Maw and Paw Laney, Photo Courtesy of Jordan Laney (their great granddaughter)
Years ago I received some bean seeds from Barte Laney, when I went to visit his house down in McDowell County. Barte had a beautiful collection of Old English Game Bantams and a few very friendly dogs. After showing me around his farm we sat down and talked about creasy greens, branch lettuce, Plott Hounds, local fidders, all sorts of things. The Laneys originally lived on Hazel Creek in Swain County before they were forced off their land for the creation of Fontana Dam and the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. Maw Laney brought her beans with her when they relocated to McDowell, and continued to grow them there. The seeds were thought to have been lost, but fortunately Barte found seeds in the back of a relative's freezer when they passed. It is very fortunate that Barte knew what he had! I hear too many stories about the contents of relative's freezers being dumped in the trash.
So that year I grew nothing but Maw Laney Beans in one garden, and lo and behold they "sported" out. In other words, some of the seeds either mutated, or a long dormant gene had come back around to being expressed. It wasn't a cross on Barte's account, because he only ever planted Maw Laney beans in order to avoid a chance out-cross. The habit and size of the beans hasn't changed with the new seed colors and patterns, so I've continued to plant them that way (though I do have some original Maw Laney seeds just in case). Since they are a little different in seed coloration, I've taken to calling them Barte Laney beans. After all, just naming seeds after the person you got them from is very much a part of the tradition anyway. I know a number of people planting what they now call "William Ritter Beans" when I full-well told them what the seeds were called!
So that year I grew nothing but Maw Laney Beans in one garden, and lo and behold they "sported" out. In other words, some of the seeds either mutated, or a long dormant gene had come back around to being expressed. It wasn't a cross on Barte's account, because he only ever planted Maw Laney beans in order to avoid a chance out-cross. The habit and size of the beans hasn't changed with the new seed colors and patterns, so I've continued to plant them that way (though I do have some original Maw Laney seeds just in case). Since they are a little different in seed coloration, I've taken to calling them Barte Laney beans. After all, just naming seeds after the person you got them from is very much a part of the tradition anyway. I know a number of people planting what they now call "William Ritter Beans" when I full-well told them what the seeds were called!