I just spent 2 1/2 Hours in Saturday morning picking tops in low garden. Ony got 3/4 dehydrator full first time and ran them til partially dry….emptied them into brandy. Then, put in the ones I finished picking for 3 hrs Saturday evening…which was a full dehydrator…(which I have let run all nite on lowest setting.) Won’t pick again now for a wee or so…then there will be more stems with tops…some at ground level…they seem to form the top really quick.

Forgot to remind you that you need to take the tops of each stem of the fava plant…the little unopened flower top ball protected by leaves is what will draw ants and aphids/ earwigs also and leaf hoppers. This makes the plant send out stems from the bottom ..which gives you more tops (the part I dry for tincture…which seems to be the strongest l-dopa on the plant) Remove the leaves surrounding the top ball & eat..or can eat the whole thing if you don’t want to tincture, but it needs to come off even if past the ball stage and has tiny leaves on the top…plant will be healthier if pinched back

Was blessed yesterday with a Bee Hive. We have had only one or two honey bees here on the farm …even our sunflowers did not have polinators last year. Wasps have been the biggest source of polination.A neighbor found a hive in a building nearby last year and destroyed them…have hardly seen any bees since…….perhaps we will have better crop polination this year. God is good to provide our needs.

Have a blessed day (Aunt Bean)

Greetings from Bean Acres in East Tennessee . It has been pretty cold here already. Down to 18 degrees a couple of times, but the patch of fava beans in the lower garden is still alive. The upper garden ones have died. Amazing the different climate zones on one farm.

This week I planted 115 more favas in the greenhouse and have 4 raised beds planted there now. Hoping for a good crop of tops and flowers all winter long. Also have beets and kale coming up and we are still eating from swiss chard. Still have not found someone to come plow up garden so it will be ready for planting favas in March. Hard to find help everywhere I guess.

I have needed to take less tincture lately upon adding a product called Natural Calm to my supplements. My bowels are working better and l-dopa tincture is lasting longer. The supplement is magnesium citrate. If any of you out there can explain that…I would love to know why this is. It is a welcome thing and I only take 2 teas a day at breakfast.

Still am looking for farm help …especially someone who is interested in help for their Parkinson’s Disease, but able to work and learn. We have a guest room with its own shower , etc. (Healthy meals will be provided). Send an application if interested
and Robert will forward it to me.

Have a great day.

Aunt Bean

It is August already and the fava beans harvest is over and some new fall planting of seeds are in the ground with one more planting to go August 10th so that I can harvest more tops before winter sets in. This planting will be only for collecting tops as it will not have time to make beans unless 26 degree weather does not come until after December..

My newest kitchen experiment was a success!  The perfect pods from the last picking of fava beans were cut up in small pieces into a peanut butter jar with brandy. This was shaken for a month. Strained / let to settle for 24 and then siphoned off and bottled. It seems I need a couple drops less than the fava tops tincture to take care of my PD
symptoms.

Still no researcher to test it so don’t know the amount of
l-dopa per drop. But my response to it is very good. Have used it almost a week now and give it a thumbs up

Aunt Bean.

Well, it is July and most of the spring crop of fava beans has been harvested.  Had a very good crop of beans this spring and also fava tops for tincture…although the first picking of tops was half lost to spittlebugs this year, but the plants made up for it in successive pickings.

Hardly any aphids. I read that if you leave your pests alone..that their natural predators will move in to eat them…we do have more lady bugs this year. I have not had to spray parley water on the plants to discourage the aphids..

Have a couple new experiments going on and hoping the local college is taking an interest in my research and will help out by testing the l-dopa content in the new tinctures. Pray they will come thru on this……they have the proper equipment to do it, and it would be such a blessing to have people who could document it.

We have a hen and nine baby chicks that we are enjoying watching….people could learn a lot watching chickens….the hen is such a good teacher with good students.

Just picked a half gallon of wineberries (cousin to raspberries) and my first green beans….oh so good. We ran out of green beans a few months ago…gave too many away this year. Need to put mine all up first this year, I guess so we don’t run out again. I don’t have much appreciation for canned store beans….I like mine picked/steamed and frozen right away…that way they taste fresh picked when you go to eat them.We have been eating cabbage/greens/ yellow squash / broccoli, and cucumbers out of the greenhouse for a while..

God is Good.

Aunt Bean

There is a recipe for Bone Strengthening Broth on pg 341 of the book GREEN PHARMACY by James A. Duke, Ph.D. This is the book I came across when looking for natural food therapy for Parkinsons back in 2009.  That book started us on the trail of fava beans! How I wish I could thank him for all his research, that in turn prompted all of mine…and my good health now.

The recipe says to tie fish bones in a cloth bag (cheesecloth ok) and bring them to a boil in a large pot of water then simmer 30 minutes, add to this lots of veggies and  “greens” (Cabbage, dandelion greens, pigweed, purslane) and stinging nettle…which most people will not find growing in their yard…if you do have it…wear gloves to harvest and chop…they lose their sting when cooked and are highly nutritious. I am  sure you can add mustard greens spinach , etc in place of these things you may not have
availability to go hunting for.

Chop fine  & simmer til greens are tender. Remove fish bones and season as desired.

Serve as soup or base for soup beans. Thank you Dr Duke.

God Bless

Love ,

Aunt Bean

An exciting week at the farm.  “Bean Acres”  is in the process of getting an 80 foot greenhouse put up in a portion of the garden area.  It was given to us by a neighbor, but we had to pay for getting it disassembled and then put back up again.  They only had to move it down our driveway….but it all had to come apart first.  We will have to purchase a new plastic covering. … and new treated timbers for a few places, carriage bolts, etc.  that had to be sewn off to get it apart. (There is still a list of things to head to the store for.) It will be in the neighborhood of $1,300 (perhaps more) before it is completed again.

I pray it will be able to feed us year round and solar dehydrate food in quantities that are impossible in my little electric dehydrator.I have baby papaya trees growing, that will hopefully supply us with organically grown papayas to make “fermented papaya chips” that really have been wonderful against my PD symptoms.  They seem to have helped my 85 yr old father’s balance , also!

I have just planted a couple of raised beds with favas and hope to plant more in a couple of weeks.  We are harvesting green beans and cucumbers, rhubarb and beets right now….corn soon.

The farm is a lot of work, but I hope in the years to come it will be a blessing and inspiration to many people

God is good.   He has brought many people into my life that have helped to set the course to keep my PD under control…I thank Him for each one of them and pray that I can pass on these blessings to others.

Sandra

At our local support group meeting on 3/16  one of the members “froze-up “and was unable to hardly walk with help.  He stretched his arms with help up to the doorframe and let his feet dangle…in a few seconds he was able to walk freely again…..the “monkey” was off his back!

He seems to have the same results I get from stretching my back muscles beyond the normal range. I wonder if along with the tightness & pain, that there is an energy flow blockage that occurs in our spinal column that inhibits movement??  I need to ask him next meeting if he has also had spinal injuries..(I sure did!)   .Will keep you updated on this>

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to you all. We had a PD Support Group meeting last nite and are planning our June get-to-gether at the farm. Everyone is excited about the research. The husband of a PD patient has volunteered to help disk up more of the ground dad plowed with the tractor. He has been unable to work, because of taking care of his wife…and is bored. They can both come to the farm ,enjoy the country and I can work with her while he helps dad….sounds good to me. I am hoping to start soaking fava seeds  the end of next week. Lord willing, the first ones will go in the ground March 29th.