In the past two years we've grown nine varieties of beans:

• Rockwell (bush bean) from Uprising Organics
• Provider (bush bean) from Uprising Organics
• Trail of Tears (pole bean)
• Pinto (pole bean)
• Calypso (bush bean)
• Gaucho (bush bean)
• Arikira (bush bean) from Adaptive Seeds
• Hannan Pop Bean (a garbanzo) from Backyard Beans and Grain and Carol Deppe
• Blue lake (pole bean)

We have saved seeds for each of these and have used several to plant the following year's crop, namely Rockwell, Trail of Tears and Provider.

We have also cooked the dried beans in soups and baked dishes. I find it remarkable how much flavor there is in them.

For the past several years we have preferred to grow pole beans, specifically Withner Corn Field beans. We have had good luck with them and really like the flavor of these green string beans. They produce longer and are easier to harvest.