It’s a modest harvest, to be sure, but the significance for us as a family is still profound.  And this is for a few reasons.  First, this is a variety of the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) native to the State of New Mexico, known as New Mexico bolitas in the northern part of the State.  I purchased just few dozen seeds from Native Seeds/SEARCH early in the season with the intent of growing more seed for subsequent years.  So from a dozen and half plants or so, we produced enough seed to really have abundant harvests of native beans for years to come, and I don’t know about anybody else, but the restoration of our agricultural heritage is an exciting prospect for me.

This particular variety performed well, exhibited high tolerance to heat and drought, and intercropped nicely with tomato and eggplant.  The tomato cages provided a nice niche for the beans to climb and grow on.  I would have liked a variety that produces in under 70 days, as this plant took 90 to 100 days to produce.  However, we enjoyed high germination rates and a fairly abundant harvest considering these were planted in a rather limited surface area.   This plant will make for an excellent companion to its natural allies: solanaceous crops, maize, and curcubits.