The Dog Eye Bean and The Eagle With Spreading Wings Beans

Partly as a result of my other recent posts about Appalachian Heritage beans and shucked beans I have had an ongoing e-mail exchange with my friend Frank Barnett who is one of the most important experts in the entire country on Appalachian Heritage beans.  Frank has spent  years locating, collecting, and saving Appalachian Heritage beans and has several hundred varieties in his collection.  He grows a large crop each year, sometimes beginning with as little as the seeds from one bean and protecting, propagating, and saving the bean in amounts large enough to be viable long term.  If he has only a few seeds for a particular variety, he will plant them in one spot and build a protective wire or mesh cage about 12 feet tall to set over the growing bean vines to protect them from animals.  Bill Best my other Appalachian Heritage crop expert says that he has regularly used poles about 12 feet tall topped with a bicycle rim to which he attaches strong strings so the bean vines can grow up the strings and be protected.  At the end of the first year with these rare varieties for which they have only a small amount of seeds, every bean will be dried and saved for seed.  In the second year, it might be possible to plant one short row from which nearly all the seed will be saved again.  Or if this second year is particularly abundant, they might try to eat one small mess of beans and save the majority of the seeds.  

As a result of these recent e-mails between Frank Barnett and myself, Frank recently sent me photographs of two beans which he is working to save. They are two of the most unique and appropriately named beans I have ever seen. 

Frank and I have also had a message or two back and forth about the nomenclature of Appalachian Heritage beans and I hope my readers will find it as fascinating as I have.  For the majority of this post, I will use Frank's own words since he is the real expert.  I am simply the messenger attempting to pass on his excellent knowledge to as many people as possible, especially those of you in the Central and Southern Appalachian region.  As the title says above, the two varieties of bean Frank and I have discussed are the Dog Eye Bean and the Eagle With Spreading Wings Bean.  The photograph attached to this paragraph is of the Dog Eye Bean and Frank Barnett took the photos and grew both beans.  As soon as you look at the photos of the individual bean seeds in the photo, it is easy to see why it is called the Dog Eye Bean.  The eye of the bean looks a great deal like the eye of a dog.  

The second bean which Frank sent me a photo of is called the Eagle With Spreading Wings Bean and it is just as appropriately named as the Dog Eye Bean.  It is truly a compelling photograph when you combine it with the name.  Until I saw these photographs, I had no idea there could be so much variety in the appearance of individual bean seeds. That is a very graphic name which is fully justified when you see the photograph of the bean seeds with their very distinctive eye. 

As I said earlier, these photographs caused me to engage in an e-mail exchange with Frank Barnett and to ask his permission to use his photographs and messages in a blog post to which he consented.  However, his copyright should be respected and protected if you choose to pass this blog post, these photographs, Frank's e-mail messages as inserted below, or any portion of this blog post.  Also, please not that with recent changes to the Blogspot format and software that it is not currently possible to insert a caption at the bottom of a photograph as I have always done previously.  The bottom line is simply that you should honor both my authorship and Frank's.  I have also done a Google search for more information about these two incredibly unique beans and found nothing which should tell you just how cutting edge Frank Barnett's work with Appalachian Heritage beans really is.  

When Frank sent me his first e-mail on September 29, 2020, he simply sent the photographs appropriately labeled with their respective names in response to my earlier writing about the Lazy Wife Greasy Bean to which I responded with the following e-mail message: 

"Frank,        Those are interesting beans with very appropriate names.  Candice & I went to Bill's on Thursday and bought some Lazy Wife Greasy Beans, froze four bags and ate one last night.  We really like the taste.  Bill & I were talking as we have a few times before about the fact that we both agree that you really should write a book about your exploits in the world of Appalachian Heritag Beans.  Winter is coming on and when you get the gardens put to bed it would be a great time to start."  (R. Hicks E-mail September 29, 2020)

 Frank responded on October 4, 2020, with the following e-mail message: 

"Roger,  You all need to come and visit me especially when I have beans ready in the garden. Like my Grandma I will draw a fresh bucket of water from the well (actually in these days and times, bottled spring water from the refrigerator ) and give you all a mess of beans to take home.  My garden here at the house in around 50ft by 100ft. It is nice to work a little in the garden and then run back into the house with the A/C. I have enjoyed my visits up the hollers and some have been right in the head of a deadening. People have been good to me and most times we have spent hours just talking. I started chasing beans down when I was 59 years old and my rules were to find the actual growers and they had to be older than me. However, now at 73 years old that is becoming more difficult. I do need to organize my notes from the past years. I have certainly enjoyed my retirement of what is now approaching 14 years." (Frank Barnett E-mail, October 4, 2020)

Although that e-mail from Frank may not have a great deal of information about the two beans in discussion here it contains a great deal of other wonderful information about gardening, bean chasing as Frank calls it, and life in the Appalachian mountains all over Eastern Kentucky and Southern West Virginia.  The comment about drawing "a fresh bucket of water" is a throw back to hand dug wells, spring houses, Appalachian hospitality, and general customs all across Appalachia. Both Frank and I have spent years traveling all across Appalachia in a variety of capacities.  Frank grew up in Floyd County Kentucky about 25 miles or so from where I grew up in Knott County and both of us have spent the majority of our lives in the region although we also spent several years outside the region and have traveled extensively in the United States.  We both like to believe we understand Appalachia and Appalachian people.  I responded to Frank's message above with the message below: 

"Frank,  We have gone to Bill's in the last few days and spent a couple of hours with Bill and Rene' but, due to the second surge of Covid which is devastating the state, we are back to pretty much where we were in March and April in terms of low contacts and self isolation.  With Candice's general condition, we cannot take a chance on getting out much.  But we appreciate the offer to visit and will when Covid is under control and an ethically produced, tested, and confirmed vaccine is being widely marketed by public health officials in the Joe Biden administration.  Maybe we can do it next year at bean picking time but we don't need to have the beans to agree to the visit.  If an appropriate vaccine from a company with no ties to TRAITOR Trump is available in the spring, we would be willing to visit then.  And, if you are out in the general area of Morgan County, under the aforesaid terms, we would be glad to have you visit here." (R. Hicks E-mail October 5, 2020)

Candice and I have visited with Frank on only one occasion when we shared a lunch with him in a fine Italian restaurant not far from his home near Georgetown, Kentucky.  We have also visited with Bill Best at the Lexington Farmers Market where he sells beans, the Berea Farmers Market, and the aforementioned visit at his farm near Berea during the first few days of October.  But all three of us (Bill, Frank, and I) regularly e-mail each other and often include all contacts in the group on our messages.  They have taught me a lot about beans, farming, eating wholesome homegrown foods, and Appalachia, Appalachian Culture, and life in general.   So, Frank responded to my E-mail of October 5, 2020, above on October 5, 2020, with the following discussion of beans, bean chasing, and raising beans.

"Sure you can do a blog about Dog Eyes and Eagles but use the last photo I sent of the Eagle Spreading Wings. There has always been a big discussion on FaceBook about Hazard Red Eyed Fall beans and Leslie Tenderpods being the same varity. Last week the Clay Bank Fall bean from me was mentioned and I had to tell everyone that the bean was from Leslie County at a spot called Hell for Certain. And besides that are at least 4 sub varieties that folks want to call Hazard Red Eyed Fall beans but folks in Perry County know better. I will try to put something together tonight that is clearer.  Maybe I need to add the Big Teddy story about the bean I got at the Morgan County Sorghum Fest a few years back, a big old boy from Owsley County selling his beans."  (Frank Barnett E-mail, October 5, 2020)

Obviously, in that message immediately above, Frank briefly mentioned several more varieties of Appalachian Heritage beans including the Hazard Red Eyed Fall Bean and Leslie Tender Pods which are probably the same variety.  He also mentioned a bean he had gotten during a visit to the Morgan County Sorghum Festival in my home county and the Clay Bank Fall Bean from a spot he called Hell For Certain.  But I have always known that creek in Leslie County Kentucky as being Hell Fer Sartain as it is called in Leonard Roberts' wonderful book of Appalachian folk tales with the title "South From Hell Fer Sartain".  But the message immediately above tells a lot about how hard Frank Barnett has worked in his efforts to save as many Appalachian Heritage beans since his retirement from IBM about 14 years ago.  He has traveled thousands of miles, visited with hundreds of small mountain farmers, driven up many small, isolated hollows, and eaten a lot of good meals in little houses with common people who welcomed him in, gave him a share of what little or much they had, and treated him like a friend even though they had often never met this man who seemed to enjoy good beans as much as they did.  

Frank and I have had a few more messages back and forth since October 5, 2020, about Appalachia, our common raising in Eastern Kentucky, and our love for traveling narrow, two lane mountain roads all over Appalachia, and learning everything we can from older Appalachians as soon as we can before any more of it is lost.  If you feel the same way, contact me at my E-mail address rchicks@mrtc.com and tell me your stories.  It would be wonderful if you allowed me to pass that information along so other Appalachians can benefit from it also.   Frank also sent me this photo on October 8, 2020, of our mutual friend, national Appalachian Heritage crop expert Bill Best with his freshly made shucked beans. 

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.

 

A Pretty Good Brand Of Sorghum That Is New To Me

I have written several times on this blog about various brands of sorghum which is one of my favorite foods.  I use it in a variety of ways including eating it in hot cereal, no pancakes and hoecakes, and for cooking at times.  I had run out of my favorite local, Morgan County Kentucky sorghum from Holbrook Brothers recently and actually done without for a couple of weeks since I have seriously worked to minimize my contacts in the world of the Cornona Virus and an uncaring White House.  But we ran out of several things we use regularly about two weeks ago and I took a trip to Save-A-Lot in Sandy Hook, Kentucky, about 25 miles away because they have a newer, larger, more airy store than our local store which is small, tightly packed with narrow, congested aisles and, in today's world, that is not someplace I want to be even with a mask and gloves.  The Sandy Hook store also has a large, well stocked produce department and produce was one of things we needed most.  

I had not even added sorghum to my list before I went to the store and was surprised to see a relatively local brand on a display near the produce section.  The maker is Lloyd Roe Farms in Pomeroyton, Kentucky, in adjoining Menifee County.  Since I had been without sorghum for a couple of weeks, I grabbed a jar and added it to my cart.  I neglected to check it closely but noticed later that it had some granulation visible through the clear glass jar.  When I got it home and tried it, I discovered that it was granulated close to 60%.  I blame this oversight on the fact that at about the same time I grabbed the sorghum I was also beginning to suffer symptoms of some virus or other which dissipated in about three hours and which I am sure was not Coronoa.  I have also seen my local doctor since then and he agrees.  But, when I realized that the sorghum was severely granulated, I knew that I had  bit of mild work to do to reliquify the sorghum.  I did sample the sorghum with a spoon before I tried to reliquify it and found it to be sweet, not bitter, not scorched, and a pretty good variety of sorghum if you discounted the granulation.  My favorite method of reconstituting granulated sorghum or honey is to heat it in a pan of hot water on the stove.  I will place the open jar in enough water to rise about half way up the jar, bring it to a boil and immediately turn the heat off and allow the honey or sorghum to sit in the hot water until it cools to about room temperature.  I check it then to see if it has fully returned to its liquid form.  If not, I repeat the process until it fully back to its liquid state.  The second time sufficed well for this particular jar of sorghum.  Let me say at this point that I also do not hold Lloyd Roe Farms responsible for the fact that the sorghum was granulated even though I know that overcooking sorghum can result in granulation.  But overcooking also usually results in scorching and that is unmistakable by taste or smell.  This sorghum was not scorched and I do not think it was overcooked even the least bit.  I just think the store probably had it in stock too long resulting in the granulation.  I will also say that, at some time in the future, I will locate a freshly cooked jar of Lloyd Roe Sorghum and give it one more honest test.  

After being heated to its liquid state, the sorghum was tasty, sweet, not bitter, not granulated, not scorched and a perfectly acceptable brand of sorghum with only one or two minor points to be discussed.  It was thin and I like thick sorghum which has not been overcooked or scorched.  But the thinness could also be due to having been heated twice in a hot water bath.  The other point I have to bring up is that the jar is a clear glass jar which is about the same height of a regular quart Mason jar in which we find most brands of good local sorghum anywhere in the country.  But, the jar does not have that signature pot belly or bulge in the middle which regular Mason jars have.  As a result this jar, hold what the label says is 35 ounces or .992233 kilograms or 2.1875 pounds which is considerably less than that typical pot bellied Mason jar holds.  Most brands of sorghum I buy in those pot bellied Mason jars are labeled to hold 44 ounces or 1250 grams.  That is a difference of about 9 ounces of product at about the same price as the larger jars of other brands.  For me, and for most other buyers, that is an issue most of us will not ignore.  I leave that to the judgment of the reader.  It is a brand of sorghum which is good enough that I will try it again when I find it ungranulated.  But I would be more willing to try it again if I received that other nine ounces and I bet you would too.