#borlottobeans

[seedkeeping]

Today I shipped out more calendars, and two orders are on a long journey to Australia! Thanks so much to everyone who has been supporting my seed keeping work and brightening their future walls with this monthly focus on seeds of Resilience and Resistance! Available at www.trueloveseeds.com

This week I’m highlighting the photo and caption from May 2018:

My friend Rachel Sayet sent me a Mohegan succotash recipe that calls for “Dwarf Horticultural Beans,” a type of cranberry bean that came to the U.S. in the 1800s from Italy. The recipe was written by Rachel’s great-granduncle, Harold Tantaquidgeon, and published in her mother (and Mohegan medicine woman) Melissa Tantaquidgeon’s 1994 book, “The Lasting of the Mohegans.”

As a descendant of Italian immigrants who grew up on Mohegan land, I decided to grow these Borlotto beans to honor the resilience of the native people in Connecticut, and to hold onto Italian culture despite generations of assimilation.

#resilienceandresistance #2018seedkeepingcalendar #seedkeeping #trueloveseeds #borlotto #borlottobeans #succatash #mohegansuccotash

[seedkeeping]

Today was a bean day. 1. Potawatomi Pole Lima (Phaseolus lanatus), a beautiful and prolific lima from the Potawatomi Nation in Wisconson. 2. Fagiolina del Trasimeno (Vigna unguiculata) is an endangered Italian cowpea from the hills around Lake Trasimeno in Umbria, and is now protected by Slow Food Italy. 3. Borlotto Lingua di Fuoco (Phaseolus vulgaris) is another Italian heirloom that I learned about in a recipe for Succotash that @rbsayet sent me from her great great uncle Harold Tantaquidgeon, who was a Mohegan chief. This Native American species (P. vulgaris) of bean was adopted and adapted by Italians and then again adopted for use in this Mohegan recipe. As an Italian who grew up on Mohegan land, I'm excited to care for this bean as well. Thanks to William Woys Weaver and @roughwoodseeds for introducing me to the first two beans! #legumes #borlottobeans #borlotto #bolottolinguadifuoco #phaseolusvulgaris #phaseoluslunatus #vignaunguiculata #fagiolinadeltrasimeno #cowpeas #blackeyedpeas #commonbean #heirloombeans #potawatomipolelima (at Newtown Square, Pennsylvania)

[seedkeeping]

Borlotto Beans are sprouting, and looking bold and handsome and confident and hopeful. It’s not too late to order and plant beans! I learned about this variety from my friend @rbsayet’s great uncle Harold Tantaquidgeon’s Mohegan Succotash recipe, which was published in Melissa (Fawcett) Tantaquidgeon’s book “The Lasting of the Mohegans”. Turns out their family would buy these beans from their Southern Italian neighbors, who moved to southern Connecticut to work in the textile mills, just like my ancestors from Southern Italy. It’s a beautiful and delicious shelly or dry bush bean. #borlottobeans #mohegansuccotash #italianbeans

[ukallotmental-blog]

😍 late night gardening - the runner and borlotto beans are in the ground. What a lovely way to spend the evening after work together. #allotmentlife #allotmentlove #allotmentplot #mymonthontheplot #runnerbeans #borlottobeans #growingfromseed #organicgardening #organicvegetables #urbanallotment #urbangardenersrepublic #sunset #goldenlight #nofilter (at Beeston, Nottinghamshire)

[ukallotmental-blog]

Our Borlotto beans germinated really quickly and I potted them on yesterday. Only 7 out of 12 sown but they look really healthy. What do you think @allotment_25 👩🏻‍🌾. . . . #allotment #allotmentlife #pottingon #gyo #growingvegetables #growingfromseed #borlottobeans (at Beeston, Nottinghamshire)