Weatherbury Farm Grain Tracker
From Planting to Harvest, Merlot Small Red Beans in the field:
Small Red Merlot Beans — a new growing adventure for Weatherbury Farm in 2020.
Planting beans at Weatherbury Farm. A harrow behind the planter smooths the ground after the beans are planted.
Red Merlot Beans 16 days after planting.
One month later, the beans are in flower.
Directly harvesting the beans with our Gleaner F2. Small combines like this are no longer made in the USA. So we spend many hours each year maintaining our combine.
It just so happened that the day we were harvesting the Merlot Red Beans, workers were hanging fiber optic cable. Since the cable was lying on the ground, the workers helped us by holding it up as we worked.
So not only did we have the first harvest of the red beans, we also had the promise of quicker internet. Quite a memorable day!
Unloading the red beans from the gleaner into the gravity wagon.
Merlot Beans in the gravity wagon, ready to be transported (across the street) for storage.
The first step in cleaning the beans is to move the beans from the gravity wagon to Clipper Seed Cleaner. The cleaner uses a combination of perforated screens and air to clean the beans.
The good beans go through the scalp screen (top screen) which removes large impurities like clods of dirt. Then the beans go over the sieve screen (bottom screen) which removes broken beans, weed seeds and dust. Then the beans fall through an air column which removes debris that is the same size but lighter than the beans.
After the beans are cleaned with our Clipper Seed Cleaner, we use our gravity table to sort the beans based on density.
Voila! Merlot Red Beans ready for packaging.
Merlot Small Red Beans 2020
In 2020, Merlot Small Red Beans were grown in Independence Township on 2.52 acres on our home farm. The farm is part of a 436 acre grant (known as Extravagance) surveyed to John Doddridge on April 6,1786. According to the Caldwell Atlas , the farm was established by M.T. Murdock in 1825. Murdock is listed as a farmer, grain, stock and wool grower (with 150 sheep). The farm was later a dairy operation (the Patterson family: 1945-1966) and a cattle operation (the Eastham family: 1966-1986). In 2008, we began raising historical grains on both the home farm and neighboring farms. The grains were certified organic in 2009 . In April 2014 Weatherbury Farm began stone-grinding flour. Weatherbury Farm also raises grass fed beef.
The beans were planted on June 21, 2020.
The Merlot Small Red Beans were harvested on November 10, 2020.
For an illustrated explanation of how Weatherbury’s beans are planted, harvested and cleaned, visit the from seed to flour page.
About Merlot Small Red Beans
Merlot Small Red Beans are a new growing adventure for Weatherbury Farm for 2020. The beans are said to have a slightly sweet, somewhat nutty flavor. Not a commonly eaten bean in the U.S. (yet!) – they are the go-to bean for Nicaraguans (red beans and rice, anyone?).
Products from Merlot Small Red Beans
Merlot Small Red Beans are cleaned and offered as dry beans. For best results, beans should be soaked overnight before cooking to achieve optimum texture and flavor. With their rich full flavor, merlot red beans are suited for everything from chili to Latin cuisine.
Health benefits of Beans
Red beans are an excellent source of dietary fiber and a low-fat source of protein. Both protein and fiber can help you stay fuller longer as well as decreasing your risk of many chronic diseases. Red beans are a good source of phosphorus and iron. They also contain three minerals key to controlling blood pressure — potassium ,calcium, and magnesium. Red beans also contain phytonutrients which have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.
One advantage of dried beans over canned beans is that canned beans, because of the canning process, may be high in sodium, which could affect the health of folks with high blood pressure.
More Information
Merlot Small Red Beans can be ordered at our online shop either for our monthly on-farm pickup or you can have your order sent to you.
To read more about Merlot Small Red beans, please visit our Merlot Beans page.