Why grow dried beans? (Harvest Time)

[@rwind656]

I have really appreciated your videos. I find myself recommending your video talking about what to grow, including a staple. Looking at your harvest of beans, my family eats a lot of beans, it's our staple food. I'm new to homesteading. Is it possible to grow enough beans at this production rate to keep a family fed? Should we select a different staple like sweet potatoes to make it through a winter?

[@homesteading]

Thank you! I would always suggest beans as part, but not the whole, of a survival garden. You need to grow both - you need a starchy staple - potatoes, sweet potato, corn, rice, etc. - to fill the belly! Beans will add protein and other nutrients to the diet. So just work out how many KG of beans you eat a month and see how much you need to grow. My 10KG from 45 M2 was considerable higher then commercial production rates. So if you have the land, there is no reason why you can't grow enough.

[@rwind656]

@@homesteading thanks so much for replying. My goal is to sustain my family. So I really appreciate your perspective. In a survival situation, we would eat that 10kg of dry beans in two weeks. ( Rice is not a good crop here but commercial farmers grow sweet potatoes, we are trying it this year. And other varieties of potatoes. I am surprised at the low yield on many plants. ) How can I find yield figures for each crop, like sweet potatoes? I do have an idea of how much we currently eat of each type of food. With your yield rates, I would have to have a third of an acre in beans to keep up our current consumption rate for a year. I am trying to put in place more raised beds with more intensive gardening, protected from critters. It appears I need to also put in a row garden for staples. But a neighbor plants rows of corn -- and loses it all to squirrels. I know my grandparents had huge row gardens and preserved a lot of food. But they also must have traded for some, despite the variety in their gardens. I regret losing these skills over the past two generations, greatly. They were able to sustain their families even during bad times.

[@rwind656]

@@homesteading Have you tried the "Three Sisters" planting pattern of companion planting? Growing corn stalks to support pole beans, and shading with squash plants around the perimeter, also to keep out critters? And I saw a fourth colorful plant used to hopefully distract birds from eating the corn. The beans add nitrogen but I wonder if this would exhaust the soil. It's got to increase possible yields?

[@homesteading]

@@rwind656 That's a lot of beans! Yes, you should certainly grow sweet potatoes if you can. You can produce more by hand in a small space then commercial growers will. The sweet potatoes will fill the belly and you won't need so many beans!

[@homesteading]

@@rwind656 No, I haven't specifically used the three sisters method. It needs more space then I have. I did plant some climbing beans on the sweet corn this year - didn't get a good result, but will try again.

[@harriettejensen479]

I'm a recent convert to beans, which my grandmother would never have cooked once my grandparents got a stable income. However, I'm not growing beans to save money. I'm growing them because I like to garden, I can grow several varieties that you won't find in the supermarket, and I know how they were grown. This year I'm growing Black Turtle beans, Cherokee Trail of Tears, Greek Gigantes, Madeira Maroon, and Red Swan bush beans,, in addition to Blue Lake bush green beans for fresh eating. We're having a drought here in California, so we may be on water restriction soon. I try and conserve water by keeping the ground covered both with mulch and straw and with more veggies and, of course, cutting back on my inhouse water use.

[@raysouth1952]

I eat dried beans regularly, especially over winter, and given that most commercially grown pulses are dried down using glyphosate these days I prefer to grow my own. Apart from the fact that I simply enjoy growing them, it means I know the beans are chemical free and I can choose which variety to grow.

[@melanieallen8980]

I love growing beans for drying.great tip to break the pods apart.

[@lis819]

Good job! That’s quite a few beans for the land area - with the added benefit of having grown them yourself. I’ve been growing pigeon peas up here in qld for a while but might give these a try next season :)) thanks for posting! Oh, and thanks for the tip on processing the beans from the pods, very efficient way of dealing with that chore :)

[@nickholmes9037]

Interesting to see the yield from the patch. Our runners were poor also. Not comparable but we just dug 60kg kumara from 20m2 garden in Northland NZ.

[@rwind656]

That's a much higher yield than from beans. I've wondered...

[@rubygray7749]

@@rwind656 Yes, but much of that yield is water, and the dry matter is mostly carbs, whereas beans have very high dry matter that is predominantly protein. Growing enough protein is the major challenge in a self sufficiency situation, unless you want to graze guinea pigs!

[@homesteading]

That's why you need both - the starchy staples fill the belly and that way you need less beans!

[@homesteading]

You can't compare dry weight to hydrated weight. If I soaked the beans then weighed them it would be substantially more! Dehydrate the kumara (sweet potato) and it would be considerably less...

[@nickholmes9037]

Yes you’re right. It would be interesting the total nutrition in each crop per m2. Biointensive books suggests the least efficient crop for calories per m2 is bush beans, but as mentioned protein is the subject of interest here. We will try quinoa next year and let you know

[@marinusbeimers7293]

Good result John, enjoy your beans.

[@victorybeginsinthegarden]

I would love to see you trench compost in the bean patch area

[@Alicesgardenau]

Thanks for sharing! ☺️

[@francoisbosman7253]

Like your videos mate always something to learn !👍👍👍

[@noname7496]

As odd as it sounds, I would have loved to spend hours individually cracking each pod open to reveal the beans. 😅 Loved watching the resulting harvest.

[@matthewspatch9529]

Love this John. Doing the same with Haricot beans.

[@moho5790]

Can u harvest & dry the pods after? If, say, you need the space to grow something else.

[@michelewilson9383]

My local food market sells most dried beans in a 500g bag for about $8, so a pretty good saving for 10kg beans.

[@homesteading]

So about $160 to buy the 10KG. Didn't really count my time, but would estimate 6-7 hours spent over the season.

[@AllMyHobbies]

Great work very cool. I think the question is how much of your yearly consumption of beans will that be. Like how much will you end up having to buy?

[@homesteading]

Given our average bean consumption - we may still have some left at the end of the year!

[@AllMyHobbies]

@@homesteading wow self Sufficient bean production that's impressive. What crop do you end up having to buy that you're not fully self-sufficient in.

[@homesteading]

@@AllMyHobbies Our major buy-in foods are grains and seeds - we don't currently produce any - so we buy wheat, buckwheat, spelt, rice, quinoa, linseed, etc. We would need more cultivated land to produce these. Tried quinoa once and it didn't germinate...will try again some time. Would really love to produce the wheat, buckwheat and linseed we use! They all will grow here...but there are trees in the way!

[@rubygray7749]

Brilliant! That's something I always intend to do, but haven't. Summer frosts are a constant peril for long season crops. But growing blue peas would be more reliable for me as they are frost hardy, and also high in protein. Your yield was almost a ton to the acre, impressive. And the roots added nitrogen to your soil. So will the chooks. Win win win! Seems the top of the patch behind the shed gets much less direct sunlight which would also be a factor reducing yield. Painting the opposite fence white would reflect more light onto that area. Maybe you could do a video with your favourite recipes for these wonderful beans?

[@homesteading]

Yes the top fence is a negative, plus the higher clay level, plus it is drier with the Kiwi on the other side. Good even fertility would have probably added another 2KG or more. Yes, will do a video on our favorite Red Kidney Bean Chilli soon!

[@tassiegirl1991]

My green bush beans also did absolutely nothing, same soil, same amendments, water I’ve put it down to the weather as only one cucumber, absolutely overall failure of harvest from what started out as a great seedlings going out to grow. Hoping for a better one next year.

[@NduguSam]

Runner beans do well in higher altitude and cooler climate, they give higher yields (3X) what you would get from non-climbers

[@milkweed7678]

You have great videos. I really enjoy watching and learning from you. How do you store your beans over the winter? Thanks!

[@homesteading]

As they are dry beans, the keep fine in any cool and dry place.

[@milkweed7678]

@@homesteading What kind of containers?

[@homesteading]

@@milkweed7678 Once properly dry, any vermin proof container will work - glass jars, tins, strong plastic buckets, etc.

[@milkweed7678]

@@homesteading Oh good! Thanks for the info!!

[@allangoodger969]

Sun? What's that? South Coast NSW. Lost all my beans due to water logging.

[@MsLindy777]

Could you put the beans in a dehydrator to finish or ensure they are dry?

[@homesteading]

Could do that, but wouldn't want to heat it too much or for too long. There is no rush, so the sun and air will do the job.

[@NduguSam]

high temperature drying may end up prolonging the time they take to cook