Karen Bean

Extremely rare, pretty yardlong bean. Pale pods with striking purple mottling. Black or dull red seed coats. Grown by the Karen people, an indigenous people of Southeast Asia (mostly Burma & Thailand) which due to the Myanmar dictatorship's genocides & civil war, now have a giant refugee diaspora worldwide. My state (Minnesota) has the largest per-capita number of Karen refugees outside Asia. From personal experience, common Karen dishes yardlong beans are used in include kaw naw (Karen version of mohinga), may klaw (Karen rice congee), & papaya salad. Karen cuisine is seriously underrated & invisible; it uses many wild vegetables, much like indigenous peoples in Minnesota. Many Karen refugees (much like Hmong & Karenni refugees I know) are avid foragers & gardeners, even with very small space. Jere Gettle alluded to finding seeds from a Karen village in one annual catalog, so I asked if he had any seeds he collected. He kindly sent this and other seeds to me. I managed to save seeds from a few pods (regular picking would've increased yields but deer pressure was forcing me to focus on the maturing pods). It is enough seed for 1 small packet (the rest for a grow out again if I can find land to grow it out again). I will only send it to someone who is willing to put in the effort to try growing it out & relisting it.