October 2026 Heirloom Bean + Grain Club

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    September 22, 2026 8 min read

    October's Heirloom Bean and Grain Club is stacked with fan favorites perfect for fall cooking: Vaquita Negro Beans from Morelos, Mexico, Baby Butter Beans, and Organic Regeneratively Farmed Cracked Farro Porridge — a limited edition seasonal ingredient available only while supplies last. Vaquita Negro — "little black cow" — earns its name from the small white patch marking each glossy black bean, grown by small family farms practicing traditional farming methods passed down through generations. Baby Butter Beans bring their signature creamy, rich texture in miniature form, and this month we've teamed up with The Bean Supporter, who's sharing one of her delicious, health-forward recipes — a miso brown butter bean soup. And Cracked Farro Porridge rounds out the box as the secret ingredient behind some of our favorite savory fall recipes, including vegetarian sage "sausage" stuffed pumpkins. Some of our most exciting seasonal ingredients of the year are coming up next — join the club now and members get first dibs.

    BEAN AND GRAIN BOX CONTAINS:

    Vaquita Negro Beans, Baby Butter Beans, Organic Cracked Farro Porridge

    THE BEAN ONLY CONTAINS:

    Vaquita Negro Beans, Baby Butter Beans, Organic Zuni Gold Beans

    Join the heirloom bean and grain club

    OUR  CUSTOMER PORTAL

    You can easily claim rewards, add to your next shipment and so much more! We made a video walking you through exactly how easy it is to add some goodies to your order and get cash back. WATCH THE VIDEO.


    NEW TO THE CLUB? First of all, congratulations on scoring a spot. It's going to be harder to get in this year because of low yields from key farmers like Blue House Farms. Check out our blogposts with everything you need to know to get the most out of your membership in the heirloom bean and grain club. 

    Welcome To Beantopia

    How To Cook A Perfect Pot of Beans

    The Definitive Guide To Cooking Beans

    Bean Recipes


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    VAQUITA NEGRO BEANS

    One of Mexico's rarest heirloom beans, Vaquita Negro — named "vaquita" (little cow) for their striking black-and-white markings — is a hidden gem that rarely makes it to market. Mexico is one of the great centers of bean diversity in the world, home to dozens of endemic varieties, and Vaquita Negro is among the hardest to find. Grown by Carlos and Ana María Albarrán on their family farm outside Morelos using traditional farming methods — without glyphosate, dangerous chemicals, or synthetic fertilizers — these beans carry generations of agricultural heritage passed down through traditional Mexican farming families. They hold their shape beautifully through long, slow cooking while producing an inky, deeply flavored pot liquor that Mexican cooks have prized for generations. Perfect for frijoles de la olla, charro beans, or any long-simmered stew where you want beans that mean business.

    bowl of rustic chili based red soup with beans and vegetablesSOPA DE MILPA

    There's something deeply satisfying about a soup that tells a story thousands of years old. Delicious heirloom beans are combined with squash, corn and chilis in our Sopa de Milpa. This is more than just a plant-based meal—it's a celebration of one of the world's most ingenious farming systems and a delicious reminder that our ancestors knew exactly what they were doing when it came to sustainable agriculture.

    Sopa de Milpa brings this ancient agricultural trio into your bowl, transforming the harvest into a warming, nourishing soup that honors indigenous foodways. Think of it as a plant-based riff on tortilla soup, but instead of being built around meat, the foundation here is the rich, savory bean broth—that liquid gold left over from cooking dried beans that's packed with earthy, mineral flavors.

    The beauty of this soup is in its balance. The deep, almost meaty richness of Vaquita Negro bean stock provides a grounding bass note, while the dried pasilla peppers bring a mild, fruity heat with hints of chocolate and raisin. Fresh corn adds bursts of sweetness, zucchini contributes tender texture, and it all comes together as a celebration of the milpa harvest in liquid form.

    ABOUT THE FARMER

    Carlos and Ana María Albarrán are a husband and wife farming team, preserving regional heirloom specialties on their family farm in the heart of Morelos. This fertile basin, fed by rivers running down from the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt, has been home to indigenous Nahua farmers since long before the Spanish arrived — some historians believe this very region is where Mexico's first agricultural settlements took root nearly 3,500 years ago. It's also the birthplace of Emiliano Zapata, who fought and died for peasant farmers' right to own and steward their own land. That spirit lives on in farms like Carlos and Ana's, where they grow a rainbow of heirloom beans, vegetables, and herbs — grown without synthetic chemicals and synthetic fertilizers — preserving regional varieties that have been passed down through generations. The care they give to this remarkable land is something you can taste in every bite.


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    BABY BUTTER BEANS

    Also known as baby lima beans — but these are not your mom's lima beans. Silky, creamy, and carrying a subtle sweetness with a gentle vegetal note that most butter beans simply don't have, these are our best seller and everyone's favorite for a reason. We've done side-by-side taste tests with chefs, pitting Chris's butter beans against every competitor we could find, and his beans win, hands down, every time. This is soil health you can taste, and they're amazing for everything from dips and spreads to soups and even pasta sauce.

    ABOUT THE FARM

    Sacramento Valley has a long history of producing butter beans, which love its warmer climate compared to other California regions. Chris Capaul’s family has been growing diverse beans and vegetables since 1915 – in fact, he still has the original horse-drawn bean cutter! While bean production has declined and farms have gotten bigger through consolidation, Chris stands out as an innovator – perfecting his rotations of vine-type baby butter beans and rice, and preserving Speckled Bayo beans, a rare variety his father once grew. His careful growing methods nurture the land and produce beans far richer in flavor.

    I was just at Chris's farm in August, and it's unlike any other farm we work with. It sits right among the waterways of the Sacramento Valley, a landscape that's as much home to herons and cranes as it is to the beans and rice fields that surround it. Chris grows the way his dad and his grandfather did before him — rotating his butter beans with rice, which builds rich, fertile soil, and tucking rows of melons between the fields the old-fashioned way, adding biodiversity to the soil while their broad leaves shade the ground and help retain moisture. He plants a special vining variety of butter bean that sprawls low and blankets the ground instead of climbing supports, which crowds out weeds naturally as it grows. It's a quiet kind of ingenuity, generations deep, and you can taste it in every pot.

    WHAT TO DO WITH THEM

    Miso brown butter bean soup with baby butter beansI'm so excited to share this guest recipe from holistic chef and bean influencer, Madeline Shapiro — aka The Bean Supporter. When I told her our baby butter bean was the star of this month's club, she knew exactly what to make: a Miso Brown Butter Bean Soup that's every bit as good as a pasta sauce.
    — Lisa, Chief Bean Officer

    Madeline built this recipe around our baby butter beans, playing up their natural sweetness with sweet miso and creamy, nutty brown butter — a happy accident that started with an overcooked pot of beans and turned into something she couldn't stop eating. Serve it hot with crusty sourdough and a scatter of toasted pine nuts, or top with a shaved arugula and fennel salad for something brighter. And don't sleep on the leftovers — thinned out and tossed with pasta, parmesan, and cracked pepper, it's a cacio e pepe you never knew you needed.

    Get the full recipe on the blog →

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    ORGANIC CRACKED FARRO PORRIDGE (BEAN + GRAIN)

    We are excited to offer you Bluebird Grain Farm's most popular grain as a versatile cracked grain. Winner of the Good Food Award, don't let the porridge name fool you, it's not just for breakfast! Used in Northern Italy as a savory porridge, this milled-to-order Organic Cracked Farro Porridge is a nutritious whole-grain cereal that can be used as a hot cereal or prepared polenta-style with fresh herbs and roasted vegetables or roasted meats. 

    Emmer is a type of farro (an ancient hulled wheat) that dates back to early civilization. Grown organically in the Pacific Northwest using regenerative farming methods, it has 28 chromosomes and predates Spelt. Cracked in a fine grind from signature whole-grain Emmer Farro, this porridge is an excellent source of protein, fiber, phosphorus, and trace minerals. It is naturally sweet, rich, and nutty, with a creamy texture.  

    Beautiful orange pumpkin stuffed with vegan stuffing topped with sage

    WHAT TO DO WITH CRACKED FARRO PORRIDGE 

    Think way beyond breakfast cereal for this incredible whole grain treat. It's toothy texture and nutty flavor makes it the perfect vegan meat substitute in our  stuffed squash and savory sage stuffed bell pepper recipes.  Even for the most ardent meat eaters they are a big hit. It's also the star player in our grillable black bean burgers recipe. Our recipe testers raved about this recipe saying it was the best black bean burger they'd ever had and commented that it froze very well. If you're craving something sweet but not too sweet our cracked farro porridge with roasted grapes. It's fantastic for breakfast or as a warm fall desert. And since Thanksgiving is right around the corner our cracked farro stuffing with hazelnuts is a unique and healthy twist on the traditional.

    ABOUT BLUEBIRD GRAIN FARMS

    Bluebird Grain Farm

    Bluebird Grain Farms’ mission is to cultivate and mill the most irresistible, nutrient-rich ancient grains they can while leaving this land healthier for the next generation. In 2004 Sam and Brook started Bluebird Grain Farms as a husband and wife team because they could not find locally grown organic grains in the Pacific Northwest. Bluebird’s founding principles in soil health, nutrition, and agroecology are being expanded as they partner with like-minded “tried and true” organic grain farmers who share their founding principals of growing food for soil health and optimal nutrition. 

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    ORGANIC ZUNI GOLD BEANS (BEAN ONLY)

    The Zuni Gold Bean is a treasure from the Zuni people of New Mexico, cultivated for generations in the high desert Southwest. These beautiful beans have sustained communities for centuries, thriving in the challenging growing conditions of their native lands. Like all heirloom beans, they carry stories of resilience, tradition, and the careful stewardship of seeds passed down through generations.

    Blue House Farm's Zuni Gold Beans are mostly white with a distinctive golden cap—a result of careful seed selection over the years. Each season, farmers choose which seeds to save and replant based on how the plants performed, and over time this practice shapes the beans themselves. It's a beautiful reminder that heirloom varieties are living, evolving ingredients that reflect not just their ancestry but also the specific farm and farmer who grows them. 

    blue houe farm

    ABOUT THE FARM

    Blue House Farm grows drop dead gorgeous beans from the gorgeous, fertile land in Pescadero and San Gregorio, California. Ryan Casey became interested in farming in college while taking agriculture courses. After completing an apprenticeship at the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems and working on several farms, he decided to start an organic farm. The farm started in 2005 on 2 acres and has steadily grown to over 75 acres in production. Farming in two different microclimates allows Blue House Farm to grow over 50 types of certified organic farm products. Among the lettuce, tomatoes, herbs and peppers Blue House Farm grows excellent organic beans.

    WHAT TO DO WITH THEM

    These creamy beans are perfect for fall soups and stews. Their silky texture and that incredible broth make them ideal for a simple pot of beans with garlic, onions, and fresh herbs. Try them in our charred cabbage and miso brothy beans, a hearty minestrone or pair them with roasted squash and kale for a dish that tastes like October. All you need is some crusty bread to soak up that liquid gold pot liquor. They're also fantastic in grain bowls, where that rich broth becomes the base for a complete meal.

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