Lazy Wife Greasy Beans, A Lesson In Appalachian Nomenclature

 I was just offered the opportunity to buy a freezing sized amount of what are called Lazy Wife Greasy Beans from my friend Bill Best, whom I have written about several times on this blog.  Bill is a nationally recognized expert on saving, propagating, and growing Appalachian Heritage food crops, a prolific author, retired Berea College professor, and farmer.  I have never had any personal experiences with Lazy Wife Greasy Beans but I just cannot resist the opportunity to learn about them, write about them, freeze them, and eat them when the snow is on the ground.  From Letcher County on the Virginia border to at least Rowan County on I-64 and west to about Adair County, Kentucky is famous for having a people who have, over the last 300 years, grown and managed to save hundreds of varieties of Appalachian Heritage food crops, especially beans and tomatoes. 

For instance, the Sustainable Mountain Agriculture Center website sells seed beans for about twenty separate varieties of greasy beans including a Lazy Wife Greasy Bean, a Small Lazy Wife Greasy Bean, and a Lazy Daisy Greasy Bean.  The website does not specify which was small, the bean or the lazy wife who originally grew it.  But the website of Sow True Seed gives the best description of the Lazy Wife Greasy Bean.  They say it is "One of the largest of all the greasy varieties, it's called Lazy Wife because the gardeners (who were traditionally the women of the family) could wait longer to harvest and get more food per harvest as these beans are just that big. Thick, fleshy, and stringless, pods remain tender until the beans are quite large. A great shelling bean as well. Originally from Madison County, NC"  They also give the scientific name, Phaseoulus vulgaris, which could mean that the person who produced the scientific name and catalogued it felt that it was vulgar to name a bean in a manner which could be considered demeaning to women. However, an internet friend of mine who goes by the moniker Greenbriar Jim and happens to be a doctoral level retired scientist for the federal government corrected about the meaning of the Latin word "vulgaris".  Jim says that the word simply means "Common" in Latin.  I'm willing to take his word for although the Lazy Wife Greasy Bean is anything but common.  But at the time in Appalachian Folk History when this bean got its colorful name, it was not a particularly offensive thing which also supports Jim's information.   By the way, Jim has a wonderful photography based blog with a little history thrown in for good measure. Although he hasn't produced much on the blog in recent years, it is still well worth visiting at this link.  The blog is named "The Wayfarin' Stranger" and is well worth an extended visit.  The website of the Burpee Seed Company, from which I would never buy an advertised heritage seed because of their long history of hybridization and crossbreeding of many crops, does make a statement about the somewhat inappropriate nomenclature of the Lazy Wife Bean:  "Were these pearls, what a necklace they would make. These are the true ‘Lazy Housewife’, originally introduced by W. Atlee Burpee Co. in 1885, which explains the antiquated moniker. Plants bear green, entirely stringless pods of exceedingly fine, buttery flavor when cooked. When dried, the beans are perfectly round and white, like little pearls, with a heavier, richer, creamy taste. For longer cropping periods, greater yields, and easier harvesting, use a pole or trellis system. Pick them young for snap beans (80 days), or let them dry for shelling beans."  But the Burpee Company also attempts to take credit for  having "originally introduced by W. Atlee Burpee Co. in 1885."  There is little doubt that the Lazy Wife Greasy Bean was a heritage bean which was simply appropriated by Burpee in their ongoing commercial zeal because they knew it was being widely grown in the Appalachian region.  Several other seed sales and preservation companies also sell the Lazy Wife Greasy Bean and some have decided it seems better to them to call it the Lazy Housewife Bean.  Use of the word "housewife"  instead of just "wife" is a relatively more modern term and was not used three hundred years ago when Appalachian subsistence gardners isolated the bean for its unique qualities and began spreading it across large portions of the Eastern United States.  

Shortly after I posted this blog post, I had a question from a reader in Pulaski County, Kentucky, who wanted to know if I had ever heard of White Snowball Greasy Beans.  I had not but I was able to find a small amount of information on the internet.  Without disclosing any personal information about the reader other than their general geographic area, I am posting here our exchange and my exchange with my two Appalachian Heritage Bean experts, Bill Best and Frank Barnett, who are always the first and generally the last people I go to with questions about Appalachian Heritage crops.  I sent them the following e-mail question: Hello,  Do you two know the White Snowball Greasy Bean?  It is possibly a Pulaski County KY bean.  Roger

Here is the message I got from Frank Barnett:

Sure do. I was given one such named variety by Bill years ago which I assume is from his home turf in NC.  And in 2019 when I went to Mitchell County, NC another 2 going by that name, and one of those was from Yancey County, NC.  One thing about bean variety names, before the internet and the big bean swaps, names were local, even to the holler level.  Good example varieties were from older folks called John or Maggie. You know like the Amish the same names were used over and over in each generation. Big John might mean the eldest John or the heaviest John and of course there was Little John, maybe Big John’s son.  So I have 5 bean varieties called Big John. And 3 or 4 Aunt Maggie bean varieties. I had an Aunt Maggie but she was not a seed saver. I had 4 Raleigh Barnett relatives, Big, Junior, Little, Little Junior. None them gardened.  I know of a relative in my Mom’s family , George, who always wanted a son but he had all daughters ( a bunch). When his daughters got married they each named their first born son, George. Now all the Georges were differentiated by nicknames, Big Nose George, Horny George (warts across his forehead), Big Foot George, Pleasant George, and I have forgotten the rest. Just a good thing they were Not bean seed savers. Nope, no regulatory organization to control name naming.  That is apparent with names like Dog Eye or Eagle With Wings ( Red eyed fall bean to non bean person) or Cousin Jed and Aunt Onie (Ona, I assume). (Personal E-mail from Frank Barnett)

This morning, September 29, 2020, I received a response to my e-mail question from Bill Best about the White Snowball Greasy Bean and here it is in its entirety: 

Like Frank, I have grown the Snowball greasy to see if it was the same as the Lazy Wife Greasy.  The jury is still out but my son’s colleague at Tennessee Tech is doing DNA analysis of several of our bean varieties.  I’ve heard of the Snowball Greasy being from Mitchell and Yancy Counties in NC but now from Pulaski County, KY.  I like Frank’s discussion of bean seed names and am still waiting for him to write a book about his knowledge of beans and their keepers that he has met over the years. I had Lazy Wife greasy beans for supper tonight and they are still as good as they used to be. Roger, I’m looking forward to seeing you and Candice this Thursday.  Weather permitting you can drive within two feet of my Lazy Wife greasy bean rows.  We picked some for you today and will pick again Wednesday if the weather allows so that you can have the freshest ones.  We are stringing and breaking many every day to make shuck beans, since I’m down to two packets and need more to replenish my supply.  I keep them all in a freezer where they will last indefinitely."

My response to Bill's message is fairly simple since I am not the Appalachian Heritage Bean expert.  I am simply an expert on Appalachian Culture and have an interest in all aspects of it including Appalachian Heritage crops which came about primarily because I met Bill Best because he and I both had stories in a book from the Jesse Stuart Foundation and Bill introduced me to Frank.  They are the two best experts in America on Appalachian Heritage crops, especially beans and tomatoes and whatever they say is gospel, has been traced and certified before they say it, and should always be considered to be the final answer.  

I also received a second response to my e-mail from Frank Barnett this morning, September 29, 2020, which has some more information about his wide ranging search for Appalachian Heritage Beans and also contains  some pretty good humor.   

"Oh sorry for the long winded discussion about bean names but I needed a break from shelling out beans. I hope all this rain does not damage the 5 varieties I have yet to pick for seed.   In April 2019 when I went to Mitchell, Yancey and Madison counties in NC I felt right at home. I had good visits with everyone and besides talking about beans also had   discussions about about chickens, tobacco, old Ford trucks, and oh the manager at the state liquor store in Burnsville. He sounded like a moonshiner, he said he really objected to buying his whiskey from the state, state has no business making whiskey.  The bulls*** got really deep, next trip I will have hip boots.  And I left for Tenn over one of the last two cow path dirt roads in western NC.  Oh but no coal trucks. Yep I know about those WVa roads marked as coal haulers."

I think Frank Barnett's  e-mail tells you a lot about how serious he is about Appalachian Heritage Beans, how far he is willing to travel to find a variety he does not know, and how hard he works on his farm, as does Bill Best, in order to preserve and pass on what they know about these hard to find crops. 

Let me go on to say that these posts about Appalachian Heritage beans have always generated a lot of readership and several such exchanges with my readers about the particular bean variety I might be writing about or others which I had not even expected such as the White Snowball Greasy Bean above.  That is a very good thing!  If one of my blog posts about such topics generates questions for you let me know.  If the post contains what you perceive to be an error, also let me know.  Or if it reminds you of information you have about some related topic, also let me know.  I love to see this happen and I love to learn as do most of the readers on this blog.  I have never intended this blog to be typical or to be only my opinions especially about topics rooted strongly in Appalachian culture, agriculture, history, literature, or any other topic within the greater field of Appalachian Studies.  Here is also a photo Frank sent me on October 8, 2020, of our mutual friend, national Appalachian Heritage crop expert Bill Best with his freshly made shucked beans.