My Aunt Molly lived most of the forty years at the Maine farm with Uncle Fred.

And in the recent Maine farm sale, digging out, finding treasures happens. My cousin Joan, one of the twins, Uncle’s Bud’s daughter was nice enough to rescue a bag of solider beans.

Packed in two pound plastic bags with Christmas like red and green and the Prem Pak brand (for Premium Packaging), the soldier beans shiny white with dark maroon markings.

Part of me thinks whoa, one more bean supper with the original beans from the farm. Maybe ones I graded in high school with my friends. Around the Willy Lynds machine shop conveyor with the hopper. The one filled to the brim, near overflowing with out of the field beans on one end of the belt. A galvanized clean new garbage can on the other collected the graded beans. And an eight track playing Three Dog Night’s “Momma Told Me Not To Come” or “One Is The Loneliest Number” in the background to help production.

But another part of me says, preserve the Maine farm bean bag. Like being smarter than Jack with his bag of beans that he got in a trade for the family milk cow. The contents as long as water, moisture is kept far away will be fine. Or maybe the two pounds of Maine grown dry beans should be planted. To produce more. Like peas Dad had in a hanging display container that he said contained peas from King Tut’s tomb. Yikes. Those are some kind of old. Much more dated than the Maine farm solider beans grown in Aroostook County.

Regardless, rounding up the ingredients for a batch of Maine home made beans.

Because the family shared many a bean supper around the Maine farm dinner table. And there is something missing with the can of B and M beans, Bush’s or other brands. That need the can open whirling. The contents to be warmed up not cooked bean hole bean style. Soaked over Friday night for the all day long Saturday night special spread. The one with brown bread, home made potato salad, banana and mayonnaise cabbage salad and red dye number three hot dog snappers.

After the twenty four year long Maine potato farm stint, the beef cattle Durham years, the shift to soldier, pea, jacob’s cattle and yellow eye beans was the last hoorah in producing food from the land for my Dad and Mom. But now have two sons that bring up the subject of growing something on that Maine family farm. Stay tuned. I’ll let you know what happens to the two pound bag of antique Maine farm soldier beans.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
207.532.6573
info@mooersrealty.com