Gary wrote:
> songbird wrote:
>>
>> Gary wrote:
>> > I think it's "Songbird" here that grows many kinds of
>> > beans. She could be a good source of info.
>>
>> "he"
>
> noted

thanks, i don't really much care since i'm just some
dog on the internet (on the internet nobody knows you're
a dog (or god if you're dyslexic)).


>> i haven't sorted my list yet so i'm not sure how
>> many i've planted this year - looks to be about 50
>> different kinds.
>
> Are they all for you (and family) or do you sell commercially?

most of them i grow for us to eat, since i really
like beans i also do selections from the out-crosses
that show up over the years, so i have trials/experiments
from that, i also trade varieties with people and this
past year i went to my first seed swap and that was fun
so i'm growing more this year so i have a better
selection for giving away this coming seed swap and do
grow outs for someone else:

http://www.abeancollectorswindow.com/

he has a large collection and can't grow them all in
his gardens so he will send people beans to grow and
then at the end of the season you send some back to him.
it works out pretty well in that you can pick up some
new varieties for the cost of postage (sending them
back).


>> we have about an acre of gardens, that's more than
>> enough to keep two people busy (along with everything
>> else).
>
> My grandparents (my mother's parents) had 9 kids. Her father was
> a lifetime coal miner back before coal miners unionized so they
> were poor folks. They had about an acre of land to grow all their
> own vegetables that were processed and home canned. Enough to
> last a year until next season.

i grew up helping Mom can and also learned how to
cook and do everything else too. i've always liked
plants, gardens, biology, etc. at present i do live
with Mom again so it is fun. we do about 100 quarts
of dill pickles and another 100 quarts of tomatoes
each year (we've downsized some for tomatoes as we
used to do 200-300 quarts some years). i also used
to make pickled beets and three been salad, but we
don't do those any more because nobody eats them as
much as i was making and i'm trying to not have as
much sugar. strawberries are my other big crop.


> They also had 2 large apple trees, chickens, a milk cow. Grandpa
> hunted for most of their meat. I don't know how they did all that
> but they managed. I guess you learn to live within your means.

i live a very simple life. i'm pretty close to
being a hermit these days.


> They always had plenty of food for family and visitors. I do
> remember that gramma spent all of her time in the kitchen, either
> processing garden food or cooking. That was her entire life other
> than church every sunday morning.

that is similar to my Grandma. if you visited her
she would put food in front of you bits at a time and
as long as you sat at the table she'd keep bringing it.
even after you got up and went into another room she'd
often bring you snacks. Mom learned most of her cooking
from Grandma so we have all the family recipes for the
Italian foods she made. large family, Grandma was
smart, her first child was a girl, the next nine were
all boys.


> Good mountain folk, they were and very fond memories. As a young
> kid, I got to spend alot of time with them in the summers.

they had the family farm (my Grandma's parents) where
all the kids were expected to help out. eventually they
sold it so some college could have a place. i spent only
a little time there as we moved away when i was rather
young. Grandma lived in the city. we did visit her a
fair bit.


songbird