So here’s a nifty thing. The beans on the left are a sort of speckled butter bean (or lime bean, if you prefer) that are pretty automatic. Each year, since I first planted them long ago, I get a lot of new bean plants appearing in the patch that the last ones grew in. Basically, the beans tend to [stay on] be left on the vine until they dry and then they pop open and replant themselves, ultimately, since I never find all of the ones that fall on to the ground. This is great, since it means that I never have to actually plant the things again… they just show up and start spreading. I need only put some stakes and climbing frames out, and each year they will just cover it with vines and new beans. This year I discovered another automatic feature. If you pick them at the right time at this late stage (you soak them in water overnight when ready to cook them) they will start shelling themselves, saving you a lot of trouble. I noticed this because the bowl of them (pictured) was sitting on the dining room table and in the mornings when the sun hits it, after a while there are spectacular popping noises! It is the bean shells popping open. The beans fall to the bottom, ultimately, and then you just lift off the shell matter*.
Doubly automatic beans.
*I actually put them into the compost pile and so it returns a lot of the nutrients to the ground for the next crop of beans for next year….
-cvj
