I did order three fold white one year (think it was from Canada)and it didn't do as well here as the generic. So far in the greenhouse experimental patches...I have one called Iantos Return and the plants are truly beautiful and producing an abundance of flowers. They are from Adaptive Seeds. Another favorite I had once (a friend gave seed for) was Prescote Violetta. They were beautiful too. I guess since I plant so many and don't have money to invest in expense small packets..the generics will be my bean of choice. 25 lb for$47.50 this year from the local health food store (tagged Mountain Organics). I have over 1,400 seeds out now of favas and wish I could have gotten more planted, but we've been so wet here. Perhaps we'll have a good spring and I will be able to save some seeds from the couple new varieties I am trying out.
Remember, if you are adding favas to sinemet ..do not overdose with dopamine...be very careful and aware of your body's normal performance. I test if I need to dose with fava tincture by tapping my middle finger and thumb together...which shows right now that I need some (hadn't been aware of my neck pain yet, but yeap...it is there too...just too busy today ...which I have been told those on Sinemet do also...miss taking a dose. oh well...such is life. La la la la life goes on.... sorry Have a great day. Get some sun!

LFAC, how do you prepare the beans with pods. Steam them? If so, how long? I like the idea because taking them out of the shell is a hassle. But there is that coat around them you have to peel. Do you eat the entire bean whole--Pod and tough shell and all?

Aunt Bean, last year I threw some fava beans out after I left them in the fridge too long. I threw them into an area where I wanted to begin a compost pile. The are now peeking out of the soil as newly sprouted plants. So I am going to use that area instead as my first fava bean garden. Thanks for the useful info on growing them--you really are the Queen of the Beans!

If you want to get the most l-dopa out of the favas that you consume...pick the beans about 2 to 3 inches long before the bean really starts to form much. There is more l-dopa in the pod than the bean itself. I wash them, cut of stem tip and steam about 5 minutes (to your particular taste) the less the cooking time....the less l-dopa you lose. Beans at this small stage have more l-dopa/ less fiber / and you don't have the bother of peeling the inner bean rubbery skins off. What you don't eat....put into a freezer zip-lock bag and save. They can also be juiced and saved that way (or juiced and dehydrated..my favorite...bean chips or blobs (I add alittle ground flax seed to the juice to thicken somewhat) There is a man in California that sells fava juice. He does not steam them...Just juices them and sells as with or without fiber. This is the way to go with larges beans...the major amount of indigestible fiber is too hard on the human digestive system (use a filter an strain most of it out)

It is the last day of March...Easter Sunday. Surprisingly, Aunt Bean
was able to rise up out of bed and start the day. 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 alittle boost today. God Bless.

Very excited today...gently pulled out a Santa Rosa Plum and it has it's firsts sign of root formation....so cool! (branches that I had cut back a couple of months ago when the trees and bushes started budding during a warm spell. I placed them in a deep hole in the inner greenhouse hoop frame and have been watering them faithfully (along with cherry/ peach/ fig and grape vine and blueberry prunnings...so far they had budded and now are leafing but I had never found root formation as yet.. Looks like we might have more fruit trees and brushes yet. (and for free.....they are my new children...the computer was good enough to inform me that this was possible...it has been in invaluable asset this year. So grateful to my friend that gave me her old computer. God is good.
Fresh fruit is so important for antioxidants and mine will certainly not be sprayed!!!

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!

Today I will attempt to transplant some strawberry runners to newly cleared locations...
tomorrow and Friday are better transplant days on the Almanac calendar , but it is supposed to rain today and I will be busy Thursday and Fri..so pray they will take hold and grow without the moon's blessing...we shall see. They are coming into bloom already so I need to get it done. Dad borrowed the neighbors Kabota with tiller and worked up the whole lower garden that was yet unplanted for me last nite. It looks beautiful...now if we can just get the upper one worked up , too. Anybody want to come work up a sweat??

The rain held off another day and dad re-borrowed the Kabota with tiller and finished the upper garden...it looks beautiful. He said that he is too old to attempt it again next year, but hopefully I can keep things worked up now with the big tiller. My blooming transplanted strawberries "took" and are growing..so will transplant more to other places. The fava beans are looking good and there are 2 large beans on the Iantos Return Favas in the greenhouse that are very pretty. The generic I planted last August in the greenhouse and have harvested tops from all winter are now putting on a growth spirt and flowers all over. Just beautiful... an experiment that surprisingly paid off well.
God Bless... have a great day.

Harvested my first fava tops from this years fava plantings 2 days ago....very distressing to find an infestation of "spittle bugs" also called "Froghoppers" they are very tiny bugs that make bubbles in which they live. Needless to say...I pinched off and stepped on about half of my first harvest in the low garden...trying to destroy the bugs. Probably a gallon of tops destroyed. But, on the good side...had a gallon left that was usable without bugs...a good picking for the first time, anyway. They are all weeded and mulched and we just had a good rain...so that will help them to grow. Not very many aphids yet and more lady bugs around the farm this year. Some of my saved apple seeds are coming up (terribly exciting to me..never before had one to grow) God is good! Have a blessed day.