The varieties chosen were Jacob's Cattle, Black Turtle, and Calypso. Jacob's Cattle is a kidney shaped bean with red and white splashes of color. Legend has it that is was a gift from Maine's Passamaquoddy Indians to Joseph Clark, the first white born child in Lubec, Maine. The Black Turtle bean is a small black bean that is a favorite in southern Mexico, which is rich and full flavored. The Calypso bean (which is my favorite), has contrasting black and white colors with a dotted eye. It's sometimes referred to the Orca or Yin and Yang bean too. All the beans are great for soups and baking.
The beans were planted out in the field in May and grew all the way into Sept/Aug. Growing them was the easy part! We did have some vicious Mexican Bean Beetles arrive very late in the season that began to devour the plants, but by that time the beans were already full grown. You are then supposed to harvest the whole plant and hang them up to dry. I took advantage of the really dry weather this season, and I lazily left the plants out in the field to complete this job.
On some beautiful fall days, we sat outside and threshed the beans. The beans were hit against a large metal bucket, and the beans went flying out. The stubborn ones were picked out of their dried pods by hand.
The next step was to remove all the plant and dirt material left behind still mixed in with the beans. Many ideas of the best way to do this was tossed around. The use of a window screen, hair dryers to blow out the unwanted material, removing it by hand, and giving up were some ideas. In the end, a regular kitchen colander worked very effectively to remove pretty much all of the unwanted stuff.
Then for quite a few nights, I sat and went through all the beans, picking out any bad ones, and leaving the rest. I am quite sure that a bean plant will surprise me at some point by growing out of my wooden floor board cracks in the kitchen.
Was it worth it? I keep asking myself this question. I'm still not sure, but I know I will grow more next year. The result was too rewarding not to, and that is one soup I will savory, more so than any other, while eating it.