Beach Beans

April Beans

2011-04-30T20:11:00.000-07:00

2010 was a tough year for bean pickers. I didn't search as many times as in the previous year and when I did the pickins were slim.

So far it looks like 2011 may be a better year. The higher tides and strong south winds have been producing heavy loads of sargassum.

We had a few opportunities to look for beans and found some keepers already. I found this sea heart and sea purse in just a few minutes after supper one evening.

The next day Tracy found this tropical walnut on a leisurely stroll near the beach access road.

A couple of weeks later we again took a short walk and I found a Mary's bean and another sea heart.

The last weekend in April the strong south winds continued to pile up the sargassum. The county has not yet started using the motor grader on the beach yet so with a little luck the sun will dry out the seaweed and expose some of the hidden treasure.

I found a few more hearts including this one crusted over with sea growth and a couple of hamburger beans.

I was surprised to find another Mary's bean before ending our search for the day.

This may be a sign of a great year for beans!

Fiji Beans

2011-03-15T20:20:00.001-07:00

My friends Edie and Maree brought me a treasure trove of beans from their trip to the Fiji islands.

Some were easily recognizable like this candlenut.

Others were specimens I have wanted ever since I saw my first one. This is a box fruit and when I saw one on display at the Padre Island National Seashore visitor center I knew it would be on my list.

This was another excellent find - a screw pine seed. It is part of a large seed that looks like a pineapple.

I think this is a crabwood.

This interesting seed is called Cerbera odollan. I haven't found it's common name yet.

These are similar to sea hearts but are a different variety called snuff box beans.

These are likely not drift seeds but instead are seeds from a local beach plant.

This may be a sea pea.

These are some nice laurelwoods.

This is the Asian swamp lily.

These are some intact tropical almonds. Most of what I find are not in this good shape.

Last but not least are these three beans that resemble hamburger beans. I have some work ahead of me to see what they will look like after polishing!

These are yet unidentified so I will keep looking until I solve the mystery.

Finally Found Some Beans

2010-09-25T19:44:00.000-07:00

I love starting off a post with a sunset picture.

We took a ride to the beach and finally found some beans!

I found a brown nickarnut. These look like they are already polished.

This coconut has been drifting a long time as evidenced by the sealife growing in the cracks of its husk.

This shot is not a sea bean but it is cool nonetheless. Have you ever tracked a snake?

Tracy found her own hamburger bean.

We found some pecans, water hickorys, and other common beans.

Some rig worker likely wondered what happened to this.

Will the Stormy Weather Bring Beans?

2010-09-17T19:35:00.000-07:00

This year has been a tough one for Texas Sea Beaners. There just haven't been any beans. The recent stormy weather promised to change the luck but all it produced was some cool pictures at the beach.

We had to keep an eye on the sky and not wander too far from the Jeep.

We searched high up in the wrack line near the dunes.

We also searched the wrack closer to the surf left by the last high tide. No beans!

February Beaning

2010-02-06T19:05:00.000-08:00

Beans, Barnacles & Bones

2010-01-30T19:27:00.000-08:00

I'm bad about picking up trash on the beach.

One think I can't seem to pass up is a bone especially if it is fossilized or unique.

Here are some of the recent finds along with some barnacles and driftwood.

The beans of the day include a swamp lilly (top), some palms, a heart, and a candlenut along with a square chunk of jet.

Happy New Year

2010-01-01T19:07:00.000-08:00

Well, 2010 is here and what better way to enjoy the day then to take a walk on the beach.

I treasure the times I can listen to the pulse of the surf and let my mind free to think about the great blessings we have in Christ and to enjoy the beauty of God's creation.

This scarecrow must have stayed up till midnight waiting on the New Year.

You never know what you may find in the quest for beans on the beach. This snake skeleton made an interesting sight in the sand.

A single blade of cord grass whipped out this trench as the wind tickled it across the sand.

Even this little bird was dragging his toes as he made his way home.

This mermaid's purse was half buried.

I found several cool beans this day including a Mary's bean, two hearts, some burgers and palms, and an antidote vine seed. Also, I picked up some shells and coral and one coconut to add to the collection at the nature center.

Here are the non-bean treasures.

National Seashore

2009-12-22T18:37:00.000-08:00

Matt and Carly were home for Christmas and one thing we had planned was a trip to South Texas for a little King's Inn seafood. We made it a road trip and on the way back after lunch we stopped off at the Padre Island National Seashore (PINS) near Corpus Christi.

First stop - the Visitor's Center. I was eager to see what they had on display.

In addition to lots of printed materials, the folks at PINS had a nice collection of beach treasures including a whole dolphin skeleton, shells, and lots of beans.

Here is the master teacher at work with two willing students.

Some of the day's finds included starfish, branch coral, barnacles, sand dollars, and worm casings.

Searching along the high dunes of PINS.

The shells in the middle are called turkey wings. You can also see some of the fresh sand dollars.

Here is the difference between fresh and cleaned/dried/bleached sand dollars.

I found my first wood rose seed (left) which looks a lot like a railroad vine seed (right) but is much bigger. Both are closely related to the Mary's Bean - in morning glory family.

Here is one last look at the display table. One of the big seeds on top is a box fruit - I want to find one of those!

Native Beans

2009-12-07T18:27:00.000-08:00

It's the beginning of December and a clear day, What better time to go for a walk on the beach?

The Teepee at Karankawa Village made a nice quick photo opportunity.

Found a few - palms, purses, burgers, hearts, and pearls.

Herre is a close up of the sea purses - one of the favorites.

Seed Dispersal

2009-11-21T18:11:00.000-08:00

The weather report indicated lots of rain on Friday with high tides expected.

While this means our weekend fishing will be messed up, these are perfect conditions for beachcombing.

We enjoyed lunch at Spoonbills and headed for the beach shortly thereafter.

Sea beans are seeds that are dispersed worldwide by way of rivers and ocean currents. These local seeds are dispersed on the dunes and contribute to the vegetation which helps hold the sand in place.

We found several good beans including plams, hamburgers, purses, hearts, nickars, and a sea coconut.

The best find of the day was another thick-banded mucuna. You can see in these photos how different it is from a tpical hamburger bean.

Not only is it significantly larger in size, the hilum is much wider and is bounded by a light colored stripe. This is only the second one we have found. The other one is shown on this post.

I also picked up a large bone from a spine, a coconut shell, and a sea coconut in the husk that will soon become part of the collection at the Matagorda Bay Nature Park.

Padre Island Beans

2009-11-12T18:35:00.000-08:00

On a recent work trip to Corpus Christi, I took two of my co-workers to the beach on Padre Island to look for beans. Hurricane Ida had been kicking up the Gulf and even though it had turned east and was far away from our location, the tide had risen to the point where some of the access roads were closed and there was a well defined wrack line to search.

Here are Dharma and Alexandra heading to Malaquite Beach to look for beans.

We found a nice selection of beans and everybody went home with some.

Alex had some walnuts, almonds, sea coconuts, and hamburgers.

Dharma had some of the same along with some palms as well.

We found some fresh sand dollars like this one and the one on Tracy's Onesnap Blog.

As Tracy describes in her post, I cleaned the stinky sand dollars up and hit them with some diluted bleach and the results were spectacular.

The two we brought home came out a dazzling white and have little or no smell.

These are real treasures from our trip and one day I hope to return to Padre Island for some more searching.

Mangos and Corky Thorns

2009-11-07T20:50:00.000-08:00

When the fishing is done, there is always time to take a stroll on the beach. If you keep your eyes open, there is no telling what you might find!

Here are some beans we found on this trip.

This is a mango seed - the first I've found on the beach. ID provided by Sergio.

These smaller seeds add a lot to the collection. I think one is a soapberry and one is a railroad vine.

These are corky thorns from the Kapok tree. The one on the left is broken in half.

Beans for Utah

2009-11-06T17:24:00.000-08:00

My compadre Sergio stayed over an extra day from his trip to go to Matagorda with me and see if he could find a fish or some sea beans. The fishing was a little slow but he found several beans to take home to his family in Utah.

Some beans like this sea purse are hard to distinguish from shells.

This sure beats a day at the office!

This Mary's Bean was just sitting there waiting to be found.

Sea bean picker extradornaire.

This is a sweet find anytime but especially when you have limited time to look.

Have a safe trip back to Salt Lake City and say "Hi" to the girls!

Friends

2009-10-30T20:54:00.000-07:00

We had the rare opportunity to introduce some friends to seabeaning. Our plan was to meet them for supper on Friday and to our surprise and delight we found them roaming around on the beach before our scheduled meeting time.

As is my habit, I mentioned something about sea beans in our Bible class and Rocky & Myra got curious. Then they made the mistake of asking, "What's a sea bean?".

Before long they were educated and eager to find one.

They had been looking along the fresh surf line without much success but then figured out that the best beaning was higher up the beach in the wrack line.

I picked up some really nice beans and what I like to call a "beanie baby"

We found lots of good beans including these sea purses and hamburgers.

I like the palm seeds and we found lots of starnut and prickly palms.

We had a nice dinner and I think Rocky and Myra will be back soon. Bean on!

Brain Fruit

2009-10-25T18:54:00.000-07:00

Last week while collecting our haul of sea beans, I found a large pod.

I had only seen one of these before and that was at the Coastal Expo in the TPWD box of beach goodies.

After some internet research I was able to determine that this was indeed a drift seed from called a brain fruit. It comes from a tree that grows only in southern Mexico.

TPWD lists it on their page of sea beans found in Texas.
This thing really looks like a brain!

The specimen I found is in pretty good shape. They don't hold up well to longer drifts.

After the coconuts, this is by far the largest drift seed I've found yet. Here it is next to a big black walnut.

The search continues...You never know what you are going to find when you are looking!

More New Beans

2009-10-25T13:25:00.001-07:00

The quest for beans continues.

We have made a couple of trips to the beach since the last post and each time have found a significant number of keeper beans. It seems that we are not only finding an abundance of the typical beans but that we are also finding several first timers.

As we continue to search the wrack line the secrets of the beans are revealed. Here is one of several sea purses that have started to sprout.

This appears to be a hamburger bean that has not only sprouted, but that has a fairly well developed root showing. While these seeds can sprout in Texas, the soil and climate conditions are not conducive to them reaching maturity.

This black beauty is some kind of palm - possibly an immature coconut.

This is one of three varieties of porcupine seed. This is the prickly version.

As luck would have it, I found this smooth variety nearby.

One of the real treasures Tracy found was this hamburger bean. Commonly called a thick banded mucuna, this bad boy in the middle above lives up to his name.

Note the size difference between this one and all the others.

This collection shows a variety of the cool beans available on the beach.

This is the sea heart collection - they come in all sizes and shapes.

We found some nice starnut palm seeds.

Here are the sea purses.

Hamburgers - red on the left and brown on the right.

Not a bad pile of beans for a couple of old beachcombers!

This is another new one found by Tracy. It is a cabbage bark seed.

This shot shows how it got it's name. The lateral ridge makes it similar to the puzzle fruit and the calatola but the texture of the skin is much different.

I finally identified these small watermellon-sized seeds as those from the pond apple.

These tiny yellow seeds are no bigger than uppopped popcorn and are the seeds of the white moonflower which grows locally on Texas beaches.

This is another corky thorn from the kapok tree.

If you have ever had a yearning for beachcombing or for just enjoying a relaxing walk on the beach, now is a great time. The summer crowds are gone and the high tides and rain are unearthing lots of new beans!

Sea Bean Bonanza

2009-10-10T18:13:00.000-07:00

It is a myth that the best sea beaning takes place in the Spring.

I haven't been at this game for long but this weekend I got a good lesson in expectation management. Even though we only found a few beans last Saturday we were in for quite a surprise this week.

The weather was changing rapidly as we headed to Matagorda on Friday. We were running just ahead of a strong cold front. The tides had been way up for a couple of days and this weather event would surely stir things up.

After spending some time at MBNP, we decided to head out to the beach for a little beaning. The high tides had lifted the summer's beans up out of the loose sand and had deposited then in compressed lines of wrack. The recent rain had also washed away the sand and the beans were plentiful and easy to find. We covered up and pressed against the North wind and intermittent showers as we filled our bags with these beach treasures.

In just a couple of hours on Friday we collected 235 beans! We had a similar experience on Saturday with a total of 473 beans collected in two days.

The sea hearts are easy to see and are always fun to find. We found 28 hearts on Friday and 46 on Saturday.

We found lots of prickly palms (173 in two days). These will make some nice jewelry.

We found over 100 hamburgers - some red, some brown and a new one I've never found before. We also solved the mystery of the "big black ones". These were more prevalent and seemed to be those that had the waterproof covering compromised. The seed had begun to swell and sprout and given time and the right temperature and soil conditions would take root.

This corky thorn from a Kapok tree was my first.

We also found several smaller seeds - some of which come from local flowers and vines that grow on the beach and some which may come from a certain palm tree.

These are manchineel seeds that have not weathered much.

This is a small flower seed that may contain three lobed seeds.

This is the collection from two hours on Friday afternoon.

This is what a sea heart looks like - "Pick me up!".

Here is a heart and a hamburger side by side. There were lots of multiple finds.

Here is a prickly palm near some sea oats. You can see the effects of the rain in this shot.

Saturday's collection. I even picked up a couple of coconuts for the nature center.

These are some of the more unusual or new finds. In the forground is a Little Marble, on the right is a flat sea purse, on the left is a new type of hamburger, Mucuna holtonii from Belize. In the back are two mystery beans like I found last year. I still don't know what they are.

We found lots of sea purses of every color and pattern.

Another great find was eight Mary's Beans. I found four and so did Tracy.

These are gray nickernuts or sea pearls. If you click on the picture you can see the little contour lines on their shells.

Here are the sea hearts. Not bad for four hours of beaning.

Here are the hamburgers - big and small - and lots of red ones to boot.

We had a lot of fun - just like trick-or-treating only instead of candy we filled our bags with beans!

Grassroots Grant for MBNP

2009-10-09T13:42:00.000-07:00

I have been working to secure a grant for the Matagorda Bay Nature Park from our company to provide educational assistance for school kids from around the area to come and participate in the programs offered by the park staff.

On Friday, I was honored to present a check for $5,000 to Betsy Terrel. We are in the "bean room" where they collection of beans is displayed along with shells and other beach treasures.

We have over 40 varieties of sea beans displayed with laminated cards describing them and giving their place of origin.

Visitors can learn about drift seeds and can match up what they find with the display.

When I am on site volunteering, those brave enough to enter the bean room leave with more information than they bargained for. As Tracy puts it, "John needs someone new to talk to about sea beans".

Sea Beans in the News

2009-10-05T18:33:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you never know where a project will take you.

I discovered sea beans only a year ago and started collecting and sharing them soon after. As is my habit, I am prone to tell anyone and everyone all about the things I find interesting which led to this story being published on our company website.

If you click on each picture it should get large enough to read.

I also was fortunate enough to have some pictures taken of the beans at the beach by a company photographer. I didn't even break the camera!. You can read more about the photoshoot here.

Late Season Beaning

2009-10-04T23:37:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since we have been roaming the beach looking for seeds so we took advantage of the afternoon and after feeding our bait shrimp to the whiting in the surf, we spent an hour in search of sea beans.

The summer crowds have all but left but someone was using this log as a campfire.

The pickings were slim - I saw a few busted sea coconuts and some interesting trash but not many beans.

Tracy on the other hand found a couple of keepers.

This hamburger was easily visible as its dark color stood out on the light sand.

It is always a thrill to find one of these peeking out of the wrack.

Today's collection included some beach glass, a sundial, a dime and a piece of tar or jet.

One of the hamburgers was large and dark. Could this be a new variety or just an unusual specimen?

Here it is compared to the two other hamburgers.

It was good to be back on the beach again. I couldn't help but think of how many beans might be just below trhe beach - covered by the blowing sand.

Beach Bean Jewelry

2009-08-18T13:11:00.000-07:00

I've been polishing lots of the beans I have accumulated over the past few months and have contemplated several ways to put these little gems to work.

Since I have also been spending some quality time volunteering at the Matagorda Bay Nature Center, one idea was to craft some simple beach jewelry and offer it up for sale at the center.

The details have been worked out and soon there will be some key chains and necklaces available for sale. One of my goals in volunteering is to find as many ways as possible to help students participate in the classes offered by the staff at the nature center so all the proceeds I get from the beach bean jewelry will be donated for student scholarships. My donations will also be matched by my company so there will be a double benefit.

I really appreciate the cooperation of the folks at the nature center and it will be pretty cool to know that folks will learn about the beans when they visit the display and that they can take one home as well. It seems natural that these should be pretty popular. Most folks are willing to buy a seashell necklace or a shark tooth on a chain so these unique items should fit the bill as well.

You've heard of Johnny Appleseed - How about Johnny Sea Bean?

Here is a variety of key chains made with hamburger beans, sea hearts, and palm seeds.

These sea heart necklaces are simple but the silver accent beads add some style.

I used some colorful pvc cord on these single hamburger necklaces. I'm thinking this will be popular with the younger crowd and will be good for the beach as they are waterproof.

This is a one of a kind creation using two matched sea purses.

These are some of the larger hamburger bean necklaces. These are some of the more unique hamburgers and will bring a slightly higher price.

I used some hemp cord with a sliding knot on these single hamburgers to make the length adjustable.

Starnut Palms make an interesting pendent for these simple necklaces.

I strung three small hamburger beans together on these models.

Polished prickly palms create a sharp contrast with the light colored wooden accents.

I'm having fun finding and identifying sea beans. It has been a real education and, like any treasure hunt, you never know when you will find a new specimen to figure out.

The cleaning and polishing process takes some time and energy but the results make it worth the effort.

I'm glad that this new phase of the sea bean project will provide opportunities for kids to get some exposure to the Texas Coast, to its beauty and uniqueness, and to the responsibility we all have to keep it that way.

Florida Beans

2009-07-13T19:42:00.001-07:00

My friend Connie went to her home state of Florida for a family visit and spent some quality time on the beach looking for sea beans.

These are the finds - some are old standbys and some new ones for the collection.

This one is yet unidentified. It looks like a flower or a thorn.

These are seeds from a coin plant - a first for me. These are common in Florida but not so much along the Texas beaches.

There were three red mangrove seeds but this is the first twisted one I have seen.

This is the freshest tropical almond I have seen. It even has some of the dark husk intact.

This picture shows tropical almonds in various stages of decomposition.

Thanks Connie for the new beans!

Mystery Beans

2009-06-26T01:43:00.000-07:00

Though I've found hundreds of beans over the past year and have identified dozens of different varieties, there are a few that are still unidentified.

Do any of these look familiar to you?

Coastal Expo

2009-06-25T20:31:00.000-07:00

In mid May, I participated in a great event conducted by the Texas Parks and Wildlife, LCRA, and others, called the 2009 Coastal Expo. This educational event was held at the Matagotda Bay Nature Center and served nearly 1,000 students from area schools over a two day period.

We had many exhibits demonstrating coastal awareness and conservation.

I had the Beach Treasures table including sea beans, shells, various skulls, skeletons, and bones, along with other natural items found on the beaches of Texas.

Below is a short video which will give you a taste of what we experienced.

Replacement Beans and Wax

2009-06-04T20:20:00.000-07:00

The beach beaning is dropping off considerably. I found a few on this excursion and also picked up a block of carnuba wax. You might notice some old regulars in this bunch - a grenade or blister pod, some walnuts and water hickorys.

I'm putting together a travelling case and need to have a specimen of all the different types I have found on the Matagorda beaches.

Operculum

2009-05-30T20:03:00.000-07:00

OK boys and girls here is a new term you may not yet be familiar with. The operculum (little lid)is the covering over the shell of certain marine snails. When the snail dies and decomposes, the operculum remains and is washed up on the beach.

I found my first one today...you can see it below amid the beans. These were all found on the pedestrian beach right in front of the visitor center.

You will also note a black bone fragment on the right side of the picture.

I haven't identified this one yet but it has some uniusual striations that should make it recognizable to someone familiar with such things.

This is the drawer display at the Matagorda Bay Nature center. The beans are mounted on strings and can be slid along th show how they drift from where they originate to our beach.

I'm continuing to work as a volunteer at the center to help visitors learn about sea beans.

Anniversary Beans

2009-05-21T19:56:00.000-07:00

Today was the day of celebration and we spent some time on the west jetty fishing among the rocks. I took a short walk down the beach to get the GPS coordinate of a sea turtle shell found on an earlier trip and picked up a few more beans.

The weather has been beautiful this week as you can see from this picture of the wild beach.

Two hearts, a burger, and a prickly palm.

More First Finds

2009-05-20T19:41:00.000-07:00

Once again the day yielded some new beans - some identified and some not.

Here is some beach art we found on display as we searched just past the 3-mile cut.

This starnut palm had a beetle inside it. The egg gets deposited and the larva develops inside the nut. He had a perfect circle trap door and was a tight fit for the mature palm weevil.

Not a bad bunch of beans.

This is my first manchinel or beach apple.

Dense thickets of manchineel trees, growing along the coasts of tropical islands in the Caribbean Sea and along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Central America and northern South America, produce crabapplelike fruits that drift to our shores. The outer skin erodes quickly in the ocean to expose a corky fruit layer. When the corky layer erodes or is removed, a sculptured seed pod, highly prized by collectors, is exposed. All parts of the machineel tree are extremely poisonous, with the poison concentrated in a milky juice. Contact with the juice will blister the skin, but fortunately none remains in the fruit by the time it makes its journey to Texas.

This is another unknown bean and a first find. It most resembles an ivory nut palm but isn't exactly like the one I found before.

Mermaid Purses & Beans

2009-05-19T19:30:00.000-07:00

We found some real treasures today including these two skate egg cases aka Mermaid Purses.

I have yet to identify this new bean. That's part of the fun!

These sea coconuts are still in the husk - another rare find. One day I hope to find three together in an intact husk.

Here is the day's collection - lots of nice sea hearts, hamburgers, and purses.

Wild Beach Beans

2009-05-17T19:25:00.000-07:00

We've been eager to search the beach across the mouth of the river and found this nice assortment of beans to add to the collection.

Jamaica man

2009-05-16T19:19:00.000-07:00

We didn't spend too much time searching today but did manage to find a few.

I'm becoming a fan of the Jamaican or Tropical walnut, Also shown is a small sea coconut, one brown hamburger and a sea heart.

Calatola

2009-05-12T19:22:00.000-07:00

We were blessed to spend several days in Matagorda celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary and took advantage of the time to do some beach beaning.

These are starnut palms found in the upper wrack line.

I found this Mary's bean on the surf side of the dunes.

These gray nickarnuts will polish up nicely.

This is my first calatola - a nut that comes from a tree in Costa Rica.

Here is the stash for today including some sundials and petrified bones.

Floaties

2009-05-09T19:11:00.000-07:00

You almost can't predict what will wash up with the beans. I'm sure this shoe has a story.

Here is another Mary's Bean.

This is the coolest sea purse found so far. Tracy let me take a picture but it is on her desk instead of in the bowl with all the "ugly beans".

Tracy also found this crabwood - a first find for us on the Texas coast.

Here are the keepers - Three sea coconuts four palms, two hamburgers, and a seaheart.

Beans, Beans, & More Beans

2009-05-02T20:08:00.000-07:00

"Honey - we may need to get a bigger trailer."

The drift seeds are coming in fast and furious and we are finding new specimens almost every time we go out.

This is an ivory nut palm. The inside is a white material used for a substitute for elephant ivory. Items like dice, dominoes, cue balls, buttons, and cane handles are made from this seed.

This is a Jamaican walnut aka Tropical walnut.

This little guy is a bay bean.

We made quite a haul:15 sea hearts, 31 sea coconuts (many left behind) 25 brown and 10 red hamburgers, 5 sea purses, 8 starnut palms, 2 laurelwood, one tropical walnut, one ivory nut palm, 3 gray and one brown nickarnut, 7 prickly palm and 3 little vine seeds.

End of April

2009-04-23T19:50:00.000-07:00

The high surf and onshore breeze is bringing a wealth of new beans to the shores of Matagorda. Who said Padre Island has the best beaning in Texas?

Firm sands along the lower strand line.

This sea heart ccould be easily missed from the covering of seaweed.

Here are the beans - 12 sea hearts, 14 sea coconuts (many left behind) 16 hamburgers, 4 sea purses, 6 starnut palms, 1 laurelwood, one tropical almond, one candlenut, 1 butternut and 1unidentified acorn-like nut.

Stormy Beaning

2009-04-18T14:37:00.000-07:00

The weather this weekend was tricky to say the least. Friday was predicted to be unsettled and Saturday was supposed to be stormy. Both came true but the effects were not as bad in Matagorda as further inland.

Our beach adventure took place on Saturday morning and there didn't seem to be many folks on the beach when we arrived. The surf was up and we could see some fresh wrack as we headed in from the access road. We only went about 1/2 a mile and decided to get out and walk instead of driving too far down.

The black mangrove seeds have turned from the usual green to a glossy brown and keep your eyes guessing as they look promising when you first see them. These seeds sprout but don't grow this far north along the coast. Just a little to the south there are some nice mangrove flats that I'm itching to explore.

This shot shows the wrack line. The seaweed is the marker but there is plenty of flotsam mixed in as well. This part of the beach has been worked over with a motor grader during Spring Break & Easter but there has been enough of a tide earlier in the week to bring in some new treasures.

This young beachcomber stayed out in the sun a little too long. It may be time to take a break!

We found several beans but both of us had a similar experience of walking by a good bean and having the other pick it up later. Tracy picked up a nice starnut palm right near where I thought had searched with a fine toothed comb.

The shot above shows how close you can come and still miss seeing a good bean. I call this the "Bypassed Beach Burger". That's Tracy's footprint next to the bean.

I figure between the two of us we found most of what was there.

Here is the take for about 2 hours of searching. The outside ring is made up of sea coconuts after I hit them with the dremel and some sandpaper. There are three palms - the pointy one is a starnut and the other two above it are cohune palms. Tracy found a seaheart (in the middle) and surrounding it are several hamburger beans and one sea purse.

I also found another piece of what I think is a fossilized bone (left). It is identical to the one I found earlier except the shape is different. Both are porous and have bone-like characteristics. I'm going to keep looking and maybe one day I'll have enough collected to figure out what they came from.

Bean Hunting

2009-04-10T19:16:00.000-07:00

It's Easter weekend and the beach will likely be busy with traffic and people.

We decided to try our luck on Friday afternoon instead.

Tracy had the eye for the good beans.

She found a Mary's Bean, two hamburgers (one red & 1 brown) two starnut palms, some sea coconuts, a blisterpod, and a white walnut (butternut) along with some of the more common ones like black walnuts, pecan, and water hickorys.

I found one seaheart, some sea coconuts, and a few common beans but couldn't seem to get on the trail for the "shiny's".

Here is Tracy's crucifix bean (Mary's Bean).

The other side showing the oval attachment scar (hilum).

Here are the two Mary's beans together. Mine is on the left and a Tracy's on the right.

This side shows the distinctive marking from which the bean derives it's nickname.

Upper Strand

2009-04-03T20:46:00.000-07:00

Spring Breakers have left the beach and the recent rains have leveled the driving surface making a smooth path for some bean and shell hunters.

After some quick and unsuccessful searching along the lower strand, I headed up to my usual spot behind the dunes. The sand has been blowing and the cattle have tromped through the wrack line but I managed to find a few keepers.

Two red hamburgers, one prickly palm, and a tiny water hickory were a fitting reward for a short search. As I was coming back to meet Tracy, I noticed some beans in the upper strand.

Here is a freshly stranded hamburger as seen from above.

This is a sea coconut in the upper strand. You can see the Jeep in the background and the surf to the left. This strand line is about 100 yards from the water and represents the latest high water mark. You can see some of the seaweed that came in with the high tide.

Here is the total take - quite a mixture of sea beans!

Tracy found these two sea hearts but she was looking hard for a hamburger!

The burgers: two reds from the dunes and four brown ones from the upper strand.

These are the locals - two black walnuts and several hickorys - even one with the husk intact.

We saw several sea coconuts besides these that were fresh but cracked. Most of these will polish up and retain their shape with out cracking out.

Three prickly palm the largest of which is the best one ever.

This variety includes a laurelwood, a blister pod and some small seeds.

This is the real find - a Mary's bean (Merremia discoidesperma).

Named after the Virgin Mary, it is also called the crucifixion bean because of a cross etched on one side of the seed. This is a first for me and one I have been looking for. In addition to being one of the most unique and unmistakable drift seeds, it also has the greatest documented drift range of any species on earth.(15,000 miles)

The white scale looks like an egg case. It comes from a little-known beach vine in the morning-glory family growing in a small area of Central America, parts of Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Hispanola.
This is what it looks like after cleaning.

The seed has some vine-like wrappings that cause a cross shaped indentation to form as the seed develops. There is much folklore surrounding this bean.

I'll be searching the Upper Strand again soon!

New Beans

2009-03-21T18:43:00.000-07:00

Ther new sea beans are beginning to show up on Texas beaches.

This past weekend was Spring Break and there was quite a crowd on the beach. The motor grader was working to smooth out the sand on the stretch up through Three Mile so we went to the pedestrian section near Jetty Park.

Tracy found her first hamburger bean!

This shoe leaves the impression that one truely can spend too much time at the beach.

These are the keepers: Two sea coconuts, two water hickorys, two brown hamburgers, one starnut palm and one hog plum. There were several tropical almonds as well but I have collected enough of them for now.

I also picked up this item which I believe to be a piece of fossilized bone. I'm going to find out for sure but for now that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Mom's Sea Heart

2009-03-01T18:32:00.000-08:00

When visiting brother Paul recently he gave me a special gift.

When I started collecting sea beans I thought I remembered one that Mom had saved from a trip to Padre Island. Sure enough, she had found a sea heart and it turned up in one of the boxes of her keepsakes.

Thanks Paul for keeping me in mind. I'll keep it in my display case.

Field Trip

2009-02-28T18:20:00.000-08:00

I took some co-workers to one of our facilities in Matagorda County and a side trip to the beach was a good way to end the day.

We stopped at the Matagorda Nature Park where my donated sea bean collection is on display. Here is Laura and her addition to the collection - a black hamburger she collected on her trip top Mexico.

These are black mangrove seeds. Note that they sprout before falling off the tree and drift along until they find a suitable beach on which to root.

This was a first for me - Beach Mushrooms!

Total collected for the day were these two beans - a fresh sea coconut and a well weathered walnut.

In the Dunes at Three Mile

2009-01-31T19:13:00.000-08:00

The time for the new bean harvest is coming soon but for now I'm still looking back in the dunes.

Here are the beans from the latest picking:

The sea purses and red hamburger bean were really clean - just like a dream I had the night before.

I picked up so of the more common beans but they may not make it to the display bowl.

Gift Beans From Afar

2009-01-13T18:13:00.001-08:00

A couple of weeks ago I introduced a co-worker to sea beans and she took a real interest - especially since her holidays would be spent on beaches in Mexico and Thailand. She found several hamburgers, almonds, and hog plums along with a couple of sea hearts and some that were "unidentified".

This turned out to be the big prize - a Puzzle Fruit. This bean (Heritiera littoralis) comes from the looking-glass mangrove - a large tree with wing shaped nuts, which is most easily recognized by the silvery scales on the underside of its leaves that resemble a mirror.

I was given three beans from her collection - one black hamburger like the one below.

The black hamburger bean is from Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

She also gave me these two beans that are unlike any in my collection.

The pale, round bean is from Ko Samui, Thailand. I'm pretty sure this is a Laurelwood (Calophyllum calaba).

The fibrous bean is from Song Pee Nong Beach on Koh Paluay, Thailand. I need to study this one some more for positive identification.

Thanks Laura for the new beans!

Display Your Beans

2009-01-12T17:57:00.000-08:00

After collecting beans for a few months and polishing some of them up, the next thing to do is figure out how (and where) to display them. We saw some shells and other beachcombing items displayed in the shell shop in Rockport last spring and also have seen shells displayed in a coffee table in a store in Matagorda.

My first attempt at "beach in a box" was done using a shadow box.

I liked the result but this has glass only on one side and has to be sealed (glued) to prevent the sand from leaking out since it must be filled from the bottom.

Robyn gave me this excellent wooden bowl for Christmas. It really shows off my collection.

I found this case in Michael's craft store. It is called Finish-It as you need to apply a stain or something to the raw wood. I used linseed oil for the finish. It has a hinged lid and glass on the top and sides. I really like this since you can add or remove items over time.

Whatever method you use, get your beans on display!

Windy Picking

2009-01-10T17:28:00.000-08:00

Since kayak fishing was out of the question, a ride down the beach was in order. I felt like I could brave the 20 mph north wind for a little beanin'.

These are the keepers of the day: One red mangrove, two sea hearts, one prickly palm, one red hamburger, and one black walnut.

Here are the sea hearts and prickly palm prior to cleaning & polishing.

And here they are after.

The black walnut (on right) was the biggest I've ever seen. I saw several others and lots of water hickory, pecans, and tropical almonds but I've stopped collecting these.

The red hamburger (on right) was also one of the biggest I've ever seen.

I'm ready for the new beans to arrive. It won't be too long before searching the wrack line in the dunes will become hazardous (snakes).

Final Tally for 2008

2008-12-29T07:44:00.000-08:00

I think my bean collecting for the year is over. We spent one day on the dunes over the Christmas holidays but we were in an area that I had previously searched and other than a few pecans, waterlogged sea hearts, and almonds, the picking was pretty slim. I learned that if you find a sea heart that has been ruptured or cracked and has absorbed water - leave it! It stinks like old manure and the smell will follow you all day.

I'm happy with my finds so far and am eager to see what the spring tides will bring.

These are the keepers I have collected since August - Sea Hearts, Sea Coconuts, Starnut Palms, Prickly Palms, Jamacan Walnuts, Nickarnuts, Sea Purses and Hamburger Beans. All were found on Matagorda Peninsula between the mouth of the Colorado River and Mitchell's Cut near Sargent.

I have recently spoken with the manager of the Matagorda Bay Nature Center and may soon be creating an interactive display for educational purposes.

I also plan to visit some more Texas beaches to expand the collection.

Happy New Year and Happy Beaning!

Starnut Giveaway

2008-12-05T20:09:00.000-08:00

Friday before supper we had the beach all to ourselves. I searched the dunes while Tracy looked for shells. I found several starnuts, a prickly palm, one blisterpod, and a couple of sea hearts.

I had to show my finds to a fellow sea beaner Edie Pruitt at Spoonbills. She got so interested in the starnuts that I offered her one. Little did I know that her sister Maree was also a sea bean fan and when she showed up I gave her one too.

In the Neighborhood

2008-11-22T11:06:00.000-08:00

Since we now have the travel trailer parked at Pelican Point and the beach is just a few miles away, we'll have more opportunities for beaning.

Here are today's keepers:

Two sea hearts (I found a third one in the dunes but it was cracked and falling apart), one starnut palm, one brown nickarnut, one hamburger bean, and a prickly palm.

I'm using the Dremel tool to clean off the crusted salt and to start the polishing process.

My collection is getting bigger!

Finders Keepers

2008-11-08T21:19:00.000-08:00

OK I admit it - sea beaning isn't for everyone. I was reminded recently that the blank stares and unusual looks I get when telling all I know about this facinating subject to others should be expected. After all, not everybody gets it!

But you must get it since you have found your way to this blog. So for your enjoyment I tried to capture the thrill of the chase...the exciting and rarely experienced "Search for the Sea Bean".

Here is a great find - a sea heart.
Beaners have been known to shout aloud at this sight.

My first sea purse.
Oh the stories you could tell my little one...

Another gem - a red hamburger bean.
My eyes are trained to spot these amid the debris.

It's always nice to see a fellow seeker in the dunes.
"Have you seen any bees?"

This brown burger was a little tricky to spot as it was sitting on edge.

The next saddle bean was found close to this "medicine" bottle.

I'm told you have to be a little "Goofy" to spend time searching
through washed up garbage and debris for seeds.

Ah... another prize.

This is a rare black hamburger bean from deep in the tropics.

Another sea heart. Watch out for the meadow muffins!
Those silly cows....

My eye is drawn to other forms of semetry while looking for beans. Here is a sample of other collectibles found while searching the wrack.

Found and gathered but left behind, these are some of the more common drift seeds I have come across on this particular beach.

Water hickory, black walnut, pecans, and even a couple starnut palms that had become punky from too long in the salt water made the list of leave-behind seeds this day.

Here are the keepers: Three sea hearts, four hamburgers, two sea purses or saddle beans, one sea coconut, one candlenut and one prickly palm. I spent some time cleaning up the sea hearts and used did some light sanding on the sea coconut and the prickly palm.

These were my first two sea purses. They are very similar to hamburgers but have a thinner middle layer and are flattened and have a wider hinge.

Here they are shown with a red and a black hamburger on either side.

This is a before and after shot of a prickly palm. They don't look like much when found (right) but after some sanding and polishing they develop a nice lustre.

I hope you had fun searching for sea beans. Come by again!

Birthday Beans

2008-11-01T23:55:00.000-07:00

How do you spend your birthdays?

As I get older I find that time spent with my wife doing quiet activities like beachcombing are just what the doctor ordered. I'm not sure if it is the escape from the stress or the enjoyment of being outside that is so appealing.

Tracy and I used to go to antique (junk) stores in search of treasures. Now we roam the beach looking for free junk.

Here is the collection from today's search: We found several walnuts, pecans, and almonds along with a few starnut palms some prickly palm and a blister pod. There were some new finds this trip along with some topwater lures that were still in good shape.

In amongst the beach debris, I always see parts of toys. This collection was from the spare parts department.

I searched for hours in the dunes without finding a single hamburger bean but found one near the beach in the line of recent flotsam. There must still be some floaters out there!

I continue picking up sea coconuts like these even though they are only good if the shell is intact. These were left behind after the photo shoot.

Here is a collection of balls including a mini beach ball. Someone may find the display and wonder...

I may have been reported to the government as this military gunship buzzed me.

Here are some more sea coconuts I found on excursion #2. Some of these will make it home with me for polishing.

This sea coconut still had some of the husk attached - a fairly uncommon find.

These were the prize finds of the day - three sea hearts and one red hamburger. Notice how fresh and shiny the sea heart on the right is compared to the other two.

I had some new finds today - the two in the front are seeds from the antidote vine, the two in the back are a butternut (top left) and a candlenut aka Jamaican walnut. The candlenut gets its name from the oil that is produced from it's seed that is used for oil lamps in some countries. The seed contains 50% oil and it was also removed and skewered to a thin piece of bamboo and lit where it would burn for 45 minutes.

Here are some other interesting objects - two wine bottle corks (one new and one old), two Teflon balls (bearings?) ,and one red fake fruit possibly a cherry.

You never know what you might find along the beach or from where it may originate.

Beaning

2008-10-25T21:11:00.000-07:00

I was out of town for the week and upon returning, it was time for some fishing & beaning.

The wrack line in the dunes hasn't yet been covered over by the blowing sand so we decided to brave the skeeters and search for some more treasures from the sea.

Tracy started out looking for shells along the surf line but I donned my long sleeves and pants and a sun hood and sun gloves to do battle with the bugs. It had been cooler at night and the hoards were slow in getting active so between the spray and covering I was OK.

We found several of the usual characters - Tropical Almonds, Sea Coconuts, Pecans, Black Walnuts, and Water Hickorys.

This trip also yielded some good finds like a Blister Pod, one Red and one Brown Hamburger Bean, two Starnut Palms (Tracy found the big one) and one Gray Nickarnut.

There were some firsts also like one Brown Nickarnut and three Acorns. Also shown in the picture is some fishing debris that I couldn't pass up

Here is Tracy's Starnut Palm with the Nickarnuts and Hamburger Beans.

Burgers and Beans anyone? The gray Nickarnut is also called a Sea Pearl and is strung into necklaces and other jewelry.

I picked up another coconut to add to the growing collection - What do you do with a half dozen or so coconuts anyway?.

Tracy also found her first Sea Heart which made the day for her.

She thought she had found another when she spied the stick shift knob partially buried in the sand.

Until next time - Happy Beaning!

Worth It?

2008-10-18T21:35:00.000-07:00

Saturday afternoon, Tracy and I went to Matagorda beach for some "beaning". Little did we know that the recent rain had provided the necessary conditions for a new batch of hungry mosquitoes.

It's hard to exaggerate how thick and aggressive these beach bloodsuckers can be. They can find any spot of exposed skin and will try to fly up your nose, in your ears, and under your hat.

Luckily, they reside mostly up in the dunes as the constant breeze at the water's edge keeps them at bay but if you are foolish enough to go "back there", a cloud of them will follow you until you kill them off.

The best beans have recently been found in the wrack line from the big storm where it breached the dunes and flooded the sandy washes and areas between the sand and the sea.

We started back to search and quickly began to question whether we could stand it or not. We had some spray back in the Jeep but Tracy decided to go to the water's edge instead and search for shells. I on the other hand am not as wise and thought I would stay in the dunes as long as I could to search for the elusive beach beans.

I found several "golf balls" or sea coconuts. These are fairly big and easy to see even when waiving, swatting, hopping, and generally doing the "Matagorda Mosquito Dance".

You can see that these are pretty cracked and crumbly. I tossed them back after the picture. If the outer shell is not broken, these can be polished to a glossy luster. I'm working on one that I will post up when it is finished.

Here is the final stash of keepers. One Starnut Palm, one Tropical Almond (a nice specimen with much of the husk intact), one that I think is a Water Hickory with it's husk intact, two Red Hamburger Beans, and one Sea Heart.

You may also notice in the back of the picture, the rare Star Studded Super Ball that I could not pass up.

I had several battle scars from this trip. I must have been bitten by at least a hundred skeeters and seem to have escaped malaria and West Nile virus for now. I may have to consider the consequences the next time I get a chance to dig in the dunes!

Sea Hearts

2008-10-11T20:41:00.000-07:00

After a morning of fishing in McNab with nothing to show but some windblown cheeks and sore arms, we headed to the beach for a little search & rescue. I have a mission to rescue some beach beans from becoming buried in the dunes forever.

You can see from this picture that the flotsam ended up in the dunes after the storm. The seeds are light and follow the tide to the debris line. In addition to the natural driftwood and seaweed there are a myriad of other man-made items that end up in the mix.

Here is a sea coconut as-found in the debris. This drift seed is also called the "golf ball" as it resembles a lost ball after it is bleached out by the sun. If one is found with the outer husk intact, this seed can be polished to a glossy shine.

I'm working on one and will post the finished product one day.

I spotted several coconuts and tried not to pick them all up. I did end up with this one showing a piece of the shell still attached to the husk and another one that was mostly just seed that I'm cleaning up.

Here are the seeds I bagged from this trip. Lots of the usual characters but some new ones as well. I found three Hamburger Beans - two red ones and one brown one.

Also note the three sea hearts in the upper left. These are what most folks think of when they hear the term "sea bean". I was excited to find these and even though one was smashed it was a start to the collection.

Brown Hamburger Bean on left and two Red Hamburgers in the middle and on right.

Hamburger beans are cool!

Here are two of the sea hearts, The large one is pretty smooth and glossy and the smaller one needs some polishing. Both were found in plain sight with minimal effort - you just needed a sharp eye.

The smaller one was partially buried but the color is a dead give a way.

We spotted this egret along the beach road on the way out. Sometimes you need to have the camera ready for every opportunity.

Searching the Dunes

2008-10-04T17:31:00.000-07:00

After Ike, the beachcombing was sure to improve. Tracy and I visited the beach not long after the storm and she found some cool shells.

The lighter drift seeds and Beach Beans were pushed way up into the dunes.

This picture shows the collection found on this excursion. There are some of the usual characters like Tropical Almonds, Water Hickory, Pecans, and Sea Coconuts. I found some new specimens though including a Gray Nickarnut, a Brown Hamburger Bean, and what I think is a a Jamaican Navel Spurge.

This is a close up of the brown Hamburger Bean (Mucuna rostrata). This is a seed of a tropical vine from which is also called Ojo de Venado (eye of the deer (or Doe's Eye)), Ojo de Vaca (Cow's Eye) and Ojo de Buey (Bull's Eye).

The vines that produce these seeds grow in Costa Rica, Hawaii, the Amazon, and other exotic locations where they find passage via local rivers to the ocean and then to the Southeastern US by way of the Gulf of Mexico.

I also picked up some coconuts which are also considered drift seeds. The one on the right is a mature seed complete with the natural fibrous husk intact. The one in the middle shows the hard seed with half of the husk removed and the one on the left is a seed only. This one had some holes drilled in it (see on the top and lefthand side). Some of the drills were started and a couple were all the way through the shell. I have to wonder if the coconut drill is some sea creature like the raspy tongued Murex or the Moon Snail both of which drill holes in mollusks and eats them.

Here is a side view of the cut-away coconut. Macaroon on the halfshell anyone?

First Finds

2008-08-28T21:00:00.000-07:00

While geocaching with Tracy, Matt, & Carly I made an initial discovery of drift seeds at about the 7-mile point down the beach.

This collection includes local nuts like Black Walnut and Water Hickory. I also found from far away like the Tropical Almonds, a Hog Plum, a Blister Pod, two Sea Coconuts, and some Starnuts.

I'll post some links soon that will show more information on these interesting seeds.

Adrift

2008-08-01T20:51:00.000-07:00

Most folks who have ever spent much time walking along a beach have enjoyed the array of items that can be found there. The Texas beach we have come to love - Matagorda Peninsula - is a treasure trove of things to see and experience.

We try not to pick up too much stuff to take home but several shells, pieces of driftwood, worn glass, crab shells, and rocks have ended up on our windowsills and in a vareity of containers all around our house.

On a recent trip I discovered several seed pods - some local and some exotic - that were collected together high up near the dunes. I began looking them up for identification and found the wonderful world of sea beans. Some of these floating pods come down the many rivers that drain into the Gulf of Mexico and some are caught up in ocean currents and travel thousands of miles to be washed up with seaweed and man made debris.

This blog will chronicle my finds and will hopefully educate and entertain those lucky enough to find it. Your comments are always welcome. Thanks for visiting - now lets go find some beans!