Post by Kelly on Aug 3, 2009 10:00:22 GMT -5
Hey everybody! This year at Seedy Saturday in town I got myself a local family heirloom pole bean, and I was ecstatic. They're growing well now, even though I had some problems with germination earlier in the season. I got this story from the lady I got them from:
Before WWI a Chinese family had a farm down the valley from Nelson, BC. Up until WWI they grew tons of veggies. WWI came and unfortunately they lost their farm, and the family moved. Many years later, the daughter of the couple came back to the now deserted property and started looking through the sheds and buildings, looking for any property left behind. Remembering the beans specifically she searched for them, and found some old seeds in a shed. She brought the seeds and started growing them again, and now the seeds are becoming available to other growers via swaps/Seedy Saturdays/etc. It’s not available commercially.
The variety was named after the father of the daughter who found the seeds in the shed, Mr. Tung. I'm not sure how the family lost the farm, and the lady I got them from didn't know either.
They're just flowering now, and I might not have a huge crop, but I will be offering these to anybody who is interested in them. I wanted to share the story here with other like-minded seed savers. The lady I got them from told me they were good fresh and dried, and grow really well in our climate (which is unbearably hot most days, and then we'll get really humid and then pounded by storms for a day or two - this year it's more like 3 or 4 days in a row).
The seeds when I got them:
Currently growing, taken Aug. 2:
Before WWI a Chinese family had a farm down the valley from Nelson, BC. Up until WWI they grew tons of veggies. WWI came and unfortunately they lost their farm, and the family moved. Many years later, the daughter of the couple came back to the now deserted property and started looking through the sheds and buildings, looking for any property left behind. Remembering the beans specifically she searched for them, and found some old seeds in a shed. She brought the seeds and started growing them again, and now the seeds are becoming available to other growers via swaps/Seedy Saturdays/etc. It’s not available commercially.
The variety was named after the father of the daughter who found the seeds in the shed, Mr. Tung. I'm not sure how the family lost the farm, and the lady I got them from didn't know either.
They're just flowering now, and I might not have a huge crop, but I will be offering these to anybody who is interested in them. I wanted to share the story here with other like-minded seed savers. The lady I got them from told me they were good fresh and dried, and grow really well in our climate (which is unbearably hot most days, and then we'll get really humid and then pounded by storms for a day or two - this year it's more like 3 or 4 days in a row).
The seeds when I got them:
Currently growing, taken Aug. 2:
.