Buttermilk Bean

In the rolling hills of New York's Finger Lakes, a small group of farmers is quietly rebuilding something most of the country lost a long time ago: a regional staple crop economy, where the beans on your table come from farms you could drive to. That's the heart of Buttermilk Bean, a farmer-run, women-owned collective growing heirloom dry beans with regenerative practices and a whole lot of love for the land.

Buttermilk Bean began in 2021, when Kristen Loria started growing dry beans, popcorn and cover crops at Lo Rida Farm in Danby, NY. Kristen has been farming since 2013, learning the ropes on small vegetable farms in the Hudson Valley before dry beans stole her heart at Sparrowbush Farm in Livingston. She went on to earn a master's in plant breeding, and today she grows dry beans that are as beautiful as they are delicious, from cherished heirlooms to brand-new varieties bred right on the farm.

Buttermilk Bean grows some of what it sells and sources the rest from neighboring Finger Lakes farms committed to regenerative practices. That means every bag supports a whole web of local growers, not just one farm. Locals can pick up beans around Ithaca, and East Coasters can sign up for the Bean Share, shipped four times a year.

One of those neighboring farms belongs to Harvey and Evelyn Zimmerman, Mennonite farmers in Penn Yan, NY, who grow the Rojo Chiquito in our December box. They farm 800 acres of grain crops, dry beans, hay and pasture, and raise beef cows too, all with regenerative practices and without synthetic fertilizers or synthetic chemicals. Harvey plants his dry beans straight into a mulch of cover crops instead of tilling and cultivating the soil, an innovative no-till system that protects soil health and prevents erosion. It's tricky to get right, and Harvey keeps experimenting with it season after season, a true steward of the soil in the Finger Lakes.

We're proud to partner with Buttermilk Bean to bring their Finger Lakes beans to our Heirloom Bean + Grain Club, starting with the Rojo Chiquito in our December box. And here's our big wish: join both! Sign up for our club and Buttermilk Bean's Bean Share CSA too. There's no such thing as too many beans, and every membership puts real support behind small farms. Read the full story of how we met.