Heirloom Bean Seed...
UPDATE: August 15, 2021
We had the wettest May, June and July on record this year. After delayed plantings and replanting seed three times we finally had to stop and go into salvage mode this year. Our catalog will be updated in December but many things will not be available for the 2022 season.
Store unused seed in a cool dry place. The refrigerator or freezer is an excellent way to store seed.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at alwest_83@yahoo.com
Small Lazy Wife Greasy Bean
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Very productive easy to pick white seeded greasy bean, pole type. Quality bean strings easily. Vines grown 8' to 10' but are easily managed on 6' trellis. Approximately 105 seed per ounce
Big Greasy
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Large greasy bean growing to over 5" long with white seeds, vines grow 6-8' tall, very good production, pods are slightly curved. Originally from Bert Caudill of Jackson County, Kentucky. Approximately 105 seed per ounce.
Quentin Frazier Greasy Bean
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An excellent quality white seeded greasy bean. Pole type, very good production. Excellent for fresh green beans or canning. Originally from Wayne County, Kentucky via Juanita Herrington. Approximately 100 seed per ounce.
Fox Family Greasy Bean
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Originating in western North Carolina among the Fox and Banks families, this bean has been traced to the 1780's. Heavy production of medium to large sized green greasy looking pods with white seeds. Good quality for fresh use or canning. Cherokee origin. Approximately 140 seed per ounce.
Striped Hull Greasy Cut-short
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Cut-short Greasy
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Small tan bean with brown stripes tightly packed into small 4" pods, Very productive pole bean. Small seed, approximately 180 seed per ounce. Very limited availability.
Ross Creek Road Greasy Grit Cut-Short
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Heavy production of small (3" to 3-1/2") pods with small brown mottled cut-short seed tightly packed into pods. From Estill County, Kentucky. Very Limited Availability
Chuckey Greasy Bean
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We have grown this greasy bean several times and it is a solid performer. Collected around Chuckey Tennessee where it is grown by several local gardeners, this pole type bean produces larger pod than the typical greasy bean on vines that easy reach 8' long. Approximately 95 seed per ounce.
Doyce Chambers Greasy
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Grown for many years by Doyce Chambers of Bethel, Haywood County, NC. This white-seeded bean is simply one of the best, very productive, very good quality. Approximately 100 seed per ounce.
Pink Tip Greasy
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A very popular old Appalachian variety that gets it's name from the tip of the bean pod turning pink as they mature. Some pods will get a pink blush over the entire pod. Late season bean pods are more likely to develop the pink tip or blush. White seeded, very popular, from Haywood County, North Carolina. One of the highest production beans we grow. Approximately 125 seed per ounce.
Brown Bunch Bean
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These brown seeded bunch beans comes from Kentucky. We have two strains which are similar but not exactly the same. Bunch Beans are similar in growth like a 1/2 Runner. Heavy bean production with vines or runners growing to 5'+ long. We grow these on both our 6' trellis and sometimes on 3' two string half size trellis. Good canning bean. Strings easily. Approximately 85 seed per ounce.
Old Joe Clark
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Small pods turn from green to red as they mature containing pink seed, true half runner growing to 3' to 4’ tall, good producer and early in the season. 1 ounce pack.
Little Brown Bean
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Dark mustard colored cut-short seeds tightly packed in nice plump green beans, fairly short season for a pole bean. Very good producer. From Wayne County, Kentucky.
Ohio Cutshort
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Heavy producer on half runner plants growing to 5’ tall, tightly packed seed are tan with brown markings. Old Ohio Heirloom from Southern Ohio.
White Half Runner
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Old fashion strain of White Half Runner beans from eastern Kentucky. Productive. Pods are fairly straight with a curved tip and 4"+ long. Very Limited Availability.
Mountaineer Half Runner
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A white seeded half runner that is very productive. 4" to 5" pods on bushy plants growing to 3' tall. Heavy pod production on the lower half of the plant. Can be grown without support but does better with a 3' high 2 or 3 string trellis for support. Popular Appalachian heirloom.
Heirloom Bean
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This white 1/2 runner was collected in the Pineville area of Kentucky, locally called "Heirloom Bean". Bushy plants with short runners, good producer, pods turn reddish as they mature. LIMIT 1 per person please due to very limited availability.
Black Becky 1/2 Runner
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Etowah
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Etowah (Itawayi, Hightower). Originally from Eastern Tennessee and Northern Georgia. This is a pre 1830's Cherokee bean that was grown by the "Overhill" Cherokee. Black seeded, pods turn from green to purple blushed as they mature. Vines grow 8' to 10' but are easily managed on a 6' trellis. Heavy production. Once sold by the Hastings Seed Company by itself and in a corn and bean mix (the corn was Hickory King).
Turkey Craw
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This is one of the best all purpose beans. Great as a green bean, shelly bean and as a dry bean. Very productive. Quite popular in the area surrounding the Cumberland gap still today. Pole bean growing to 8' or more but easily managed on a 6' trellis, green pods, bean is tan with a white frost. Approximately 65 seed per ounce.
Hazel Gill
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Brown seeded pole bean growing to 5' or a little higher. Good producer, quality bean, strings easily. From Jackson County, Kentucky.
Aunt Lena
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Faulkner's Cornfield Bean
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A multicolored bean with 4" pods on 6' tall pole beans. Nice variation of colors and patterns. Collected by Brook Elliott from Louise Bennett who inherited them from her mother, Mildie Faulkner, who was given them as a wedding gift in 1931. Wonderful historical variety from Kentucky. Small seed, approximately 125 seed per ounce.
John D. White
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White seeded cornfield type pole bean, good bean, good producer. Originally from the Holmes Mill area of Harlan County, Kentucky. I got this from Juanita Herrington, from her Uncle, Jim Gilbert.
Grandpa Bishop
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Nice plump podded cornfield type bean, heavy bearing vines 6' to 8' tall, 5-7" tender bean that strings easily, large white seeds, hearty flavor, family heirloom of Sheila Truett, since 1800's, original beans found in bottom land of Salt River, Bullitt County, KY. This makes a great canning bean or one for Leather Britches. Approximately 72 seed per ounce.
Lula
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Harlan Striped
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Very productive pole bean with pods growing to 6-7" long. Pods are curved. Vines grow to 8-10'. From Harlan County Kentucky. Similar to Striped Creaseback but vine growth is different, pods are curved more and seed is shorter.
Cades Cove Stick Bean
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Cut-short type bean with 4" pods, seeds are light tan with dark mottling. Vines grow to 6' tall, very productive. Historical variety grown in the Cades Cove area of the great Smokey Mountains since the 1800s.
Kentucky Cornfield
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One of the biggest green beans we have seen (along with Ohio Pole and Edwards beans). Beans are 8" long and up to an inch across. Tender pods, light tan/grey seeds with dark brown stripes also make good dry beans. I received these from Larry Lamerson who received these from his grandmother Gabbard in the 1970's. Originally from Powell County. Do not confuse this with Striped Cornfield or Genuine Cornfield, this is much larger. Limited availability. Approximately 50 seed per ounce
Edward's Bean
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Good sized cornfield type green bean with striped cream colored beans. Used as a green bean and as a dry bean. Vines grow to 8' but can easily be grown on a 5' trellis. From southern Jackson County, Kentucky near Tyner. Large Seed.
Hickory Stick
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Small caramel colored cut-short seeded, pole type bean, pods are 4" long turning reddish as they mature, very productive. Vines grow to 8' but are easily managed on shorter trellises. From Letcher County, Kentucky. This was our most productive bean in 2020.
Ohio Pole
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This once was a very popular bean here in Ohio, very large green bean growing up to 8" long. Seed is very large blue/purple with a white frost. Plants grow to 10 feet tall or more but are easily managed on a 6' trellis. Good as a green bean or as a dry bean. Also known as Buckeye Pole. Day length sensitive. These were originally collected from Miami tribes. One collection from among the Miami in the Maumee Valley in the 1790's and another collected from the Miami people of Kekionga of northern Indiana. This bean is also associated with the Shawnee and Potawatomi. Large bean, 45-50 seed per ounce.
Letcher County Fall Bean
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Collected originally in Letcher County and grown by several families, this solid dark red round bean is excellent for fresh shell or dried bean use. Pods are tough, not for green bean use. Limited availability. Approximately 65 seed per ounce.
Red Speckled Fall Bean
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Coming This Fall
Very common in southern Kentucky, this bean is a great dry bean. Pole type growing to 6-8' tall vines, average production, very pretty white and burgundy seed. Approximately 65 seed per ounce.
Hazard Fall Bean
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Fall type bean with pole habit. Very good producer of quality dry beans. Also used as a shelly bean. From Hazard Kentucky. Approximately 70 seed per ounce.
Gilbert's Fall Bean
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Small cream colored beans with maroon markings, horticultural type bean, pole type, good production. From Juanita Herrington from her "Uncle Jim", Jim Gilbert in Harlan County Kentucky. Approximately 85 seed per ounce.
Seneca Cornstalk Bean
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Considered to be a very ancient Iroquois bean, this bean is quite productive and can be used as a green bean, fresh shelled bean and a dry bean. Approximately 100 seed per ounce.
Cherokee Trail of Tears
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Pole type bean growing to 8' producing heavy yields of dark green pods that turn purple as they mature containing shiny black seeds. Good snap beans when young. Originally from John Wyche of Hugo, OK whose ancestors carried in on the Trail of Tears. Approximately 120 seed per ounce.
Cornplanter Purple
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Seed is dark purple to black. Very productive pole bean growing to 10' but are easily managed on 5' to 6' tall trellises. Long pods turn from green to purple. Pods string very easily. Can be used as a snap bean or as a dry bean. This is a much more pure strain than is typically found. I received seed stock for this strain from Stephen McComber (Silverbear). Approximately 105 seed per ounce.
Cornbread Bean
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This Iroquois Cornbread Bean originally came from Norton Rickard, an elder of the Tuscarora Nation. Norton's older brother received the beans from an elder Tuscarora woman who lived in New York. Specifically used in bean bread which is made by boiling a mix of corn flour and beans. Sprawling bushed, pods are 6" to 7" long. Large seed, approximately 40-45 seed per ounce.
Allegheny Pinto
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Multi purpose bean, good as a green bean, shelly bean or dry bean. Traditional Seneca variety. Good producer, pole bean that is easily managed on a 6' tall trellis. Approximately 65 beans per ounce.
Lenape Cutshort
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Very productive small podded cut-short bean, pole type that is easily managed on smaller trellises . Tan seed with grey-brown markings and slight orange halo around the hilum. This variety has also went by the name of Delaware Cutshort and Indian Hannah. Traditional Lenni-Lenape bean. Small seed, approximately 140 seed per ounce.
Powhatan
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Very large bean that is used as a dry or fresh shelled bean. Pods are very tough and inedible. Plants are pole type, manageable, growing to 6' tall. I received this from a seed saver elder in the early 2000's. Approximately 40 seed per ounce. Very limited availability.
Giant Speckled Calico Lima
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Huge Lima beans are white with dark burgundy splashed markings. Pole habit. Very good production. Used as a fresh shelled or "shelly" bean or as a dry bean. Can also be canned or frozen as a shelly bean. Full bodied, nutty flavored and sometimes called having a chestnut taste. Dates to the 1840's. Seed is very large, only 20+ seed per ounce.
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