Picked my first fava bean  plant tops from the greenhouse experimental patch (which are doing beautifully so far). Many people have asked how many fava beans would they have to grow to make tincture.  I have 2 raised beds in the upper garden still producing…counted the plants (74) and gathered 2 Cups of fava tops from them on Saturday.  These 2 Cups dried and crushed were just under 1/2 Cup to mix with brandy and make tincture…so that will make approximately 1/3rd of a peanut butter jar of tincture. (which will probably be enough for my doses for a month or so) You can harvest “tops” from the plant about every week after they start to flower…so good healthy plants may give you 3, 4 or 5 weeks of picking new tops of side shoots depending on weather conditions.

I GROW MANY MORE PLANTS THAN THESE 2 RAISED BEDS. Also, I grew these plants only about 4 inches apart in a row and 8 inches between rows…..planted late just to have for tincture tops and not for beans.   If you are growing them for beans…they need to be at least 6 inches apart and 10 to 12 inches between rows (2 rows together and then 16 inches before the next two rows to make a good walking space/kneeling space for harvesting. They will keep growing down to 26 degrees.

We picked our first yellow summer squash out of the greenhouse on Friday and used it on a delicious homemade gluten-free pizza with fresh sweet peppers still coming in from the garden. (Also dried tomatoes, onions, garlic and cut up blue lake bush green beans/ tomato sauce  and a smidge of cheese). YUMMY and healthy too.

Hurricane Sandy is on it’s way and they are predicting a cold spell this week with snow….but only down to freezing the end of the week…we’ll see if the field plants mind snow on them.

Blessings….Stay warm ..

Aunt Bean