Growing Medicinal Beans

states most of l-dopa in the green pod of fava
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http://home.cogeco.ca/~allan/medicinal_beans.html

Good news. I got home after the torrential rains and found gullies from the path of the water running thru the garden, But,the fava beans were still there.....They "held their ground " just like we have to, and kept on growing thru it all. I planted about 6 more pounds of beans this weekend...Pray for a good fall crop. Blessings!

I am going to try an attempt at growing favas year round with the help of a greenhouse (if we can get one up) We were in the process of trying to build a chicken -tractor(mobile chicken coop with fenced in run areea , when dad droped a large sheet of plywood on his big toe ( the foot the was half blown off in WW 2 and doesn't have feeling much in the toes) now he is using his cruches and trying to behave and keep
weight off it alittle til it heels. Thank goodness for comfrey leaf poultice that kept the swelling down! Hopefully we'll figure out something to contain the chicken hand-me downs from people who have to move before we get them this weekend.
I really don't know of a source for fresh..they are seasonal vegies..canned ones are about it or cooking the dry beans.

Just got a call from dad and it has rained since I left home this morning.....some of it very hard . He watched another muddy river flowing down in front of our house..Since the first planting of favas made it thru the last time...I'm hoping their roots have gone deeper yet so we won't have to worry about too much rain. The new beans I planted in raised rows & hopefully they will be ok. There is more rain on the way! It's so hard to be away from home for 2 days while working and there is so much to do. I hope I can put a picture of the farm on the sight soon. Dad made the mistake of getting a CD along with our last pictures we had developed. Someone told me that you look at it on computor...so maybe someone can put a picture on this sight for me so you all can see what the farm looks like.

Well, The favas made it thru 2 torrential rains and are coming along just fine. Now we also have 5 hens/ a rooster and 2 young chickens that were given to us on Monday. Dad & I built a chicken tractor (mobile roost/ nest box/ run). I didn't want quite that many chickens and can't keep all of them. We have gotten 3 eggs so far, which isn't bad for putting them thru a change in location/ people/ feed, etc. My soy beans are nearly ready to pick now ( for green soy beans) You boil them in the pod, then shell them out. Other than the fact that there is not enough hours in a day or enough strength in this poor body to get everything done..things are going well. Anyone want a working vacation at a farm...., I could use help! We have 5 beautiful kittens that need homes...two with tails and three with stubs like the mama..anyone out there need a kitten????
Blessings to you all ...... Aunt Bean

Started making a field of raised beds this week. It is quite a job but think it will be worth it, because of the way the land washed during hard rains..lost alot of topsoil ...it ran down in front of the house in a "river". Had to take dad to the emergency room on Saturday...he may have spent too much time working on the tractor, trying to get it to run and then plowed for quite a while apparently (from what was done when I got home from work Friday nite). He stayed overnight and they changed his meds and he came home Sunday, but it was a scare! Life on the farm can be too hard sometimes!

Had an amazing visit from a fellow PD'r from Knoxville area this Tuesday. Scott drove 2 hours, helped in the garden, shared his story with me, helped make fava chips, learned how to make tincture and what part of the plant to make the tincture from. He was such a help and encouragement to me. I was feeling alittle discouraged , looking at all that needed to be done....but then he came and I feel uplifted and ready to go on . Just knowing that there are people out there that care and want to help will help me stay strong. Scott knows the value of working out and he impressed me more than anyone I've ever met......he wants to stay well like I do. He also went to our local support group meeting Tuesday evening and shared his story with the group. Everyone enjoyed meeting him and hope he will come back again sometime. We have to do all we can to keep our bodies functioning at optimum levels. Got to exercise along with supplements and good food choices. Blessings to all and a big thank you to Scott!

You are a sweet lady, Aunt Bean
 

Happy that Scott was able to visit and lift your spirits. We all need to support each other and share the knowledge we gain fighting this condition. Keep up the good work and God Bless you and your family is my humble prayer.

Mike

Question about canned fava beans
 

My dad lives in Edmonton, Canada and we are unable to get fresh fava beans there. I am trying to get him to eat fava beans from the can but he says that it tastes bland and it is hard to get thim to eat it.

I was wondering if he put the beans from the can in a blender and made it into a juice. Has anyone tried that?

Thanks,
Sharmila

Nice to meet Scott!
 

Aunt Bean
Thank you for bringing Scott to the support group. I would have liked to have heard more from him, but he had to leave.

I wanted to thank YOU publicly, Aunt Bean, for sharing all that you learn with others. Your aspiratio n is not to get rich, but to offer PwP an alternative to the gold standard of "best medical treatment, " which at this time is carbidopa/levodopa (Sinemet).

Scott - get in touch with me or Aunt Bean again soon, and we will take some time off for a long chat.
:)
Peggy

have not tried that but since I think they taste like kidney beans I use them in salads and any place else I would put kidney beans. I have even mixed them with diced tomato and cucumber with a little ranch dressing not bad.

I guess putting the beans into the blender with onion and garlic and adding tomato juice or broth to make soup would taste good. They could be mashed and disguised in with any food you could hide them in! They ones I harvested and froze were so much better than the canned ones I've tried! But, if they work and help symptoms..eat them. Always remember the G6Pd test to make sure you have the enzyme to utilize them and they help not hurt you....blessings Aunt Bean

Enjoyed having Scott to the farm so much and he was such an encouragement and help ...hope he will come back and bring his family sometime....we can all learn from him.
I can't stress enough...eat right/ exercize!!!!

Have you tried sprouting the beans? You only have to eaqt about two or three ...good stir fried with onions &garlic or steamed 6 minutes and frozen...eat straight from the freezer as needed..that is what my friend is doing... they work , too.

Enthusiasm
 

Aunt Bean
This thread is on its 6th page of replies! Who would have thought there could be so much enthusiasm about beans???

Peggy ;)

I read an article this morning that suggested boosting glutathione levels by eating high quality whey protein, garlic, onions, kale, broccoli and cabbage . Aunt Bean would you please tell me more about sprouting - howw often do you rinse them and how do you know when they are ready to consume??THX!
md

I soak the beans overnight, rinse them well and then drain. Rinse at least 3 times a day & drain off all water. After just three days , usually they are starting to sprout. A sprout doen't have to be a certain length. When a bean sprouts it has already "come alive" and is better for you. A dry bean is just that! Then we peel them and rinse well again....steam them 6 minutes/ rinse with cold water and freeze them. (Ready to use when needed.) My friend usually just eats two at a time for an l-dopa boost. The favas come in a large variety of sizes , there are over 20 variety and some are very small...the one we are currently using from the health food store....??variety and they are fairly large.Two is plenty. With small ones..you might want to eat three at a time.

Just had a thought...those of you who want to try making BEAN CHIPS could buy fava juice from INternational Gourmet ..and make your own chips right away. That way the juice will be in a stable form that will keep. Just add alittle salt and ground flax seed meal to the juice so that it is thickened just slightly , drop onto unbleached parchment paper and put into dehydrator to dry.

Starting to harvest mucuna beans. Yesterday , picked a few on the ladder, without pulling down the vines. The pods are "buggers" to get open to get the bean out! I tried just cutting the end with a knife and stringing..nope! String beans are hard to do, but these don't string. Did alot of prying, etc and finally got to the beans. Steamed them 6 minutes like the favas and tried one. It tasted good to me and though I had determined to just eat one, I wanted another (lack of dicipline!) So I indulged myself and ate two.
I had skipped my 10AM tincture to try them and in about 20 minutes...when I checked my tapping was up to speed ...only I was ready to wrestle tigers. Could have been alittle too much l-dopa, but no side effects other than "too much energy". But, I used it to get quite alot done . Picked a few more beans and tried steaming the whole pod and then cut the end off the pod and with alot of effort, managed to open it. It wasn't as had as with the raw pod, plus, now the inner bean was also steamed and ready to pop out of it's little rubbery skin. (just like the favas have ...interesting enough)
I want to get a good picture of the super tall vines that climbed up to the 10 feet point (where we strung string for them to climb to, because I was told they could get that tall)
Well, they went at least 14 plus feet and then climbed around the corner of the barn and started up another side. They are like the Jack and the Beanstalk Magic Beans!! Anyway, it's harvest time for mucunas..wish you all could see them. Fava harvest is continuing, too. Will report more on mucunas next week. Blessings Aunt Bean

Well, another week has gone by on the farm. Monday, dad & I dug potatoes and peanuts and I planted fava beans ina 50 foot raised bed , with hoop frames so the beans can be covered if it gets to 26 degrees this year again. I am hoping that they will live all winter with protection occasionally. More later

It's been a week to remember! I climbed the ladder up the backside of the barn on Friday...armed with gloves and managed to pull down the 15 foot vines. Immediately saw dust flying everywhere , which made me cringe at the time and I told dad to stay far back so it wouldn't get in his lungs or on his skin....and I would shower as soon as the vines were down on the ground. Well, we got company immediately (no shower) Then , someone else came bringing me sorghum stalks..fresh cut and seed for next year to plant. And my mind went to sorghum mollasses production and the shower was forgotten.
(By the way., all my days effort into squeezing the stalks with my champion juicer or the meat grinder was total failure..an effort of hours of futility! I still have to buy molasses!)
Night came and I felt alittle itchy , but was already in bed..no shower. Next morning my eyes were practically swelled shut and I had a bad itching rash above my gloveline, and under my shirt collar and it was looking like poison ivy blisters....yeap, it spread like poison ivy too. It ended up on my hands and fingers and I looked like I was made up to go halloweening as a monster. Missed church Sunday, etc... Finally went to the doctor..last resort(Wed) today and got cortizone pills, because it is still spreading.Hopefully that will get it under control.....but what else will the cortizone do????
The doctor said it is a small dose and not many people react to it ...Pray for Aunt Bean, I usually react to everything!!! Anyway, the mucuna beans work well, and I am trying a tincture of steamed , halved mucunas...just to see if it will work. Mucunas are definitely more concentrated with l-dopa. Don't think they will be growing up the back side of the barn again though. They worked ok growing in tall corn and I didn't react to picking the beans from them..it was just the pulling down of the tall stalks that got me! Other than that....NEWS.....a neighbor has offered to give me a large greenhouse that they are not using anymore, if we can move it. It will take alot of guys and determination to do it. It's a large one made of pipes and 2 ply plastic that hasn't been used for several years.
Always something going on...no boredom on the farm. GOD is good. Blessings

Just a quick note....got papaya last week and tryed fermenting it....then dried it in dehydrator. Needs alittle added something before drying, but it worked. Will let you know specifics next week and if it seems to have benefits as a home project. It is a whole lot cheaper than buying what the Pope took, if it does.
Oh , we have the golf cart and little wagon for hauling water/ mulch etc into the garden.....and people! It will seat 3 people besides the driver (two facing backward).
Dad's new toy, useful for me! So if any of you come visit...you can have a ride thru the garden....Lots to do. Blessings, Aunt Bean

Thanks for your posts
 

Hope the papaya will help you. I tried a little mango mixed with it; need to find a good place to buy reasonably priced. Take care gardening!

Well, dad and I made a quick trip to Ohio to see my brother who also has PD. He has gone down hill quite a bit from when we saw him in the spring. VA doctor has prescribed a walker for him now. One that looks very ingenious actually. You squeeze it to release the brake (most are to activate brakes) It also has a laser beam that can be activated if freezing occurs to give a person visual line to help movement start again.
The papaya experiment has been a success I think. For some reason I feel it has helped my eyes. Driving at nite not so hard and my eyes don't seem as blurry without my glasses. I've taken my fava top tincture less often and feel especially good.
Probably one of the reasons I feel so good is that the fava plants are still alive after a bad cold night while we were in Ohio. So I can gather tincture tops this afternoon!!
I am hoping they will last into December and I can get some of the rows under cover before 26 degrees happens. Still looking for a research person to work with me on a clinical trial ....there's got to be someone out there!
Oh went to a veiwing of a documentary film "Ten Mountains...Ten Years" . A group of people are climbing to gaiin funds for PD and Alzheimer research and awareness. The man who is behind this effort is Enzo Simone ( A Quest for the cure)
www.TheArmyOfChange.com The film is very good and the climbing team reads letters from patients/ family/caregivers when they are stopped at rest areas for the night.
There is even a segment that shows a lady from our own support group that actually went on one of the climbs with him and the "regulars". She is amazing and feels that this is a great way to get support for our cause and for the search for a cure. We got to visit with Enzo and he has other ideas that he is pursuing about research and political challenges that may be able to be bridged in the future if we all pull together. There is also a segment in the film about DBS, that you need to watch if considering this treatment. It is very enlightening/ frightening/ encouraging (that some people are helped by this surgery) We have one person in our neighborhood that benefited greatly from it.
For now, we all have to keep fighting our own little and big battles in life. But, I feel that we are all pulling for each other and that means alot everyday. We are all different,but all the same. With God's help, we will pull thru this. Blessings , Aunt Bean

My fava bean garden looks like its gonna bite the dust soon without producing one single bean pod..They grew two feet tall, have flowers, and survived one frost, and a dusting of snow, but they're just haning in, and not growing much

Oooooooooh well :rolleyes:

there are many ways
 

to extract l-Dopa from fava, just goole up "isolation of l-dopa from fava by aqueous extraction and precipitation". It was oneof my dreams to set up a huge farm to grow fava and extract l-dopa by the ton ,m ix it with bought carbidopa, and market a useful product, for free to all parkies.
Dreams die along with us. cs

Steve I'm sorry...you are so far north and my favas have already been bit once in TN!!
I am still collecting the tops I use for tincture. Had to throw one whole pickiing away after the cold spell hit while we were iin Ohio visiting my brother with PD, who, by the way is currently in the hospital with double pnuemonia and pretty weak from it all. If you have flowers/ you have tincture tops....dry them ,except anything that is black on the part and put them in brandy and shake for a month...you have l- dopa!
We are busy cllearing out the neighbors 80 foot greenhouse to get it ready to move....still don't know how to do the moving as yet...maybe "house movers"????
made my first cold frame of the year this morning, mulching asparagus, staying busy!!
Hope you all are staying warm and not letting the business of the holidays get to you....
too many things are pilling up on our calendar for my taste....it all comes flying at you at once.....sometimes I wonder....Where is Peace in the holiday season....seems the garden is the only place where it is quiet and a person can just breathe for a while!
Blessings to all Aunt Bean PS ....Take time to just breathe!

HI Aunt Bean,

Do you use the flowers for tincture? The flowers I have seen are black and white at their peak..... I thought the "hidden tops" were the balled up leaves.can you just put them directly in the brandy without drying them first? thx so much for sharing! agree on the breathing..

kind regards,
md

We've been hit about 3 times..The plants are still standing, and alive, but are not growing anymore

The part I use to tincture is like a ball..it is undeveloped flowers and leaves. It only forms one time on each stem. I dry it completely before putting them in a jar and adding brandy to cover and then shake every day for a month/then strain/ then wait a day and decant off trying to leave the sediment in the jar (I go ahead and use this first and bottle the other liquid in clean dark bottles and LABEL!) I have never tried not drying the plant parts I use to tincture. Aunt Bean

Steve...mine , last year were completely bit and came back up from the roots one time...then after it went below 26 degrees again..they were completely killed.

OH, P.S. I don't use anything that is black in the tops...or any tops infested with worms or aphids ( I grow organically / don't spray pesticides.....so I do get other things (critters) on some of my plants! Plant one for the bugs or maybe three and one for yourself??? Happy Thanksgiving to you all Aunt Bean

Just made my second batch of papaya (fermented & dryed) This batch is nicer and more potent I think. Three cups of mashed ripe papaya fruit (without skin & seeds) added a generous amount of cinnamon and turmeric *next time I will measure, I promise. Put into a glass container with plastic wrap tightly over the surface of mix and another over the top of the container to keep out air. Let it sit for 6 days this time. Mixture was more thickened than first batch. Then added 3 teaspoons of finely ground flax seed and stirred in well. Let stand about 5 minutes. Stir again. Flax made the mix more thickened. Then dropped in small blobs on unbleached parchment on dehydrator sheets. This dryed nicely and was more like fruit leather (rubery consistancy..beautiful/ storable) The main thing I have noticed is an improvement in my eyes..things not as blurry without glasses, better night time vision. I am going to try taking alittle more at a time and see what happens.....will report back......Hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving Aunt Bean

Well, you all...my hopes are up. The person that has a relative who is in research is taking my fava research & info about my "non-clinical trial" with the tincture next week to show her. Pray with me that she will be the one to take on the research so that maybe someday it will be available to everybody out there who might benefit from the tincture like I have. It was really cold this morning and the beans have keeled over finally, but if is like last year....and we have a couple warm weeks, they will emerge from the roots again. Still haven't gotten the greenhouse moved....lots of work to be done to be able to do it (cutting apart welding on pipes, etc) Papaya working well and I am looking more into the fermenting processes to maybe add other foods to try.
Hope you are surviving the holiday rush and taking time to just breathe and rest some
Blessings from Aunt Bean

Many Thanks!
 

Dearest Aunt Bean,

You have my prayers and blessings for sharing all you have learned with us!

Have any of you ever heard of Parkinsons of the throat? I am taking square dance lessons. The caller/ instructor has this throat trouble and says that it is hereditary (many people in his family have been diagnosed with it) Doctors have told him that he is a canidate for trying botox injections in his throat. Last visit, he told the doctors about the fava top tincture. The doctor actually knew about the bean ....he told him , Try it....if it works, great. He is scheduled to go in for botox in Jan or Feb . I gave him a very small amount to test....we shall see if it helps ! It sure helps with my voice & singing

I just came across something on internet...maybe someone can help me fiind this person???
Chi-Wei Lin Ph.d.....a doctor with PD that has experimented with fava. It was on Parkiinson's Patients Support Groups, Inc. and quite exciting what she has come up with as a regimine of dosing with the parkinsons symptoms : Stalevo and dried fava beans.
I would like to contact this doctor!! Thanks for any help.

Trinidad, California?
 

Aunt Bean,
I think I found him in Trinidad, California. He's mentioned in this blog (below) so maybe you can contact him through the blog. Good luck!

http://trinidadartgallery.blogspot.com/

jean

Thanks..I looked up the sight for the person in California and it looks like an art gallery....so if it is the same person He or She is an artist too. I did have time to go back to the library and write the parkinson's support group inc. that the article was under...asking if they could put us in touch with each other. Haven't heard back yet from them. Two people in the last two days said that I should write to Michael J Fox to see if his organization could connect me with a researcher. What do you all think about his organization, I know nothing about it. The friend going to Florida said his relative is only interested in pursuing cures for Alzheimers at this time...so that fell thru. Very disappointiing. But, the right person is out there somewhere....God will put us together at the right time....To everything...there is a season!!! I must be patient. God Bless!

I believe this may be what you're looking for
 

Here is a webpage containing an article from the doctor experimenting with favas. http://www.ppsg.org/PPSG_2/Docs/Fall_Quarterly_2009.pdf