Me and the Beans

This year, for the first time in many years, I have a real vegetable garden. In fact, two gardens. One is my community plot and the other is my dry bean garden at Karen's place.
I discovered in the process of creating these gardens, that I have something of a bean obsession. I kept finding myself at the library, looking at vegetable books (the bean section...) or online doing bean research... or calling people on the phone to talk about beans... (this last is significant because I loathe the telephone and avoid talking on it whenever possible.) Anyway, I was not able to find all of beans that I wanted to plant but I did find some of them.

Here is a list of the beans I am currently growing:

Rattlesnake (pole) I was obviously attracted to the name of this bean.
Northeaster (pole) A variety bred to do well in cool, wet environs... also supposed to be delicious. Sometimes we have a cool wet summer here.
Tongue of Fire (bush) Again, what a great name. Rumoured to be from Tierra del Fuego, a place I visit in my dreams.
These are in my community garden. The pole beans are for eating green, or as snap beans; the bush bean is best consumed as a shelly bean. (Prior to my bean research, I didn't know what a "shelly bean" was; now I am a know-it-all...)

The following beans are my "dry bean garden" that I have out at Karen's place. I am growing them to eat as dry beans. We eat a LOT of beans now that we are mostly vegetarian. I wanted to try growing something different than the usual varieties you find at the grocery store. And I figured that dry beans wouldn't need a whole lot of looking after and molly-coddling. (Let's hope...)

Thibodeau de Compte Beauce (bush) I no longer remember what attracted me to this one; it was probably the lovely french name. I have always wanted to learn french and I frequently fantasize about moving to Quebec and becoming a francophone. I admire the culture, if not Celine Dion.

Jacob's Cattle (bush) These are some of the prettiest beans in existence. A bag of them could make a strong man cry.
Tongue of Fire (bush) I had to have some of these as dry beans, too, just to see. (What if that whole "shelly bean" thing doesn't work out?)
Soybean (variety unknown) So, I was in a bean-planting frenzy when I ran out of beans. Karen had a big bag of organic soybeans that was left behind by another friend, so I planted a whole row of these. I really love soybeans as edamame, (or eaten while green) but I don't know if this variety will be good for that or not.
(We like to steam them briefly in a bit of boiling saltwater, then smother them in olive oil and sea salt and suck them out of their fuzzy pods...)

Sadly, I was unable to find "Lazy Wife" although I think I have a source for next year. We have had very good weather for beans this year, so I am hopeful for my gardens. It has been quite hot and we have had plentiful rain. My pole beans are climbing the bamboo teepees we made for them.
I feel a sense of order in the universe.