Detail of the flower of the Agua Dulce Broad Bean. Heirloom Vegetable Gardening by William Woys Weaver is the culmination of some thirty years of first-hand knowledge of growing, tasting and cooking ...

A worker tends the beans growing at Rio del Rey Heirloom Beans in northern San Diego County. (photo: Mike Reeske) Funding from the USDA Organic Research and Education Initiative and Western SARE ...

Left: The author's Granny Ruby Haynes Caudill, 97, was a postmistress and seamstress. She passed on the bean seed and the stories that went with them. Right: Katharine Campbell Haynes and William ...

Right now is a great time to eat more pulses but don't think that means the same old lentils and kidney beans. As you may know, the UN General Assembly declared 2016 the “International Year of the ...

Three freezers in Bill Best’s barn are filled with plastic zip-lock bags containing heirloom bean seeds. “We’ve probably got 700 to 800 varieties in here,” said Best, who has collected heirloom seeds ...

Working with farmers from Central California, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico, and Mexico, Napa-based Rancho Gordo is resurrecting long-forgotten beans and bringing them back to the American table. “If ...

Rancho Gordo's heirloom dried beans turn up on some of the swellest tables in the Bay Area, from Manresa to the French Laundry. With evocative names like 'Eye of the Goat' and 'Sangre de Toro' (bull's ...

The following is an excerpt from Heirloom Vegetable Gardening: A Master Gardener’s Guide to Planting, Seed Saving and Cultural History by William Woys Weaver. This definitive, intriguing and ...

Question: I have some purple pole beans that I grew this summer. I got the seed from a friend. She says they are called Kew Blue. Can I save these bean seeds from my crop for next year? If this fails, ...