Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Beans.

This is a little bean plant.


     They're up an growing at full speed. This plant has two real leaves and it just sprouting two more in the crook on top. The two shrivelled appendages are what's left of the cotyledons.



     This picture shows a couple of sprouts that are a little further behind in development. Put all three together and you have a pretty good picture of the early days of a bean plant.
     Beans are a major crop all over the world. They're a good source of protein, folate, and iron as well as a great source of fiber. This makes them a useful cornerstone of any diet. There are thousands of different kinds of beans and a variety for just about any environment.
     Being Legumes they're also handy nitrogen fixers. All plants need nitrogen, legumes have some bacteria friends that help them to gather it out of the air. Some of this nitrogen will be left over after the bean dies in the fall and can be use by the next crop to come along. Also, any plant (weeds included) that grows next to a bean will be able to access some of this nitrogen. In the "Three Sisters" arrangement of planting, this helps corn to grow. Though I don't know of anyone that grows their crops mixed in such a way. (It's very time consuming and labor intensive.)


     A bean is seemingly simple, but I hope you picked up on the fact that this is untrue. It's easy to take such things for granted as they've always been there. (Kind of like all of agriculture.) But the humble bean is not only a cornerstone of farming, but also a cornerstone of the human diet world wide. So don't make fun, go out and buy some more beans. (and, if at all possible, buy local beans.)

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