Check out the many varieties that we are growing out
this year in the seed garden.
Varieties are chosen based on their adaptability to this region,
productivity, and sometimes just because they sound so interesting!
Beans
Musica (pole – fresh snap)
Early and productive Romano style pole bean that is both juicy and sweet with wonderful crunchy texture. Broad, flat, 7-9" long pods have unsurpassed rich flavor. Bred originally for European home gardeners, Musica’s vigorous, robust vines climb quickly and effortlessly and produce heavily.
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Gold of Bacau (pole – fresh snap)
Very productive, 6-10" long flattened golden Romano type beans. Brought to the US from Bacau, Romania. Excellent sweet flavor. Even when the seeds begin to form, the pods are still stringless, tender, and sweet. Best for fresh use but can also be frozen.
Hidatsa Shield (pole – fresh, shelly, or dry)
Prolific. Slow Foods Ark of Taste selection. Drought and heat tolerant. Traditional Three Sisters bean originally grown in the Missouri River Valley of North Dakota by the Hidatsa Indians. Creamy texture. Holds shape well when cooked.
Cherokee Trail of Tears (pole – fresh, shelly, or dry)
This heirloom bean was carried by the Cherokee people over the Trail of Tears in the winter during a forced relocation from the Smoky Mountains to Oklahoma (1838-1839), leaving a trail of 4,000 graves. Green 6" pods with purple overlay, shiny jet-black seeds. Dry beans have a delicious rich flavor. Can also be used as a snap bean. (Also known as Cherokee Black.)
Moldovanesti Buffalo Runner (pole – fresh, shelly, or dry)
Extremely productive 8′ tall plants produce tons of delicious large white beans. White flowers are edible, and when young beans are edible as large green beans or when mature as dry beans, but we think they are best as fresh shelling beans. Referred to as Butter Beans in England and sometimes Potato Beans in the United states. “Buffalo bean” is a common name for white runner beans in Romania, where white water buffaloes are still used as draft animals. Collected on Adaptive Seed Ambassador trip to Romania.
Royal Burgundy (bush – fresh snap)
Brilliant purple 5" pods are easy to spot when harvesting and add stunning color to salads when used raw. The pods do turn green when cooked. Upright plants are dark green with a purple tinge.
Tiger's Eye (bush – dry)
Prolific plants reach 36" tall so need some room to sprawl or climb. Pods dry down early.
Handsome, ocher-colored beans from Argentina have a maroon swirl for the look of a cat's eye. They have a buttery-smooth texture and rich, hearty flavor. Great for refried beans.
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Rio Zape (bush – dry)
These pinto-style beans are believed to have been discovered in the ruins of the Anasazi cliff-dwelling people in southwestern US. Beautiful purple striped beans. Creamy texture and, according to Rancho Gordo, have the flavor of coffee with a hint of chocolate! Prolific with a sprawling habit.
Appaloosa (sprawling bush – dry)
Beans are smaller, oval in shape, half cream and half a mottled maroon like the appaloosa horse. Hold their shape well when cooked.
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And . . .
Touchstone Beets
Lush and vigorous leaf growth, beautifully shaped round smooth roots, great mild, sweet flavor.
Golden beets are a thing of culinary beauty and make for a very classy presentation in any beet dish (and no migrating color).
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Oaxacan Green Corn
The stunningly beautiful ears of corn come in a range of greens, from yellow-green through emerald, with every imaginable shade in between. The deeply dented kernels have been used for centuries by the Zapotec people to make a regional favorite, green-flour tamales. Also makes excellent cornbread! The 6-10" ears are on plants that reach 7', are very drought-tolerant, and perform well even at higher latitudes and cooler climates. (85-100 days)
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Japanese Trifele Black Tomato
Marilyn's favorite! Pear-shaped fruit has green-streaked shoulders, deepening to a burnished mahogany and finally to a darkened, nearly black base. The meaty interior has similar opulent shades and an incomparable, complex, and rich flavor to match. The fruit reach 2 1/2 - 3" long and wide, and are very crack-resistant. Despite the name, this thoroughbred has its origins in Russia. Indeterminate, potato-leafed plants.
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Rosa di Milano Onion
From Northern Italy. Unusually shaped flat-topped onion with very attractive bronze-red skin. A first-rate OP storage onion that is medium sized, very productive, and uniform. In a 2014 storage onion trial done by the Organic Seed Alliance, under heavy disease pressure Rosa showed excellent horizontal resistance to downy mildew. Stores easily until spring.
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Mayan Jaguar Lettuce
Crunchy, dark green leaves with bold, dark red splotches. Upright heads reduce splashback of soil onto leaves. Attractive pink hearts. Slow to bolt. Bred by Frank Morton.
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Sweet Valentine Lettuce
Starts out as a large spreading bronzed butterhead with rounded veined leaves. Matures into a romaine shape with a mild flavor. Slow to bolt.
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Blue Solaise Leeks
19th-century cultivar from France. Wide deep blue-green leaves turn violet in cold weather.
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Dragon Carrots
Vibrant purple skin with bright orange flesh and unusual yellow core. Adored by carrot aficionados for its yellow core and spicy-yet-sweet flavor! Roots are full-sized at 7" long, thrive in heavy soils and are very hardy. Improved from a USDA specimen by Dr. John Navazio, with lycopene content equal to tomatoes!
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Umpqua Broccoli
Robust heads, long harvest and generous side shoot production.
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Lively Orange Pepper
Italian type with uniform, thick-walled, bright orange 6-8” fruits. Bred by Tom Lively of Lively Organic Farm in Eugene, OR.
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Hot Biscuits Amaranth
Golden-orange branching plumes stand upright and approximately 4’ tall. Branching stems allow for multiple cuttings from one plant. Grown by some for its edible seed, amaranth has been grown for over 8,000 years and was a staple food of the Aztecs. Very high in many nutrients. Buff-colored seed.
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Candystick Dessert Delicata Winter Squash
A large “Honey Boat” type with extremely thick flesh and delicious rich date-like flavor. Fruit is tan skinned with green stripes. Produces both short loaf shapes and long boat shapes. They keep very well and retain their sweetness better than other squash well into storage. Bred by Carol Deppe of Corvallis, OR.
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Dave 407 Quinoa
Golden-orange seeds. 4-5′ tall plants with seed heads that turn vivid orange when ripe. High-yielding when compared to other quinoa grown here in low elevations. Short season. Open seed heads resist late season damp weather. Collected in southern Chile. Named after quinoa collector and advocate David Cusack, who was murdered in Bolivia in 1984.
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Addis Pickling Cucumber
Pickling type that is also great for fresh eating. Dark green with white spines, 5–7” cylindrical fruit are good for processing. Bred in 1976 by R.L. Lower of North Carolina State University to have resistance to powdery mildew, downy mildew, anthracnose, and angular leaf spot. Very widely adapted.
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