What version of NetBeans IDE are you using for the JavaBeans trail?
It cannot be 5.5. It must be 6+.
 
http://download.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/javabeans/nb/index.html
 
I am looking for the Bean Patterns node so I can add properties (simple, indexed etc).
I cannot find this node by following the very simple procedure outlined in the NetBeans tutorial section.