Willowood Farm

 


Rockwell Beans are an extremely rare heirloom variety of bush bean native to coupeville, Wash.  The bean came from early Coupeville pioneer Elisha Rockwell, who settled in Coupeville in the late 1800s.  He maintained a variety of dry bush bean that rapidly became popular in the small pioneer community for its ability to germinate in cool soils and mature rapidly (both extremely important traits in a cool, maritime climate), its beautiful white with cranberry mottling color and, most importantly, its wonderful flavor and ability to hold its shape when baked.

The Rockwell family moved away in the early 1900s, and while some tried, the Rockwell never became a commercially grown crop in central Whidbey.  Luckily, however, the Rockwell was so reknown for its cooking abilities by the resourceful farmer's wives of Ebey's Prairie, that many of them would traditionally save a mason jar from the pantry every season and replant it come May in their large kitchen garden, growing out enough every year for their winter meals and to replant the following spring.





Getting ready to plant                    Trish Drury


Wilbur Sherman, one of the caretakers of the Rockwell Bean.  Threshing beans by hand.  Photo circa 1960s via his daughter Sara Purdue of Prairie Bottom Farm.  Check out that great harvest moon!


The Rockwell bean has long been a staple of central Whidbey church potlucks, were an unspoken but highly competitive battle always waged between the wives and their crockpots or steaming, savory Rockwell baked beans.  Who has the best?  The Shermans" The Engles? The Hancocks? The Smiths?  Every family believed (and still do), that their special take of the Rockwell baked bean recipe is, by far, the very best....

Currently the Rockwell Bean is produced in small quantities by local families, just a few years ago probably only 100 lbs total of the bean were grown out in a single year - the world's only known supply of the Rockwell.  Willowood Farm began growing the Rockwell in earnest in 2007, slowly building up from a coffee can worth of seed one of my neighboring farmers - Sara Purdue of Prairie Bottom Farm -  gave me (sadly, to the great shame of my family, the Smith's no longer had our own line of the Rockwells but I'm hoping to make amends for that...). 

In 2008 Willowood Farm threshed out about a whole 32 gallon garbage can full of beans - approximately 200 lbs!  Cool beans!  In 2009, Willowood Farm hopes to triple that so keep fingers crossed for a great season. 

In the meantime, as interest is growing in the Rockwell, many other local area farmers are starting to grow the Rockwell in larger quantities.  This is all good news for the Rockwell, as more interest and demand for the beans means a higher likelihood of its genetic survival, not only for its great culinary and agricultural traits, but also as a "taste of place" link to the unique history of central Whidbey Island and the farmers of Ebey's Prairie.

For a fascinating recap of the Rockwell family and an more in-depth exploration of where Elisha Rockwell might have gotten the Rockwell (no one knows for sure, and the theories abound!), check out the following - www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wasigs/SOUNDER0812ROCKWELL.htm

If you are interested in ordering Rockwell Beans for the fall (available usually sometime in October), please email Willowood Farm via the contact us page.  We will have 2 oz seed packs of Rockwell's available for $3, 1 lb bags of  Rockwell's available for $10 and 2 lb bags available for $18.  Availability is not guaranteed (depends on the harvest!), but we will honor a first-come, first-serve system!  A shipping charge will be added if we are mailing the beans.  Thank you for your support of this fabulous, rare bean!