On Friday, October 11, the Beanheads of Beacon: A Hill of Beans! harvested the final goodness of the season by hosting an old fashioned bean supper and bingo bash.  Over 40 of our friends and neighbors joined us at the Garden House for fabulous world bean dishes, salad and cornbread staying for many rounds of bingo.  Prizes included all manner of beany things, along with other seasonal prizes of harvest themed goods.  Winner of Bingo Blackout was Jan Johnson of West Seattle, who won a gift certificate to Travelers Thali House where beans always take a starring role.  We shared extra seeds (beans and otherwise) with the crowd and still have enough to distribute next spring!
 
We had time to share a long list of supporters, from the city's Department of Neighborhoods who jump started our project back in April with a Small Sparks grant, to our beanheads (Rockit and Garden Club members), the teens at Jefferson Community Center, Seattle Parks and el Centro (hosts to our 2 demonstration gardens) and over 25 merchants who hosted bean buckets for the Boulevard of Beans.
 
The Beacon Beanheads also very much thank the neighbors for their words of encouragement all summer as we watered, and for their harvest of our crops.  We hope you all discovered a new bean and are encouraged to try growing your own next year.  

Join us Friday, October 11th at 6pm for the closing celebration of Beacon, A Hill of Beans. Celebrate the harvest with a bean dinner, games for kids of all ages, and a seed exchange. Learn how to save your seeds for next year and swap to try new varieties. It's all free and open to all of our neighbors. Join us at the Garden House, 2336 15th Ave South, this Friday!

If you want to learn more about beans, check out this great book Beans: A History by Ken Albala. Did you know there are 18,815 species of beans? Tamarind, carob, and jicama are all part of this family. I found it fascinating to read about the really exotic varieties, there is actually one that tastes like ice cream (Inga edulis).

It was also one of the first plants domesticated over 10,000 years ago.  The author goes into how beans have risen and fallen in favor with different cultures and classes. It's a complicated story that is told well. Just about every culture has a rich history of bean recipes and I really liked that the author included a sampling of these recipes. Want to know how the ancient Romans or the medieval peasants cooked their beans? It's in here. There's even a recipe for a Pinto Bean Fruit Cake, though I think I'll pass.

I recommend this book for a great breadth of knowledge while keeping it entertaining to read. I found my copy at the local library, check it out!

We're in the news, check out the story on Crosscut.com.

Scarlet runner beans reaching for the roof in the Station Coffee Shop back patio!  

The date has been set for our Fall Bean Supper. It will be Friday evening, October 11th at the Garden Club House (2336 15th Ave S, the Green Victorian House). There will be a free bean supper, bean-go and seed swap. Bring your seeds and go home with new favorites to try! Stay tuned for more details.

Have a ton of beans coming in? Looking for new ways to prepare them? Check out our recipes section for ideas. If you have a favorite recipe for fresh or dried beans, please share them us!

Wagon courtesy of Leon at Travelers' Thali House
Milk jugs courtesy of Luis at The Station coffeehouse.