Hutterite Heirloom Seeds - A Harvest of Memories

As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest,

 cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night." Genesis 8:22

Nephew, Terrance helping with harvest

On a Hutterite colony, typically one couple is in charge of the vegetable garden. They’re the ones who decide what will be planted, when the garden needs weeding or produce is ready to be picked. For these tasks, the women’s work group and sometimes the men and older children will help as well. When it’s a smaller task, like digging a few boxes of carrots for the kitchen, the gardener couple will do it with a few Dienen, young women.

I have many happy memories of helping Josh Vetter and Kate Basel, my aunt and uncle, when they were the gardeners at our colony. One memorable autumn task for me is Fasielen dreschn, harvesting dry beans. We had combines, of course, but unlike today’s gardeners, Josh Vetter preferred the old way. 

“Girls, you can start pulling out the bean plants,” Kate Basel announced when we arrived at the garden. “Posst ober auf! Se sein zimblich truckn. Be careful they’re very dry.” The sun-dried, brittle beans sang their crackly harvest song as we worked. 

Using pitchforks, we placed the plants on one half of a huge tarp, then pulled the other half on top of the plants, completely covering them. With his little garden tractor, Josh Vetter drove back and forth on the tarp a few times. This broke the pods, so the beans fell out. After that, the tarp was lifted, the plants thrown out and the beans, plus a lot of plant bits and dirt poured into a huge container. “Who needs a combine, when we can thresh like this.” Josh Vetter quipped from his perch on his Farmall A. “Geat’s nit guet?” I agreed with my uncle, it was fun, because it was like stepping back into pioneer days.

Finally, it was time for the wind winnowing process, to separate the beans from the dirt. Kate Basel filled a dipper, held it high over a tub and slowly emptied it. The beans fell into the tub, while the chaff was blown away by the breeze. If there wasn’t any wind that day, a large fan worked just as well. 

Much as I enjoyed this process every September, the beans were of no significance to me. I didn’t enjoy eating them and certainly wasn’t aware that there was anything special about the variety we grew back then. I probably didn’t even know that there were numerous varieties. These beans were pale green with a distinct black rim around the eye. The ones we grow now are white and smaller in size. For the most part, we cook the beans and serve them with sausages. Left overs become pork and beans to be served with the fries at supper, or soup the next day.

These bean-memories were reawakened recently when I read an article by Sandra Fisher, titled Living Heirlooms, in the Fayetteville Observer, an online Iowa newspaper that landed in my inbox via my Google Alerts Hutterites setting. The blurb that caught my attention read, “Seeds which have been preserved keep people in touch with their ancestry and help retain history. Imagine a variety of fruit or vegetable that was so important to a family’s history or homeland that they would bring it with them when they immigrated to America. Such is the case with Greek melons, which were introduced in the early 20th century when Greek immigrants settled in Utah, and Hutterite Soup Beans, which came to North America in the 1870s by virtue of Hutterite Christians fleeing persecution in Europe.”

Bean Soup

 Intrigued, I sent a message to the author. She didn’t know much more than she had in her article, but suggested I contact the Seed Savers Exchange in Iowa. Upon researching via Google, I found a website that boasted: “Hutterite Soup Beans make a soup unlike any other bean.” Other websites described the soup from these beans as “rich, delicious and creamy”, and also have their origin in the bean’s description. 

Some, however, express doubt that the bean was brought to America by Hutterites in the 1870’s, since there is evidence of these beans being in North America before that. William Woys Weaver, an internationally known food historian, believes the bean is a Russian variety, known as China Yellow, and that, “The Hutterites could indeed, have brought the bean with them to Canada and the Dakotas”. The original strain was called Lemon Yellow, which “may indicate some crossing with a white variety, sometime in the past, perhaps to improve its quality as a soup bean.” 

Hutterite Soup Beans

I asked other Hutterites whether they ever heard of the heirloom beans. Few knew anything about them or had only a vague memory. However, one gardener couple has been growing them for a number of years, after buying a package from the Seed Savers Exchange. They were told that the beans cannot be bought in bulk. Therefore, they save some of their beans every year for seed – for their own use and to share with others. They kindly offered me some. I plan to offer them to our vegetable gardeners, in the hopes that we’ll start growing Hutterite Soup Beans once again. Only this time, I know the story behind them. 

As we celebrate Thanksgiving, I’m in awe that a late-nineteenth century Hutterite gardener had the faith and foresight – before crossing the Atlantic on the S. S. Hammonia – to tuck a bag of dry beans into his trunk. 

Over a hundred and forty years later, they are featured on national seed catalogue pages as heirloom seeds – registered Hutterite Soup Beans!

Cherries, Berries and Blooms

Nanking Cherries

Summer is getting away from me and I haven't blogged as much as I would have liked. I was hoping to have more time to dedicate to my blog, but it hasn't worked out that way. Summers are busy around here, and blogging has to wait.

Blackberries

The start of my summer holidays were a berry, cherry delight. We have our own raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, saskatoons, black currants, Evans and Nanking cherries. I'm sure you get the picture: there's a whole lot of picking to do. But it's wonderful to have so much fresh home-grown fruit to enjoy. We had plenty to eat fresh, freeze, make jam, juice and desserts with. So much to be thankful for!

Right now we're feasting on apples from our own orchard. We've put some in the freezer for pie and also to put through a press for juice later. Yesterday we made apple pie. These must be the perfect variety for pie - it's so delicious, especially with a touch of cinnamon, and served with vanilla ice-cream. This reminds me of a little rhyme: The doctor said, "Diet." And I really truly try. I always drink my coffee black, when there's ice-cream on my pie. 
I'm glad that wasn't my doctor; I never drink my coffee black. If I'd have to, that would be the day I give up coffee as well. 


Every spring, I look forward to feeling the soil on my hands while planting flowers Of course I also enjoy tending them all summer. I'm always rewarded with an abundance of showy flowers and sweet scents. One of my favourite flowers are dahlias and this year I planted a few different kinds, including a brand new variety (middle picture in bottom row). Its sort of burgundy coloured leaves serve as a nice contrast for the bright yellow flowers. I don't know the names of any of my dahlias off the top of my head, and I don't feel like researching to find out at the moment. I do have lovely pictures, though. Those I will gladly share. They're all putting on a splendid summer show, and have for weeks now. Some dahlia blooms like to hide in the foliage, so it's a bit tricky to get nice pictures.

 

I usually dig out the tubers after the first frost, so I can replant them next spring. Last  year though, I didn't have any luck with that. I think the place I stored them wasn't cool enough, or else I didn't let them dry off enough. They were rotten before the first snow arrived. If you have any advice for me about that, I'd love to hear from you.

I also had the opportunity to travel to Banff, Alberta this summer... But more on that trip in another post later on.

Any traveling, gardening or berry picking in your summer? Or perhaps it's something entirely different. Someone once said, Every summer has its own story. I (and maybe also my readers) would love to hear a tidbit about yours.

Tranquility in Tending our Cemetery

If you've read Hutterite Diaries, you know I enjoy working in our cemetery. Here's an excerpt from the book:

On a Hutterite colony it’s very common for members to volunteer at different tasks in addition to their daily duties. I’ve been tending the flowers at the community cemetery. I love the tranquility there, especially in the evening when the sun sinks low in the western sky. It creates lace-like shadows on the soft, cool grass.
From time to time, children come to help with mowing the lawn or weeding. One day two schoolboys worked with me. One of them proved to be a good little worker. But despite all my reprimands, the other one was clearly not in a working mood. The ripe raspberries that kept calling him from across the road didn’t help either.
As we worked, the boys asked many questions about the people resting in the cemetery. Children always enjoy listening to these stories, especially if the person is a relative. “These markers are stones with stories,” I told them. “This stone says Edward and Marvin Maendel. They’re my little brothers who died in a house fire many years ago.” The boys were silent. The past touched the present for a moment.
One year, my mom, Aunt Margaret, and I were planting flowers on the graves when the German teacher stopped by. “I think you could use some help here. I’ll go round up some boys for you,” he offered.
“That should go well,” I chuckled as I watched him leave. “I wonder if he knows what he’s up against. He’ll have to break up the Hutterite Grey Cup Game of summer.” Watching them, you’d think there’s almost as much at stake as in the Canadian Football League’s Grey Cup game.
Nevertheless, in a few minutes, I was pleasantly surprised when a parade of bikes headed our way. “How did you pull this off?” I asked.
“Wasn’t too difficult,” their teacher said. “I just told them you needed help and that with so many working together, not much precious game time would be lost.” Soon the place was bustling like a beehive. Some were planting and watering, while others were digging around the trees and adding rich soil from the cow pasture. Before long, the boys could return to the battle for bragging rights, with their impromptu, longer-than-usual half-time intermission behind them.
“Community action,” I mused when we were all done. It’s another reminder of how invaluable multi-generations working together is to our communal life. In this way, tenets of our faith, values, work ethic, culture, and heritage are passed on to our children. Bridging past with present, gravestones evoke memories of those who walked before us and who call us to continue their legacy; “impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deuteronomy 6:7). 
Dad, who lived by the maxim “Arbeit macht das Leben süβ” (Work makes life sweet), must have been smiling. Working together, three generations had transformed our cemetery, adding lovely splashes of color to the neatly trimmed carpet of grass. 

...................................

We've known for some years that our cemetery needs some major landscaping, and this is the year we tackled the task. Each plot has a concrete frame which has a spot for the headstone and room for plants. Thus, each grave has its own little flower bed. For many years these flower beds had little shrubs, to which I added petunias every spring. Part of the changes meant the removal of the shrubs, as they were getting too big, and stole space and seemingly nutrients from the petunias. There were also some low spots, that over the years have caused the frames to sink and become uneven. 

Our colony is 81 years old and our cemetery has 22 graves, a fact which people always find interesting. So there were not too many plots to mark, since the frames and headstones had to be removed for landscaping. It was a wonderful feeling to get this done and to have so many willing workers to help with this huge undertaking - community action again! Watching all this activity in the cemetery evoked mixed feelings. On the one hand I knew the work needed to be done, on the other it seemed we're disturbing the final resting place of the people buried there. But I decided the disturbance is for a good cause and is being done in honour of our loved ones who've passed on. And when all will be done, the place will look so much nicer than it did before.

 

After adding new soil, leveling it out, and putting the frames and headstones back in place, it's beginning to look a lot better. Now all that's left to do is plant grass, flowers and a nice fireball maple tree.It's a gorgeous sunny day, after a few days of rain. And I'm looking forward to completing the task soon.

In books, movies and in real life as well, when someone visits the grave of a loved one, it always paints a poignant scene for me. Last year while I was watering the flowers in our cemetery one evening, a visitor from another colony stopped by. After greeting me, he slowly made his way to his grandparents graves. He removed his hat and stood there silently for a few minutes. His grandparents have been gone for many, many years. Knowing this man's approximate age, and looking on the dates on the graves, he most likely hardly knew his grandparents, yet he couldn't go past this place without stopping to visit their graves. It's poignant moments such as this one that add to the tranquility of this memory-garden which always 'whispers sweet peace to my soul'.

I hope your own memory-garden does the same for you.