I really want the big green ones! have carmencita red castor bean to trade. I don't have a trade list up - if you have any and would be interested in trading, i can look at your want list to see what i have. Thanks Linda

I apologize in advance for the long list. I figure the only way I will find these, is if I list them here in the post. So, again, sorry for the book, :-) I have several tomatoes (heirloom) that are not listed on my exchange page, so if you are looking for something in particular, please let me know. Asian Bride Eggplant Rosa Bianca - Italian heirloom African Eggplants APPLE GREEN EGGPLANT BABY ROUND MAUVE EGGPLANT CASPER EGGPLANT LAO GREEN STRIPE EGGPLANT, a.k.a. Green Tiger LAO PURPLE STRIPE EGGPLANT, a.k.a. Purple Tige PINGTUNG LONG EGGPLANT PROSPEROSA EGGPLANT STRIPED TOGA EGGPLANT THAI GREEN EGGPLANT TURKISH ORANGE EGGPLANT Chinese or Oriental Charm Eggplant, Asian Eggplant Thai Eggplant Squash - all different varieties zucchini - all different varieties CHINESE CABBAGE ASIAN GREEN RADISH SWORD LETTUCE ("Yu Mai Tsai") CALYPSO BUSH BEANS (also called Orca and Yin Yang) DRAGON'S TONGUE BUSH BEAN (Phaseolus vulgaris) FIN DE BAGNOL BUSH BEANS HUTTERITE SOUP BEAN (Phaseolus vulgaris) LINGUA DI FUOCO ("TONGUE OF FIRE") BUSH BEAN (Phaseolus vulgaris) PIGEON PEA BEAN (Cajanus Indicus), also known as Congo Pea CLIMBING FRENCH BEAN (Phaseolus vulgaris) RATTLESNAKE SNAP BEANS RED NOODLE ASPARAGUS POLE BEAN, JANUARY KING CABBAGE SEA KALE CABBAGE (Crambe maritima) DRAGON CARROT ENGLISH RED CELERY RHUBARB CHARD JAPANESE CLIMBING CUCUMBER BARESE ESCAROLE AGRETTI (Salsola soda) DANDELION (Taraxacum officinale), "Dente di Leon" VERTE DE CAMBRI MACHE, also known as Lamb's Lettuce or Corn Salad LACINATO KALE RED RUSSIAN KALE (also known as RAGGED JACK) PLEASE post here. You can send a private e-mail as well, but at least post here that you are doing so. I use my posts to keep track of who I am trading with. Thanks so much! Carrie

My only comment is to the type of seeds. I think heirlooms are the only way to go. Many natural and organic proponents say that heirlooms are more nutritious and tasty. I can certainly say that they are very robust. But one of the best things is that you can save seeds from year to year. So even if they are a little pricey in the beginning, potentially you will never have to buy seed again. That is not necessarily true with genetically modified or hybrid seeds. My favorite place to buy them is: (heirloomseeds.com) but they have such a high volume of orders that they are not taking new ones right now. There are tons of other sites but some of my other favorites are: (victoryseeds.com), (seedsofchange.com), (rareseeds.com), (reimerseeds.com), and (seedsavers.org). The sites give you all kinds of information about the taste, yield, hardiness, and history for all seeds. I can spend hours just reading and dreaming! Jamie in Tennessee

farmerdill, thanks for the reply. It sounds like you've done a lot of varietal experiments. When you say the pole types are better than the bush types do you mean better flavor? My limited experience with beans is that every pole type (including the locally common "half runners") have great flavor in comparison to the regular bush types, but they're all stringy. The flat type bush beans are the best compromise I've found in good flavor (like in the pole types) but stringlessness (like the regular bush types). I still grow half runners and regular pole beans for flavor, but the strings limit my interest in them.