Sometimes stopping by visitor centers in small towns can yield unexpected things. Often, they will have small give-away items such as hand sanitizers, lip balm, sunscreen, stickers, postcards, and the like. Dodge City in Kansas had decks of playing cards from the local casino. No longer used in the casino, they were still in very good shape. They marked them with a marker and cut off a corner. Kind of a unique way to remember Dodge City.
In Goodland, KS, Jessica at the visitor center gave us stickers and postcards of the Big Easel. Not only did she provide a number of dining options, she let us know that 21st Century Bean just down the road in Sharon Springs would give tours if asked. You can guess what we did with our extra day in Goodland.
It was interesting to see just how much the beans were cleaned before making it to the final packaging. Gravity tables, shakers, optical sorters - all worked to separate visually appealing whole beans from splits, skins, stones, weeds, etc.
Those little bags in the grocery stores are pillows. The Sharon Springs facility dealt primarily with bulk packaging - 20, 50, 100 lb bags.
Most of the beans are grown within a 2 - 3 hour driving distance. Perhaps the most uniqe one was the Fremont bean. The Fremont is an heirloom bean currently grown by the Worden family in Beaumont, Colorado. We bought a couple of bags to try. Time to make some soup or....
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| Getting weighed, typically 40-45 thousand pounds |
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| Shaker |
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| Optical Sorter |
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| Fremont Beans |
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