At left, Chris and Mike Reeske hand-sort the beans and discard those with imperfections before bagging and labeling them for sale. “We’re the bean counters,” Mike Reeske says with a laugh, explaining that there is no nearby facility that can do this final, quality-control step.
Heirlooms’ challenges While deeply committed to organic heirloom bean revival, Reeske says it has its challenges. About 90% of heirloom beans have bean common mosaic virus, which inhibits photosynthesis, leading to small yields and, therefore, higher prices for consumers. The process is also labor-intensive. People, not machines, do the soil preparation, fertilizing, laying of drip irrigation and planting in the spring. In the late summer, they hand- harvest the partially dried beans with sickles and throw them into piles to finish drying. And because each bean variety matures at a different rate, harvesting must be done intermittently from about mid-August to late September. Then there are relentless weeds. Last year, Reeske lost about 80% of his typical crop because he couldn’t find enough workers for this task, forcing him to temporarily halt bean sales on the Rio Del Rey website. Once the harvested beans are completely dried, a small tractor-pulled thresher from Turkey shakes the beans from the pods. When cleaned of dirt and debris, the beans are put in a freezer to kill any weevils, a common bean pest. Then the Reeskes hand-sort them to pick out beans that are split, moldy or otherwise less than perfect before bagging and labeling them for sale. The packages go to specialty markets and are available on the Rio Del Rey website. Reeske does his own deliveries to restaurants rather than hiring a distributor. “I decided it was more fun for me to go and meet the chefs,” he says. All those steps, though, are only part of his work.
Researcher and advocate Drawing on his science background, Reeske is working with University of California researchers to learn what varieties of beans are naturally resistant to pests and diseases and what will grow best in the local soils. He’s also working on a program to restore the cultivation of certain tribal heirloom beans that are an important part of ceremonies and traditions. And he’s an heirloom bean advocate, trying to convince more small farmers to try growing them. Even though they aren’t a big moneymaker, heirloom beans add nitrogen to the soil, giving farmers “free fertilizer,” he says. He’s also working to create farm tours and other educational opportunities for the public to get more people to eat beans more often, emphasizing they are an economical, sustainable source of protein, with numerous health benefits. “For instance, I’m a Type 2 diabetic and after I started eating beans three times a week, I gave up one of my meds because beans stabilize blood sugar,” he says. “I also want to educate people that all beans don’t taste the same, and there’s a whole variety of flavors you can experience.” Reeske chuckles as he sums up his passion. “I guess I’m like the Johnny Appleseed of beans.”
Linda DuBois ldubois@californiabountiful.com
26
January/February 2024
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