Him: “Beans make a great cover crop and add loads of nutrients to the soil.”

Me: “Where do you buy the seeds?”

Him: “You don’t need to buy seeds. Just use the dried beans from the grocery store.”

Me: *MIND BLOWN*

I had no idea you could grow beans from store-bought dried beans! I learned so much from my time volunteering on farms at the very beginning of my journey as a grower. For this thrifty grower + plant-based eater, this revelation was a GAME-CHANGER.

I was skeptical of his professional instructions to “grab a handful and throw them outside.”, but I did just as instructed and it absolutely worked. We were eating fava beans + greens for MONTHS out of our little suburban gardens!

Our new farm land had been fallow and neglected for so long, I knew the soil would need a boost if it was to produce the way we needed it to. So, we got to clearing (SO MUCH) grass, weeds, and trash to begin the regenerative process. This summer, I broadcasted purple hull peas and black-eyed peas on the farm. I had to order purple hull peas from a seed company because I couldn’t find them in the stores, but black-eyed peas weren’t hard to find.

Despite being known as heat-loving, the purple hull peas didn’t do too well and only produced a few edible pods. There’s still time before our first frost, so I’m hopeful that the plants will rebound. Those southern favorite, black-eyed peas, though – I’ve gotten BUCKETS of peas from those plants!

So far, we’ve gotten nearly 10 gallons of black-eyed peas! Many of the plants are still going strong, so I expect we’ll get a few more buckets before winter. In another area of the farm I want to put into production, I’m going to try growing snow peas.

Here’s hoping for healthy plants with lots of pea flowers for buckets-on-buckets next season!

Note: If you’re going to try growing with store-bought legumes (which you should), look for ORGANIC. This is not just because it’s better for your body (a lecture for another post 😉 ), but the non-organic are known to be coated with substances that slow/prevent sprouting. For best results, buy organic only.