Yesterday 2 rows of very late fava beans were planted…just for the tops for tincture. Also planted 24 fava beans in the greenhouse to see if they can tolerate the heat if watered and mulched well. I know I will have to invest in shade cloth for part of the greenhouse but , it is full of exciting possibilities for the winter months.
I am in the middle of an experiment …a totally kitchen experiment…that I hope will work for an l-dopa supplement.  Will let you know the outcome in a couple of weeks…whether it is worth repeating or not.

We have 2 new additions at Bean Acres…..charming little bunnies, growing quickly named Thumper and Cocoanut (my 11 yr old grand daughter named this one). They are precious and draw visits from all ages – especially children.

It was great to be able to clean the pen and ground below and have fertilizer to put in the holes I dug for hardy Kiwi yesterday. They will be happier for it too. Dad helped me put up treated 4×4’s for posts and plastic trellises for the kiwis and a wonderful arbor at the entrance to the garden for my 2 chocolate vines…it looks so pretty & invites people into the garden.  The fig tree is covered with medium sized and tiny figs.  It is huge and beautiful. I planted a baby tree from it below the house yesterday and hope to get another one to try inside the greenhouse. 

We have put up lots of corn, green beans, rhubarb and strawberries from harvests and the sweet peppers will start maturing soon. Also getting some lima beans now   and okra…which I love to eat raw as I work and GRAZE. We have had a lot of deer in the garden, but they seem to just nibble tops off the sweet potato vines and go on.

OH, there are a couple MONSTER VINES in the garden this year. You would have to see them to believe it. They are bushel basket gourds. I grew four vines last year and they didn’t want to come up and really didn’t go very far, fruit barely reaching half their usual size (bushel basket size) before frost. These last 2 seeds I started in the greenhouse to see if they might get a better start and put them in a different location.

I think these 2 plants could cover a city block by frost!  I keep tearing off  (breaking them completely off the plant) vines that are trying to vine up and around blueberry bushes, little cherry trees, row of tomatoes and my asparagus and it doesn’t seem to hurt the rest of the gourd plant at all. So, I guess I’ll just keep it in check, protecting the other plantings from being DEVOURED by the monster!!!

Guess I should take a picture now and at frost or no one will believe me how far they have gone already…and they are covered with apple size gourds right now, and a few softball size ones.  I hope they will be marketable for baskets and planters and  to people that like to paint gourds……Bean Acres.could use a cash crop!!

Keep SMILING ….for when you’re smiling, the whole world smiles with you       ……………
HUGS from Aunt Bean