Hey there,
With these cooler temperatures many plants are slowing down, curing or drying. Many, once cured, will last for many months, and in the case of the dried beans, for years. We grow a few different varieties, black turtle beans, Dutch brown and Taylor horticultural. Once they are dried on the plants we will pull and beat up the plants with a stick or our feet. Once thoroughly roughed up, we remove the big bits of plants and stems leaving the beans and other small bits of plants and dirt. Most of these last bits of plants and dirt is separated by winnowing, which is the process of window blowing the little bits away while pouring or tossing around the grain/seed.
Modern Combines do the cutting, threshing and winnowing, hence the name, and are really efficient at the process of harvesting. Many commercially grown edible beans (not soy but other beans like navy, kidney, etc.) are cut and gathered into windrows to dry before they are harvested. Since we are more 'human scale' in our efforts we do these jobs the old fashioned way, and it is pretty satisfying, though a bit slow.
Some of our favourite ways to use these beans are in soup, with a smoked hock in a cassoulet, burritos, and next I'd like to find a good bean burger recipe if you have one!
