Carolyn, Here on my Copper hill land I grow several heirloom beans. Among them is an "October " bean that the people in Floyd simply call "Big October" Actually the "big October " is the largest member of the cranberry, bean. It is the Madeira cranberry bean. All pintos and Octobers are of the cranberry bean family. There are many varieties and probably most of the people are familiar with the bush type October (Taylor) which is kind of a hybrid. The Madeira's that I raise are running beans and will run up to 8 ft or more. I grow all my heirlooms on fences. I have also, Goose bean, Turkey gizzard, Hungarian October, Christmas Lima. Heirloom small lima beans . The goose bean has become my favorite. It is so prolific and can be eaten in all three stages. As a stingless green bean, as a Shelly bean or as a dried bean. Anyone interested, just type in Goose bean and you will get a good description. Also type in Cranberry and Madeira and you will find what we mountain people call the "Big October" Bill the Bean man of Copper Hill -----Original Message----- From: vafloyd-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:vafloyd-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Carolyn Bruce Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2010 10:15 AM To: vafloyd@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [VAFLOYD] beans Jerry, In my experience, pintos are brown and octobers are speckled, two different beans. My mother used to mix the speckled octobers in with a pot of half runners (a green or "snap" bean), cook them with "fat back" and serve them with chopped onions and cornbread and butter... talk about good eatin'! O'course, pintos, cooked and served the same way, are my favorites. Sometimes I'd take the pintos with plenty of the soup and crumble the cornbread up in them, sprinkle 'em heaviliy with chopped onions... m-m-good! On the side put a serving of kale, boiled 'til tender, drained and fried in fat back grease, sprinkle with a little vinegar... oh boy! Mother would serve it on a platter decorated with the strips of fat back (salt pork) and slices of hard boiled egg... made a pretty dish. Are you hungry, yet? I understand that served together, cornbread and beans have amino acids equal to those of meat. True? Carolyn HALE BRUCE Virginia Beach, VA To contact Listowner: Rena Worthen doreatr@rbnet.com View the Floyd County Virginia Website at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~vafloyd/floyd.htm ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to VAFLOYD-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message