Harvesting herbs and seeds

This time of year is harvest time of a different sort,  almonds  to be husked and dried, grapes to be picked and made into wine, herbs to be picked and dried, seeds to be collected and stored.

We are picking and drying sage for making stuffing this winter.  The basil continues to have haircuts and be dried or pestoed (??)  if there's such a word!  The fennel which grows wild everywhere is setting seed and I collect seeds nearly every day - they grow in flat clusters of tiny groups and need separating for drying and then we use them in curries, Mexican food, in stir fries, added to rice dishes......The last of the dwarf bean seeds are being collected for next years planting and we have managed to grow a kidney bean plant.

That is a major success as  dried kidney beans are  not as common as  haricot or other white varieties.   When we had some last year,   I soaked a dozen or so  in cold water then planted them out in pots.  4 germinated but only 1 eventually survived and it now has lots of pods drying which we are keeping for seeds.  The theory is that they will be good, strong seeds having survived the initial drying process and now they've had a second chance of life.

I did google kidney beans as we had no idea of the size of the plant or what exactly what defines a  kidney bean.  It all seems to depend on your point of view - could be the shape, the colour, take your pick.  As far as I'm concerned, a kidney bean is dark red and kidney shaped and that's what we've grown.