Beans

It's such fun to have Philip over. He's the one who, for so many years, drove our homeschool with his curiosity about a gazillion things. When the older kids are around visiting, they're always doing what they've done all their lives, hypothesizing and looking up answers to bizarre questions and discussing.

Sunday it was beans. What's the difference between the different kinds of beans? After some web-surfing and science-searching, he discovered that black beans, navy beans, kidney beans, etc, are all the same species. Now, lentils and peas are in the same family/subfamily/tribe, but different genus and species. Garbanzos are the same family/subfamily as all the other beans, but different genus and species; same goes for fava beans.

But Anasazi, pink beans, pinto beans, black beans, navy beans, and kidney beans are all the same species. That threw me: they're different colors and they taste different and their nutrients aren't identical. But people come in different colors and we're all the same species. Dogs might look different from one another, but they're all the same species. I guess beans are the same.

The freaky things you learn when Philip comes to visit!