[1] Meadow’s Mirth Farm in Stratham has been [2] featured in this month’s NH Magazine. There’s a lot of great nuggets in there, including a great part about their participation in the [3] RAFT program. (It’s the one with the dentist on the front, if you want to pick it up)

You could say that farmers Josh and Jean Jennings know their beans. On their 150-acre Meadow’s Mirth Farm in a suburban area of Stratham, the couple and a few employees cultivate 10 acres of produce — offering their goods to local restaurants and the public at the Seacoast Farmers Market and the Exeter Farmers Market. At their booth, you will find all the usual seasonal vegetables plus a nice selection of heirloom tomatoes and heirloom beans — all organically grown.

The beans are a specialty crop for the couple. “They are not a great money maker for us because the harvesting is done basically by hand,” says Josh. The plants are pulled in August and September after they have dried on the vine.After drying for an additional day, they are threshed with a couple of sticks fashioned by Josh from a photograph of early American tools. The beating separates the beans from the pods. The plants are then winnowed by a big fan that blows the chaff away, leaving the precious beans.

Jean loves how the heirloom varieties look like “little jewels.” “The flavor of these beans is incomparable, “ says Josh. Fresh dried beans may seem like an oxymoron, but he explains that most beans in the supermarket could be two or three years old. Besides, when the beans are in their full bounty, he brings them to market in their pods before they are dried. These “shell beans” cook faster and have the most flavor. Jean plants several heirloom varieties each season and many have historical ties to the region.

[4] Read the full article >