Well, it is January 2015. This seems unbelievable to me as I
think back in time and remember that I didn’t think we would see 2000.
But somehow, the world marches on. Some of us to the beat of a different drummer, but still we march!

It is about a month and a half away from the time to plant fava beans here in East Tennessee. It has been so cold already that I have not been able to work in the garden much to make necessary preparations for them yet. Was able to get out Monday for several hours and cut down 2 patches of corn stalks / tomato , pepper and okra plants. Put up a few of the bean tepees and finished cutting pallets in half for a raised bed. ..in which I piled corn stalks to breakdown and create looser soil for potatoes to grow better in. Wanted to inform you also that Aunt Bean is signed up for Rock Steady Boxing Training Camp in Indianapolis , Indiana in April.

I met these people at the WORLD PARKINSON’S CONGRESS in Montreal Canada . I was so impressed that I wanted to participate in their program and get others involved. Also, a new fava booklet has just been published and is available in paper form and will soon be available as a pdf download. It has been heavy on my mind to get this finished and finally it is done! Hope you all are trying to get some sunshine these cold winter days…and exercise can be had anywhere….dance for PD has a DVD that you can use in your own home. Just don’t sit around . Do something creative and fun today.

Much Love,

|Aunt Bean

I am very excited to be able now to send a picture of the FAVA TOP that I make into tincture for l-dopa supplementation for myself. It is not very big and takes quite a few to dry (for just about 4 hours) and make a jar of them..but for those of you who are serious about staying off pharmas like me…it is worth the work. So far at going on 5 years taking it for my symptoms…I have had no unwanted side effects, just the absence of symptoms (unless I wait too long to take some). It is so easy to carry and take when needed that this doesn’t happen very often.

You could also call it a bud. It is ust a small roundish cluster that forms at the top of each stem. It is important to remove the top few inches of each stem anyway to encourage more stems to spring up from the base. It does not hurt the plant and discourages aphids and ants that love this little bud so much. After it is removed..they leave too.

I dry the little bud and either eat or discard the leaves (they are good dried and powdered separately to add like parsley or dried spinach to dishes…so keep them if you have time and dry them by themselves. DON’T put the leaves into tincture..they don’t seem to have much strength)

You can also tincture flowers separately undried and they seem to have a very calming affect, but I have not had mine tested as yet for l-dopa content…It is hard to find a chemist interested in the project. Anyway…the little part I am holding between my fingers in the picture is the Top or Bud for the tincture that I use. I hope this helps to clarify it for all you fava bean growers out there. Have a great day.

May God Bless You and Your Bean Patch.

Love,

Aunt Bean

We have had some mighty cold weather here in TN this year…even the favas in the greenhouse have been bit back several times and I have not been able to pick tops or flowers from any this winter. Last winter, I picked them and made tincture thru-out the cold weather.

Planted 100 fava beans in the low garden over the weekend as the ground had dried sufficiently to get in there with a shovel and mattack and work up a small area. Today it is raining and the ground is soaked once again. There is such a small window to get ground dried out enough in spring to do planting…all the farmers around here are trying to get theirs done also in that little window of time….so it is hard to get help during short dry spells.

Meanwhile,my bag of favas are in the house screaming “plant me”….these seeds are different from those I have purchased in the past…fairly large, but a shade of green, not brown purple or yellowish. The are some 40 varieties of favas I have been told….who knows what kind these may be. The Health Food store in town ordered them for me from the same place as last year…Mountain High Organics…but the beans are completely different. Hopefully they will sprout and grow in our area.

Any of you thinking of planting favas this year? They like cool weather best as do all the pea family. March and April are good times to plant and I try to get all of mine in if possible by mid April.

Blessings from Bean Acres!

Aunt Bean

Greetings from Bean Acres!

We are still having cold weather, but in the greenhouse the fava bean beds are growing. The taller (older plantings) have been bit the hardest from the very cold nights …very many below 20 and even down to -5. But, they are hardy and are still alive. I wanted to do an update on my supplements for you all trying to do natural approach: Most are from Swanson Health Products will * these:

* B Complex 100
*Turmeric
*Brain essentials
*Vit A&D
*CO Q 10
*Cran Max
*Hawthorne Berry, Kelp Powder Liquid Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc & D3
*Essiac Capsules
*Rhodiola Rosea(only using one capsule per week/sprinkling a small amount onto cereal) lecithin
*creatin (very small amount)
acidophilis
magnesium citrate
*l-carnosine.
EmergenC
Aquas for hydration (www.aquas4life)
Homemade fava tops tincture
Fermented papaya (which I dehydrate / powder/ and keep in a jar in the refrigerator )

God is Good …starting to plan this year’s gardens and purchasing some new varieties of seeds. Have saved seed from the things I enjoyed most last year. Looking forward to sunshine and fresh vegies again…the winter is long this year, but probably before we know it

We will be complaining that it is too hot.

Blessings to all.

Keep warm and keep smiling.

Aunt Bean

Aunt Bean is putting out a call for help on her fava beans farm. Here is the call below:

Robert Rodgers, Ph.D.
Road to Recovery from Parkinsons Disease
www.parkinsonsdisease.me

“Is there someone with PD , or has a loved one with PD who would like to spend a week or more learning about natural helps for PD ? Must be able and willing to put in half days of hard farm work to help get ready for spring planting this year… Aunt Bean has a room with it’s own bathroom to accommodate you.

Must be a person that does not smoke/ drink/ do drugs,  or use bad language. Would be great if the person enjoys bluegrass/country and gospel music, we have wonderful places to go jam or just  listen. There will be food provided for helping and the learning is a
gift.

If you are interested in the position as a working vacation for a week or two, please send your application to Robert Rodgers at Parkinsons Recovery  (robert@parkinsonsrecovery.com) and he will forward them to me.

1. Name and email
2. Age and ability to work
3. Interests
4. Why you would like to be a part of this research ?
5. Do you or someone you love have PD and you want to learn better
how to combat this disease?

A couple working together would be fine for the job. There is room
for two people in the master bedroom that you would occupy..as long as
you get along with each other ok!!!!”

Aunt Bean

 

Having very heavy rains and thunderstorms in our area…a portion of the upper and lower gardens have washed out, leaving a wide ditch where rows of vegies were planted. I have decided to leave the ditches where they are and make them walking paths (in dry weather) and rivers when the inevitable happens. Can’t fight Mother Nature and water takes the course of least resistance.

Anybody ever heard the old saying “If Mama aint happy…aint nobody happy” Well, I will do my level best to accommodate Mother Natures Will at this point…if you can’t fight ’em …join em. She is probably a really good landscaper …our area sure is beautiful. Today I will “Go with the Flow” and so will my gardens.

Have a blest day.

Aunt Bean

It is now the middle of April and the last fava beans that I planted in March are starting to peep out of the soil. Now comes weeding , banking the soil and bedding them down with grass clippings or old hay.  Just completed a long pole bean tunnel with bamboo and twine.

Might be a mistake, I’ve only done individual tee-pees before and they stood up under strong winds. Might regret a long structure with heavy beans during storms….but pray it will stand. The trees are starting to leaf or bloom. The weeping cherry is gorgeous, but the blooms don’t last long. The cuttings I took from the plum,peach, fig , grapes, blueberries and cheery trees and bushes during a warm spell a couple months ago are trying to form roots in the greenhouse pits. If they can root well in the next couple months..they will be transplanted into individual pots til fall and then planted outside to grow.

Nothing like fresh fruit…working toward growing as much as possible on Bean Acres…propagating our own trees is even more special, beside being free. It is exciting to see new life coming on each day and more bees out working. Lots to do, but the pleasure outweighs the achy muscles.

Hope you all have a wonderful day…..get outside, breathe
deeply and get some sunshine!

God Bless!

Aunt Bean

It is the last day of March…Easter Sunday at Aunt Bean’s. Surprisingly, Aunt Bean was able to rise up out of bed and start the day at the fava beans farm.

Yesterday was beautiful…the ground was dryer than it has been yet and I was able to get into the low garden with the new rototiller. (200 pounds that could rip your arms off when hitting a rock and lunging forward). I tilled for 2 hours/ate/tilled for 2 more..needless to say…my body did not appreciate what I put it thru. I also made the mistake of sitting down exhausted without a cool down exercise /extra water or tincture…bad idea!  The old grey mare she aint what she used to be many long years ago!   “Rode hard and put up wet” is an expression the old timers had…now I understand it completely if the horses got into the shape I did last evening.

My grampa used to say…”If something makes you sore…get out and do the same thing the next day”  He was precious. He.had his back broken in a mining accident and made garden by hand in a body cast that summer for his wife and 6 kids!  If he can do it…I can too. He had PD , but up in his eighties he caught alot of fish with those shakey hands..very good worm action on the end of the line!

There are about 1400 fava bean seeds planted now and the first ones put in are just starting to come up.  I am sore but thankful to be able to work the land God has given and make my own supplements for
PD…God Is Good.
Hope you have a blessed Resurrection Day. WE  SHALL  RISE…..some of us just need a little boost today.

God Bless,

Aunt Bean