Bush Bean Mixt

This very ancient variety was supposedly brought to the U.S. on the Mayflower boat in 1620. The boat was carrying English religious dissidents, the Pilgrim fathers, and other European people seeking a land where they could fully enjoy religious freedom. This variety was widely grown in the Carolinas region. Despite this nice story, and considering most beans are originally from America, it is more likely that the colonizers 'borrowed' this variety from First Nations and named it after their boat. Perhaps. Their pods are small, and contain squarish beans, sprinkled with pink and white marks. Can be eaten as green beans when still young, or as dry beans when they reach maturity after 85 days. Mayflower beans are part of the SlowFood USA's Ark of Taste. Package: 30 seeds

Maturity: 100 days Climbing shelling bean. This variety comes from the Abenaki First Nations. It is part of Slow Food's Ark of Taste. The beans, once dry, are a flamboyant red which makes them resemble cranberries. White hilum. Rich Flavour. Rare variety, rediscovered by the bean collector John Withee, who obtained it from M. Taylor of Steep Falls, Maine after 11 years of research. He had read the description in an encyclopedia dating back from the 1700s. In 1981, John Withee donated his collection of 1,186 beans to the Seed Savers Exchange organization (U.S.). This variety is found in a number of catalogues from the East of New England in the 1850s, including in one from Montreal dated from 1899. It mentioned that this variety was very popular. Package: 20 seeds

The Charlevoix Bean is a red kidney bean. Red kidney beans were grown by the Iroquoians and the Wyandot people. This variety was popular among Montreal family gardens until the 1950s. When cooked, the Charlevoix Red Kidney bean provides a good consistency to meals like chilis, soups, and stews. To learn more about red kidney beans, visit (in French): http://www.quebecuisine.ca/?q=faisons-un-peu-de-lumiere-sur-nos-celebres-bines-ou-feves-au-lard. Package: 30 seeds

Climbing bean, ornamental and edible. Kids love to open up the green pods to find the big bicolored beans. Covers up lattices, fences, and gazebos with pretty white and scarlet red flowers. Hummingbirds can't resist them. In the garden, beans fix nitrogen in the soil, thus helping the growth of other vegetables. Package: 20 seeds

Semi-Runner/Dry. 100 days to first dry seed. Viney plants can be grown on the ground like a bush bean, but would probably benefit from growing on some support. Very productive of 4 to 5 inch oval green pods that are lightly streaked with purple. 4 to 6 small seeds per pod. The origin is unsure but, according to Fruitition Seeds, seeds were traded at the Common Ground Fair in Maine, USA, in 2003. We obtained them from a seed swap in Ontario. Package: 30 seeds

Green bush bean, with small round and sweet pods. A delight! This variety was found on a trading table at a Seedy Saturday event in Frelishburg, QC, in 2013. The name seems ancient, and it is not listed on any of the list of seed saving organizations in either Canada nor the U.S. Limited quantities. VERY RARE. If someone has any additional informations on its origin, please share it with us. It it one of our favourites, and we are dying to get to know it better! Addendum: In November 2016, we found a mention of a Dutch Princess bean in the "New-Zeland Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science /Experimental Agriculture" of March 1978. The origin of the bean is, unsurprisingly, Dutch. It seems it was named by the seed saver William Damn Seeds, who sells an improved version of a Dutch Princess bean. We also found a Dutch Princess bean mention in a research center from... Tanzania, in Arusha, (Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT)) in 1972. To be continued...