We eat a lot of beans. They are the main staple of our diet. Dried, canned, and fresh we just love them.
Most of the beans we grow are pole beans which means they need something to climb on.
Each year Pap made a trellis of wire and seagrass twine for his to grow on. We did our beans like that too for a long time.
Several years ago we learned about using cattle panels in the garden. They make a dandy trellis for beans. Matt and I both wish we could tell Pap about them because we know he would love using them too.
This year the varieties we decided to grow were some of the same ones we planted last year.
Mother Stallard beans have about become my favorite variety. They are most often grown for drying, but we found we love them fresh and they are really good canned too. They make a big bean on the inside and the pod has a velvety texture when cooked.
We have two 50 foot cattle panel rows. This year we planted an entire row in Mother Stallard beans.
On the other 50 foot panel we planted a bean called Grammy. Several years ago a subscriber sent it to us. He said his grandmother grew them for years. They are a really prolific bean very similar to a white half runner.
We have two short rows of cattle panels that are about 16 foot long.
On one of them we planted what I call the Ed bean. You can read about it here. This bean is a greasy bean variety, which means the pod of the bean looks like someone has smeared a small amount of grease on it.
We planted one bean we’ve never grown before on the other short cattle panel. It’s called Mayflower. I’ll be totally honest and tell you I wanted to plant it because it’s a pretty bean 🙂
Lovely color is one of the reasons I wanted to plant the Mother Stallard beans and it turned out to be one of our all time favorites. Hopefully the Mayflower will too.
Tipper
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Randy:
This seed company, which is down the road from me, says that they have Hercules Southern Peas (Cowpeas).
https://www.southernexposure.com/products/hercules-southern-pea-cowpea/
Pam in Virginia
Hi, Tipper!
I loved reading about your beans. I plant a lot of beans, too, but this year, for the first time, I am only planting bush beans because the last 3 years something has mysteriously eaten my pole beans, but never touched the bush ones. I plant Provider and Romano Purpiat.
Pam in Virginia
After my grandfather passed away, Grandmother lived with Aunt Irene and her family in Peachtree. We were visiting and, as we sat down for lunch, Grandmother said, “I do love green beans!” I think all the Kisselburg family was/is just genetically predisposed to loving green beans. We still grown them here in our garden in Arkansas (white half-runners and Blue Lake runners)!
Morning everyone. This is for Randy. My mom and her sisters put vinegar in their beans. Extra when they were eating them. I can’t tell you why, my mom did it because her mom did. I’m only guessing but maybe to soften the skins? Vinegar is an acid. Tipper. I don’t grow beans. It’s just me and one son. But I bought Good Mother Stallard beans and cooked them. Boy are you right. They are the best. Creamy and delish. I think I will order some more. Don’t want to run out. Anna from Arkansas.
I really enjoyed Ira planting beans! That little boy is precious.
I have got to shut up. But I want to ask a question. Both my mother and mother in law would sometimes add a touch of vinegar to their green beans everyday at especially when canning them. It would be just enough to get have a very slight vinegar taste. Does anyone else do this? I have a friend that will slip and poor Coke Cola in their pot of green beans if he can catch his wife not looking. I have ate some of these beans and I thought they were good. Hard to beat green beans, cooked with a chunk of ham or hambone, a few new arsh taters, along with a pone of unsweetened corn bread and a quart mason jar of slightly sweet ice tea. This old county boy can flounder himself when he sits down to a meal of them.
Goodness gracious Miss Tipper, you have taught me a lot about beans! I have never tried making a teepee or a trellis before but I’m going to test it out as soon as our weather clears and the wind quits trying to blow us into another state. I’m sitting here trying to imagine the feel of a velvety bean in my mouth, and it’s not something I can wrap my head around. I do have a packet of Mother Stallard beans and I’m going to try them out. I have a small city lot and a too large piece of it is embedded with tree roots so it isn’t possible to make much of an in-ground garden. I just invested a lot of money in having a raised bed garden built (7’x4’x3′) so I can at least grow some veggies outside of using containers. To date I’ve planted kale, turnips, Swiss chard and parsley. The heirloom tomato seeds I thought wouldn’t germinate after 3 years of storage, proved me wrong. Since I don’t have the heart to destroy affirming goodness, I’ve been blessed to find people who gladly have taken the overage. I can’t even bear to thin seedlings without replanting. I hope to plant about a dozen types of produce since the trees have been removed (yes, it did hurt to see them perish but they became scarily unsafe) and I have a lot of sun now. So now the Mother Stallard and Blue Lake beans will have a joyful home and some of that is due to you, Tipper and Matt. I so enjoy having a gardening community to learn from and share with. Many thanks to the Acorns for their love and generosity. I send blessings to all!
I’m so thankful you are feeling better today, Randy! I view butter beans and lima beans as very different beans, so you have this northern girl stumped! I do love butter beans. They are one of my favorites. We plant blue lake bush beans— they are by far our favorite to grow! I loved hearing Katie playing fiddle in the garden while you planted. What an idyllic scene. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Good morning everyone. I am glad you’re feeling better, Randy…and I am keeping you, and all who requested in my prayers. It is so wonderful to know that we are a group of people who all care about and pray for each other..all led by Tipper’s great example. I don’t think we are going to have a big garden this year. We have some extra responsibilities right now, and hubby doesn’t like to plant it and not have time to take care of it and keep it nice. I will just have to watch your garden grow and enjoy it through you this season. It’s gonna be a beautiful day here in the WV mountains. I wish everyone else a beautiful day, as well.
I was super busy yesterday and got to read the biscuit post today. A group of men from our church came early to replace my decayed ramp because I’m having trouble with the steps and need it to get in and out of the house. Later we drove to a friend’s lake house for a few days of rest and fishing. The mention of White Lily flour sparked a memory. I may have commented about this before. In about 5th grade the girls in 4-H were having a biscuit baking contest. I entered and won. The prize was a 5lb bag of White Lily flour. I made a cake from it and Mom used the rest for the family. I was not very popular with the older girls for a couple of weeks. They were insulted that a boy could make better biscuits than they did. They were even more offended when I told them that Dad taught me how.
Allie, I meant my statement about the beans to be humorous, I remember reading or hearing the biggest difference between butterbeans and lima beans depended on whether you were from the North or the South. Like you butterbeans and Lima beans might be cousins but are different although considered to be the same by some. There is no way I would want to offend anyone by anything I ever write.
Oh, absolutely no offense taken. I was simply stumped, which caused me to turn to Google and lo and behold, they are the same species of bean. I never knew that! Learn something new every day. The lima beans are younger beans, more on the green side and butter beans are more mature and have that wonderful creaminess to them. Mmm mmm! Now I’m craving butter beans. I do not care for lima beans. In fact, they may be the only beans I don’t like. Have a wonderful day!
Good morning all!! It’s a cool(53°) rainy(lightning, thunder and rain all night…fabulous sleeping weather) day here in west central IL. I’m so incredibly blessed to have 3 of the most amazing grandkids, 2 very close cousins and the “perfect amount” of close friends but since I found Tipper, her family and this community, I truly feel like the luckiest woman on earth! I eagerly check my BP&A email first thing each morning to see how you all are doing. I send blessings and positive thoughts to all in need and feel the strength and kindness that comes my way. I had my alarm set to catch the live yesterday but ended up watching it around 7. My granddaughter and great granddaughter (10.5 months) spent the day visiting with me. We ate, prayed, did laundry and spent most of our time marveling at how funny, smart and beautiful our Hazeleigh is lol Watching little Ira help plant those beans just made my heart smile. I’ve decided when I start planting my yarden, I’m going to pull up the video of Katie playing her fiddle and set my phone on the well platform to add to my joy of digging in the dirt! Was happy to hear Ed had a good day, Randy’s feeling better after some good hydration and sending love to Little B and prayers to Pappaw Tony. Matt shares a birthday with my little brother, Rex(5-1-61–2-26-05) RIP little brother. You are, as always, deeply missed. He and Matt would have enjoyed each other’s company. Both share wicked senses of humor and a love of a good firearm and knife!!
I have a neighbor who has had vining fruits growing along a fence. One year it was passionfruit, the next year it was cucamelon. It seemed like quite a change to go from a sweet squishy dessert fruit to a salad-type pickled fruit.
Wish I had the land, the energy and the tiller to plant a lot more of everything. I’d like to experiment and even grow just for pretty. (I think I am describing more than one of you all – one in particular.)
Off the subject but I marvel at how the good Lord has taken something (the digital age) that in some ways is a great threat and turned it into a greater blessing. We hear about “the grassroots” being the place from where the direction of the nation grows. To me, BP&A (and I’m thinking others like it) are a grassroots kind of movement that, by the Lord’s blessing, can make for “a new birth of freedom” as Lincoln said in the Gettysburg Address. (I know. I can be a pain always going off somewhere else. I just think the profound is hidden in plain sight and experience in the (supposedly) simple. I very much mean that, Tipper, as a compliment. As I heard growing up, ‘Just have to look over me’ I reckon. Too near my ending to change how my mind works now, though I am ever willing for the Lord to change me when He thinks it is worth the effort. About that I am assured He will not rest until He has perfected each one of his.)
You are a true blessing, Ron! Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us every day. They are a treasure!
Today my dad would have been 94 years old. He often said that he never met a bean that he didn’t like. I feel the same way. I sure do miss him.
Larry, my wife’s uncle wanted beans everyday to go along with whatever else for one of his meals. He was raised in an extremely poor family and told “many times beans were all we had to eat.”
Those sound so nice. I think pretty beans are important too. I love the flowers bean plants make. We grew a bunch last year and are moving in September so I am not planting any this year. It is strange making a garden this year knowing I won’t be tending it in the late summer. But I still planted spring things because I can’t resist.
I love green beans, fixed by certain people, they have a certain way, that makes them really good, I’ve never been able to do it myself, I think some of those strange little green beans, will be growing down by the stream again, remember we looked them up one time, investigated what they were, I’ve still got some dried in there in the closet, God bless you friends and have a great day
Tipper calls them Ed Beans, I call them Tipper Beans since they started with her. Year before last they did very good, but last year I had to let them go and the Mexican Bean Beetles took over.
I had planted them too close together thinking they might not germinate well and I would thin them if they did. Well, they all came up and due to some health issues I didn’t get to thin them. By the time I got back to them they had overgrown their trellis and were comingling with the tomatoes and corn on either on either side. And by that time the Beetles had such a foothold that I couldn’t keep up. I did manage to get enough to eat on and can some. If I had been able to keep up with them I would have had more than I had jars to put them in.
Enjoyed the video
I saw someone’s bean patch once that looked like a really old method; he just took straight saplings about 8 or 9 feet tall and stuck them in the ground, then planted his beans at the foot of each.
Bean beetles are the bane of my existence; the only thing I have ever found that will halfway keep them down is to plant rows of potatoes between the rows of beans. Bean bugs don’t like potatoes and potato bugs don’t like beans, so this method cuts the populations down to manageable levels. We grow a variety that my great-aunt grew on the homeplace. I don’t know what it is; she called it a Texie bean because the lady she got it from was named Texie. It’s a large pod that develops pink streaks; the beans inside are large and cream-colored with pink, maroon, or purple splotches when they are shelled, and they darken as they dry. They can up really nicely, with a creamy texture, and we use them for everything.
What are cattle panels?
A type of metal wire fencing 🙂 You can see us install some here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyCeeQF_1HQ&t=18s
I enjoyed watching ya’ll plant beans with sweet little Ira helping and Katie playing the fiddle. So much fun❣️
Hi Tipper and Acorns. Watching y’all plant beans was so enjoyable. I loved Katie playing her fiddle. I adore sweet little Ira trying to help. I enjoyed last night’s video too. I hope you have a great crop. I keep everyone here and up Wilson Holler in my Prayers. I want to thank everyone for including my son, Ed and me in your prayers. It has made a noticeable difference in our health and lives. I praise GOD in everything and count everything as a blessing. Everything our FATHER does is to guide us along HIS path. Sometimes we need a hug and sometimes we need a swat. I love it. I hope y’all do too. I love y’all.
One of the best crops of green beans my wife and I ever had was the year we planted them out behind my Granddaddy’s old barn. Our daughter, April, helped us plant the seed. She was just a toddler. We canned all of the beans we could use and were giving the rest to my wife’s Aunt for her to can. We told April we had so many because she dropped the seed.
That is a very sweet memory, Randy!
Oh I love to plant pretty beans too. I like to plant the Trail of tears black pole beans too. They’re good dried, but our grandyounguns like to eat the pods right off the poles. I’ve tried to plant the stallard beans but haven’t had much luck getting them to come up. We have seed from my husband’s grandmother that she called a Christmas Lima that we have good luck with. It’s also a pretty bean. The weather is still too cool for planting much yet. We are supposed to have frost Thursday.
Randy, I saw your post yesterday at 8 o’clock last night and thought I’d better wait until today to respond. My momma retired from nursing and she would say ‘you better have it checked out ‘. Now having said that, we never went to the doctor right away and still don’t. Momma would ask several questions. What had you been doing up to that time? Could your blood sugar have been low? Are you dehydrated? She would go through a list of things and tell us we need to make sure we mention to our doctor.
I pray for y’all on here, but when y’all get specific then I do too. Randy, Kim, and V.A. I have added all y’all to the list. We are blessed that Miss Tipper also requests prayer for everyone on her channel as it reaches so many praying people. What would we do without the good Lord.
I spoke to B’s mamaw last night and B was weak yesterday. They have just under a two hour drive each way Monday through Friday for her radiation. I’m sure that alone makes a body tired
Randy, I told her you had sent B a card and donated; she said to tell you thank you from the bottom of her heart!
God bless y’all and may you find many blessings in your day!
I love green beans. I have never heard of the varieties you mentioned. Maybe in the early years of my life my family planted a different variety, but since I can remember our favorites were blue lake, a bush type, and the oldtime pole bean favorite, Kentucky Wonders, the pole beans would be planted in the corn patch between the corn stalks and would run up the stalks.
I want to thank everyone for praying for me, I am feeling a whole heap better, I dranked several bottles of Gatorade yesterday and it has really helped me get my strength back.
I left these out, our butterbeans (lima beans to y’all up Nawth folks) were Jackson Wonder and crowder peas were Mississippi purple hull. We did plant Hercules for a few years. The seed for Hercules are no longer available. We would save the dry pods of peas, put them in a burlap sack and then beat the sack with a stick and pick up the seeds and hulls by hand and slowly let them fall onto a burlap sheet and let the wind blow the chaff away.