow cooker
(and I have no idea what was in it! I think a lot of Yoeme Purple.
There were words.) and I sacrificed a load of Trail of Tears and
Tarahumara Red to chili. But a couple just plain did not perform–I’m
done trying to make the “ojo” types work. Whatever they want, it’s not
what I’ve got here. And the Aztec Cave Beans are very pretty and don’t
hold a candle to Mother Stallard in terms of production and flavor, so
they’re out.
On the other hand, I just went and looked up
standard yields for dry beans, and a lot of them average something like
1.5-3 lbs per 25 foot row, and even 25 plants per pound of beans. So
given that I have maybe 25 feet of beans TOTAL, and that heavily
intercropped with tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers and squash, the fact I
managed at least three or four pounds worth is not too embarassing at
all.
Next year, I’m looking at Trail of Tears, Mother Stallard,
O'odham Pink, Tarahumara Red, Rattlesnake Pole and probably Yoeme
Purple. We’ll give it a year or two and see how those fare…
Anyone interested in this check out native Seed Search:
Securing the Future of Food Crop diversity is key to achieving sustainable food security both globally and within our own region of focus, the southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico. Our approach to food security focuses on seed security, which relies on the conservation and sharing of appropriate crop diversity and the knowledge to use that diversity effectively. Our programs are designed to address these goals and broadly entail: Seed banking to ensure the survival of unique agricultural biodiversity and to document its traits. Seed distribution so that these crops continue to contribute to the region’s food systems. Support for on-farm maintenance of dynamically-evolving crop varieties. Research into low-input and climate-appropriate agricultural practices. Education in managing local crop diversity and contributing to regional efforts. http://www.nativeseeds.org/‘
I
Absolutely you should check out the above–that’s where I got a lot of the beans! They have great varieties and don’t be put off from experimenting because you’re in a different region–as everything warms, I’m finding some desert-adapted crops to be big winners, even in my soggy Southeast area. (For example, spring here now lasts about a week. The old Southern pea varieties work maybe one year in four. In despair, I ordered “Maestro” from Native Seed Search. It’s a high desert cultivar, meant to start colder and last longer into hotter weather–which is exactly what I’ve got. This year I got a pea crop again!)
Even if you don’t garden, but you are concerned about food scarcity and crop diversity, they’re a fabulous organization to donate to. Or, to put it bluntly, “Seriously, it’s people like this, doing work
like this, that are gonna save our butts when climate hits the fan, and the more they’ve got to work with, the better!”