Bird Egg Bean Success

Here's the link to the first time I wrote about Bird Egg Beans on the blog. It continues to be one of my most popular posts, attracting attention from all over the country, folks likely doing a Google search to find out more about this particular kind of bean.
I recounted our efforts in the summer of 2017 to rejuvenate our seed supply here.
But it wasn't until I came across this photograph that I realized I had failed to update my readers on the 2018 bird egg bean experiment.

Wanda Gooch Metzger putting her hands to work
shelling beautiful Bird Egg Beans in her 93rd year.
It was her family that brought Bird Egg Beans to Potter County.

It was a successful year for the bird egg bean planting. While we don't have quantities to offer for sale, we were able to put several quart bags in our freezer and dry a generous amount for next year's seed.

Bird Egg Beans in blossom.
Though they're billed as bush beans, we have the
best success growing them on a trellis, especially in
rainy seasons like we experienced in 2018.

If you're interested in growing your own Bird Egg beans, these may be a close relative of our Gooch family heirloom.

A family heirloom from of one of the six original members of the Seed Savers Exchange (now the largest public participation heirloom seed organization in the world). These beans are said to have been brought by Lina’s grandmother to Missouri by covered wagon in the 1880’s. Delicious smooth texture and rich flavor for soups or on their own. Great to freeze as shelly beans for wonderful winter meals! (from Uprising Seeds catalog)

The same seed is also available directly from Seed Savers Exchange.

There are several bean varieties that look similar to Bird Egg Beans in the catalogs:  Flambo,  Tongue of Fire, and French Horticultural Beans.

Our Bird Egg Bean family tradition has ranged far and wide in the Metzger side of the Gooch family. Son Joseph is determined to have a harvest of Bird Eggs from his garden in Alaska's Matanuska Valley. Carol Metzger Wilkerson has been successful in growing the family beans in her garden near Portland, Oregon.

Leave us a comment about your experience with bird egg beans or any of the others that have similar characteristics. We love hearing from our readers.